I have a new Pitchfork column up, called “45 Things I Love About Pop”, which as titles go is among my more straightforward ones. A lot of what I talk about is helpfully linked to thanks to the wonders of YouTube: this post is designed to […]

As Martin S pointed out on the “I Will Survive” comments thread, Pulp have borrowed both lyrics and hooks from this song, the latter in their epic His N Hers track “She’s A Lady” – which shares a theme as well as a[…]

“Until” was the B-Side to “Tragedy”, and well worth hearing perhaps especially if you’re no fan of the A’s more overblown qualities. It’s also on parent album Spirits Having Flown, so it’s not especiall[…]

16. Kicks Like A Mule – The Bouncer
As previously mentioned, I was eager to experience the world of clubbing from an early age. But despite this pre-teen enthusiasm, I didn’t enter my first proper nightclub until I was a disappointingly l[…]

Like the pictures sleeves, this is something I wish I’d thought of doing aaaages ago, but instead it came to me in a flash tonight when this track showed up in the MP3 player.
A Popular Companion is an MP3 blog, of sorts, accompanying Popular: […]

Yes, yes, I know, why not just change the name of the website to New Morrissey Express Freaky Hibbett and be done with it, but just one more, then I’ll shut up for a bit.
In actually two hours time I set off for EDINBURGH where myself and Mr Hi[…]

Mentioned on the Brotherhood of Man Popular thread were Luv’ (the apostrophe is part of the name, yes) – manufactured Dutch late 70s pop designed to fill the gap in the market left when ABBA got all serious and technical and stopped doing[…]

So far I have spectacularly failed to fulfil my intended investigation into Westlife. To make up for it, last week I took my Mum to see The Feeling play at Somerset House (Mum had wanted to see Duffy, but that had sold out months earlier). The Feelin[…]

Apologies that this is a month late, I only learnt of Nick’s death from cancer earlier this week, although obits did appear in the guardian, independant and mojo as well as on Quietus (although there seems to be something up with the main artic[…]

And perhaps more importantly – who cares? If the impending closure of the obnoxiously “Web 2.0” BBC Sound Index this Friday is any guide, the answer is pretty clear.
Oh sure, the site boasts more than 22 million “comments, pos[…]