So, here.
My absolute favorite thing about good pop music is its incredulous ability to get directly to the point that it is trying to make. While more literary lyricists and complex songwriters are fine, pop music is more of a gleeful romp rather than a web of tangled lyrics and ironic harmonies. Pop music offers the listener the chance to simply shut down and accept whatever idea or emotion is being conveyed in the absolute simplest of terms. I have always found these traits to be most apparent in the indie, twee, and jangle genres of pop ("indie pop" may have certain "MTV" or "MATADOR" connotation with those unaware of the underground pop movement of the mid-late eighties, but ask any popster with a fancy for that era and they will set you straight :-P ). With the Sarah Records catalogue, as well as bands like Hüsker Dü and Galaxie 500, this brand of pop music had taken a concept long left sleeping since the 1960s; write songs that get to the point.
This movement, which was most prominent in Europe, had eventually infiltrated into the North American underground from coast to coast, oddly never even coming close to reaching the mainstream unlike most large-scale subculture movements. Known as popsters and twee kids, these artists would never get a whole lot of major media recognition for pretty much anything. However, the notion of success was somewhat exactly what these artists did NOT want to achieve. This era held a lot of strict DIY culture values shown in their close connection with independent recording, distro, labels, packaging, zines, and radio. As with most DIY cultures, the purest essence of the culture is lost once it has been exploited by the media (see Punk Rock and Hip Hop).
Aspects of the twee pop culture had later made their way into the mainstream in a few forms. For example, notable bands such as The Cure and R.E.M. were directly influenced by many of of the jangle pop bands of the 1980's. Bringing back the old chorus pedal guitar jangle of the 1960's, these bands did well in combining aspects of punk rock, 1960's American pop, and Brazilian jazz to create a very polished pop sound.
I would like to share with you some tracks which I find to be absolutely wonderful examples of perfect pop music from the twee era. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do!
Brilliant Corners - "Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me?" (1988)
Close Lobsters - "The Skyscrapers of St. Mirin" (1986)
Red Sleeping Beauty - "Stupid Boy" (1992)
Another Sunny Day - "Anorak City" (1988)
Finally, I would like to share with you my absolute favorite band of the era, a Sarah Records' golden child, Talulah Gosh.
Talulah Gosh is, for me, the most perfect pop music. The songs barely breach one minute and rarely fall under 190 BPM. All members of the band are rather untalented and have nothing of substance to sing about. This is what I love about pop music.
Have a good day! I will post more music tomorrow!
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