Populist

Comments

121. 121

     Neil C † on 31 Mar 2016 #

     Hello all – I’ve been reading Popular for the last 3 years (came in around the time of Earth Song) and it has fast become my favourite music site, particularly after reading Mr Lineman’s wonderful hostory of pop, Yeah Yeah Yeah.

     I was really taken aback by my own anticipation levels for an upcoming bunny this Easter (one that I Find Hard To Expunge From My Mind), and it got me thinking about the whole Popular enterprise, and how much it’s enriched my appreciation of music.

     Over the years I’ve generally relied on my memory of these songs while reading Popular, playing them back in my mind rather than actually listening to them.  Thar changed recently when I discovered the option to list the entries by score – I put all the 9s and 10s on a playlist, LOVED it, added the 8s and 7s, in quick succession, and suddenly I had 10 hours of wonderful pop music spanning 50 years!

     As someone who listens mainly to albums, hearing these hits back-to-back has been a revelation. No filler tracks to grimly push through – every song sparkles with vitality, and the range of styles is astonishing, even in a single year. I’ve rediscovered many songs I thought my Uni disco had ruined forever (ABBA, The Buggles) and songs that my teenage indie self would have dismissed out of hand (Backstreet Boys and, unbelievably, Livin’ Joy), as well as digging some old favourites out for the first time in far too long.

     I’ve now cut the list down even further to my own selection of the 100 best, and it’s just terrific. I’m going to get so much fun out of these songs – soundtracks to exercise, making my siblings mix CDs that they’ll actually play, and (most importantly) introducing my baby daughter to the wonder of pop music.

     So thankyou Tom and all you marvellous  comments people – you’ve reminded me how amazing pop music can be!

122. 122

     Tom on 7 Apr 2016 #

     Thankyou Neil! I missed this comment when you posted it!

     Early days of course but we currently have a new 00s number one. I can see it holding that position too.

123. 123

     weej † on 4 May 2016 #

     Very cool toy here – http://polygraph.cool/history/ – which lets you play through a visualised rundown of the US top 5 from 1956-2016, not sure where to put it but sure a lot of people on here might spend an evening playing with it. Hope we can get one for the UK top 5 too.

124. 124

     EPG on 15 Sep 2017 #

     is so good

125. 125

     We're #2!: Bryan Adams, Sting & Rod Stewart's "All for One" - Set The Tape † on 11 Mar 2019 #

     […] by Tom Ewing’s “Popular” (which traces the history of UK #1 singles) and Tom Breihan’s “The Number Ones” (which […]

126. 126

     We're #2!: Toni Braxton's "Breathe Again" - Set The Tape † on 19 Mar 2019 #

     […] by Tom Ewing’s “Popular” (which traces the history of UK #1 singles) and Tom Breihan’s “The Number Ones” (which […]

127. 127

     We're #2!: Ace of Base's "The Sign" - Set The Tape † on 25 Mar 2019 #

     […] by Tom Ewing’s “Popular” (which traces the history of UK #1 singles) and Tom Breihan’s “The Number Ones” (which […]

128. 128

     We're #2!: Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia" - Set The Tape † on 1 Apr 2019 #

     […] by Tom Ewing’s “Popular” (which traces the history of UK #1 singles) and Tom Breihan’s “The Number Ones” (which […]

129. 129

     We're #2!: Crash Test Dummies' 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm' - Set The Tape † on 1 May 2019 #

     […] by Tom Ewing’s “Popular” (which traces the history of UK #1 singles) and Tom Breihan’s “The Number Ones” (which […]

130. 130

     Marc B † on 13 Dec 2019 #

     Is something awry with the readers’ scores? I note that Dirrty has the third (!) highest score whilst pretty much everything else posted of late is tied in last place with a score of zero. I always rather liked seeing what the Popular community rated and the extent to which that correlated with Tom’s score. Is nobody scoring tracks anymore (other then whoever gave Christina a 9) or is there something up with the system?

131. 131

     lonepilgrim † on 16 Dec 2019 #

     I suspect it’s because so many of us are locked out by the filtering system and can no longer log on to vote. Meanwhile the filtering system seems to let an assortment of bots to post

Add your comment

• Chart Busting

  How would you like your statistics?

  • Chronological
  • by score
  • FT reader top 100
  • FT reader bottom 100
  • most controversial
  • least controversial
  • Ave v Std Dev per decade
  • Ave v Std Dev per 10s of votes

• Featured Posts

  Manage A Team In The Pop World Cup 2014!

  21 Nov 2013 So here we are. The 32 qualifiers for the football World Cup have been decided, which means it’s time, once again, to get ready for the POP WORLD CUP. The point of this post is very simple. If you want to be a manager in the Pop World Cup, put your name in the comments […]

  Pokémon X And Why

  9 Jan 2013 GET UR FROAK ON While most of my online acquaintances were geeking out today at the thought of a new David Bowie album, our house was far more excited by the announcement of new Pokémon games – Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, the first on Nintendo’s 3DS console(1). The announcement was made by the President […]

  WHITE TOWN – “Your Woman”

  4 Feb 2014 #757, 25th January 1997 In 1997, talking about music on the Internet means USENET, a Gormenghast of diverging and reconnecting fora whose goblin tribes gleefully rampage through each other’s chosen lairs: a thread will start on alt.music.prodigy, then careen into alt.music.spice-girls via alt.music.misc, while Discordians and trolls plot to spread it still further. Still, there […]

  The Pornography Of Nostalgia

  15 Aug 2006 The Notorious Bettie Page is a film about the good old days of porn. You know, when it wasn’t exploitative, and all the girls portrayed within were not only fun loving conspirators in an art project, but believed in Jeebus too. Most film about porn are about the good old days. Inside Deep Throat told […]

  PROPER LONDON: Saint Etienne – “Foxbase Alpha”

  30 Apr 2000 April 2000, Piccadilly The sun comes out over London and the Summer starts: everywhere you look you see people in love, snogging on the tubes and holding hands on the escalators so you can’t get past them. Baggy shorts and halter tops all over the place, kids sitting together on Eros and choking on the […]

  Enormous Legends

  8 Feb 2001 Charlemagne Palestine – Four Manifestations on Six Elements  1. Charlemagne Palestine approaches a piano like a climber approaches a mountain. He does not play the instrument so much as he lets it test him: he starts each performance like an ascent, knowing that somewhere ahead there are the limits of the piano, and also the […]

  Freaky Trigger: Cure Site Central

  1 Apr 2001 freaky trigger : all cure, all the time everyday – beach kyoto paris siam : : i love the cure : : cure artefacts How To Join In Cure Discussions Cure Reviews Cure Articles Other Cure Articles Cure Albums of the 90s Cure Singles of the 90s Cure Links E-Mail every week Am I Bob […]

  Couldn’t Life Ever Be Sane Again?

  27 Sep 2001 What is “Panic” about? Dismissed and attacked since its release as small-minded, or snobbish, or even borderline racist, The Smiths’ anti-disco broadside continues to intrigue. On this thread, The Pinefox calls it a “yoking of two ideas” – a revolutionary fantasia and an attack on dance music – and claims that it’s the second of […]
  Other feature posts »