I wanna sell out and write empty, vapid, catchy pop songs
Name your favorites. Mine are below.
(hint: if you don’t feel at least a tiny bit guilty or ashamed about listing the song, it probably doesn’t qualify)
- My Chemical Romance – Helena
- Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
- Tears for Fears – Everybody Wants to Rule the World
- Coheed and Cambria – Blood Red Summer
- Nada Surf – Happy Kid
- Marcy Playground – Sex and Candy
And that’s the problem. That’s all I can come up with! I know there’s more, I’ve just pushed them so far into the recesses of my mine out of shame, I can’t come up with them. So list yours and maybe they’re mine, too.
Comments
Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue” comes to mind.
“we’re all to blame” by sum 41
“Wait and Bleed” by Slipknot.
Paris said:Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue” comes to mind.
Yeah, I am immediately turned off by this aesthetic. And, mostly, anyone who sings remotely in that nasal, 90’s punk affected voice.
christina said:“we’re all to blame” by sum 41
Evan said:“Wait and Bleed” by Slipknot.
Not pop songs. Sum 41, you could maybe make the argument for, cause it has pop parts. But it also has almost hardcore/thrash parts. And it’s awful.
Wait and Bleed is totally a guilty pleasure, but it’s totally not a pop song by any stretch of the imagination.
I’m also usually a sucker for R&B female vocalist pop songs such as the more recent “Single Ladies” by Beyonce and “No One” by Alicia Keys. Also, but older, “Again” by Janet Jackson and “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey.
you are giving too many stipulations.
Am not. You didn’t post a pop song. Paris posted a pop song (and I happened to not like it, which is fine). You didn’t.
how is that sum 41 song NOT a pop song? it was on TRL!
Paris said:NO ONE IS SO GOOD!I’m also usually a sucker for R&B female vocalist pop songs such as the more recent “Single Ladies” by Beyonce and “No One” by Alicia Keys. Also, but older, “Again” by Janet Jackson and “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey.
christina said:how is that sum 41 song NOT a pop song? it was on TRL!
So was Slipknot and Biggy, but neither would ever be described as Pop.
I was JUST thinking about this on the way home from work. But I like openly love catchy pop anyway, the kind with choruses that get stuck in your head for days, so these probably won’t be TOO much of a stretch for me…
- Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon”, “That Green Gentleman”
- Lady Gaga “Just Dance” I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH NOW.
- Way too many Fall Out Boy songs
- All American Rejects “Dirty Little Secret”
- Does “Since U Been Gone” count, or has Kelly Clarkson crossed the threshold to being generally unironically accepted as being awesome?
- Timbaland “Way I Are”
- The Lil’ Mama remix of Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend”
- Avril Lavigne “My Happy Ending”
I’ll post more, after I check on my food…
i know kev would say that Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” is the perfect pop song.
i would say every song from the 80’s that i dance to on a friday night.
Sugar, we’re goin’ down – Fall Out Boy
Stolen – Dashboard Confessional
Anything by Everclear after Sparkle and Fade.
Just a few off the top of my head (and my play list)
I don’t think of any of those in John’s initial list as “pop” songs at all. You can argue about feeling guilty because most of them are some really shitty artists, but they’re hardly ear candy sell out pop songs (maybe the Tears For Fears song, but even that’s stretching it, but it is pop). And I say this especially since they are every bit as “not pop” as the choices you dismissed earlier in this thread.
I’m totally with Paris and Reggie’s selctions. Like Reggie, I find myself enjoying that Lady Gaga song waaaaaaay too much for my own good. Also, most of the singles off of that last Nelly Furtado album (Promiscuous, Say It Right, etc.). I also find myself digging on almost any Rihanna song or even songs that just feature her. I’m a total sucker for that No One song by Alicia Keys and completely down with Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).
Everybody Wants to Rule the World is maybe the best song ever written, and I like to think that I feel that way for more than just nostalgic reasons. Also, is it really fair to describe a Jimmy Eat World song as vapid? That song, and the entire album as a matter of fact, is great.
My submissions:
Vanessa Carlton – A Thousand Miles
Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls
I’m really against the whole concept of a guilty pleasure, because really, fuck you. But, the way I like to gauge this is whether or not you would feel comfortable having X song blasting while cruising through your neighborhood with the windows down. I can state with a pretty good level of certainty that I do not aspire to be known as “Vanessa Carlton Guy”.
Jay said:Everybody Wants to Rule the World is maybe the best song ever written, and I like to think that I feel that way for more than just nostalgic reasons. Also, is it really fair to describe a Jimmy Eat World song as vapid? That song, and the entire album as a matter of fact, is great.
My submissions:
Vanessa Carlton – A Thousand Miles
Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls
I’m really against the whole concept of a guilty pleasure, because really, fuck you. But, the way I like to gauge this is whether or not you would feel comfortable having X song blasting while cruising through your neighborhood with the windows down. I can state with a pretty good level of certainty that I do not aspire to be known as “Vanessa Carlton Guy”.
Awesome post, top to bottom. Perfect encapsulation. And good choices.
Kevin, I loved that Nelly Furtado album. They released “Do It” as a single late into that album’s lifespan and I can’t figure out why it never became the biggest pop hit of the year.
Jay, I totally forgot about “A Thousand Miles”. It’s on some commercial now (for a jewelry store, I think?) and I get kind of misty when it comes on.
Now, I just remembered how much I love Nelson’s “Love and Affection”. And that Good Charlotte song “Dance Floor Anthem”.
in my secret past life (more like from march-september 2008) i watched VH1 videos every morning before work. GIVE ME THE SARA BAREILLES VIDEO WITH THE CURIOSITY SHOP AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN
Jay said:I’m really against the whole concept of a guilty pleasure, because really, fuck you.
Hahahahah
Justin Timberlake’s “My Love” and “What Goes Around Comes Around”
Fabolous Ft. Ne-Yo “Make me Better” and some other Ne-Yo songs that I don’t know the name of but don’t hate when it comes on the radio.
And Linkin Park probably isn’t pop, but I hate basically anything they’ve created or spun off to create except for “Bleed It Out” for some reason.
Oh yes Matt that Timberlake song rules.
Fagun said:And Linkin Park probably isn’t pop, but I hate basically anything they’ve created or spun off to create except for “Bleed It Out” for some reason.
Anyone who doesn’t admit to feeling exactly this way is lying to themselves. I have never tried to hate something as hard as I did that song, and I just couldn’t make it happen.
I find it pretty easy to hate, actually.
Also, I don’t think I can recall the tune of a single song listed here. Hell, I’ve never even heard 80% of them. I think I’m officially an unhip adult.
Jay said:Fagun said:And Linkin Park probably isn’t pop, but I hate basically anything they’ve created or spun off to create except for “Bleed It Out” for some reason.
Anyone who doesn’t admit to feeling exactly this way is lying to themselves. I have never tried to hate something as hard as I did that song, and I just couldn’t make it happen.
I like that one song that goes “DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME! I WON’T! BE! IGNORED!”
- Miley Cyrus. I’m definitely embarrassed when I sing along but it’s so damn catchy.
- Pussycat Dolls – Don’t Cha
- Blink 182 – Dammit (ok, I’m not really embarrass about that, it’s just a great song)
- Shania Twain – Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under
- J-Lo – Let’s Get Loud
John said:I find it pretty easy to hate, actually.
Also, I don’t think I can recall the tune of a single song listed here. Hell, I’ve never even heard 80% of them. I think I’m officially an unhip adult.
Maybe you’re too hip, if you don’t know of these recent pop chart toppers.
Weezer’s entire first album. Pop songs. All catchy, all amazing.
::imagine i “quoted” every single comment above right here::
i officially hate this post.
John said:I find it pretty easy to hate, actually.
Also, I don’t think I can recall the tune of a single song listed here. Hell, I’ve never even heard 80% of them. I think I’m officially an unhip adult.
And what do you know, by saying that, you’ve managed to become a hip adult, jerk.
Way to pick semi-cool-anyway pop songs. Jimmy Eat World? Come on! What’s so shameful about that choice? Show-off.
Cause that song is horrible. It’s just totally addictive.
I have not read the Wikipedia definition of pop music and have no real need to. Pop music is easily defined. It is Popular music. I guess this means that any music made and/or sold by an artist or band or group who hope to sell their product in any amount is making popular music. Whether that is Justin Timberlake, Metallica, Cubanate or the Philly Pops, it is all pop by definition.
The only thing that differentiates these bands, whether they like it or not is genre. Even that though gets blurred. Example, what is indie? for me indie is music released on an independent label. this can include small bands but it also includes bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode, even the scouse bastard Beatles were indie.
My point here is simple every single song mentioned in this thread, possibly every song ever put on vinyl or cd or even download only stuff, it’s all pop.
Oh and ‘Never Ever’ by All Saints and ‘Torn’ by Natalie Imbruglia are two serious contenders for best pop songs ever.
That’s certainly an accurate definition of the genre. But I think it’s too literal. I think “pop” also describes a certain sound; one which changes from generation to generation but still has a few who-knows-whats in common.