Help Me! I hate...

Pop Music

More than one person has told me, in visceral detail, just how much they hate Pop Music. What I find amusing about this is that the same people, if pressed, will sing the praises of the Beatles as groundbreaking artists. For those not in the know, the Beatles' chord and song structures form the basis of pretty much every Pop song written since. So yeah, the Beatles are responsible (albeit indirectly) for Katy Perry, Boy Bands and Adam Ant. 

Another fact about Pop music that people tend to forget is that it goes away. Many a teenager (including myself once) can be heard to remark about "Today's" music is inferior to that of decades gone by. This phenomenon can be put down, at least somewhat, to flashback radio stations and compilation CDs, that keep all of the good Pop music of a given decade in rotation whilst dropping the crap off the radar. 

With this knowledge under your belt, is it fair to say you hate Pop music? "But the Beatles are classic, you can't compare them to Lady Gaga!" I hear you cry. Also, there's no real challenge in getting people to enjoy the fruits of the British Invasion or Motown. So I'm going to pick five Pop songs from the past five years to see if I can't turn you around on this. 

1. Matt & Kim - Daylight (2009) 

It seems I'm constantly propping up this song, but there's a good reason for this... It's fucking awesome. Matt & Kim never really hit in Australia, but their drum kit/Keyboard combo creates a catchy beat that I think displays the real potential of Pop music. If this sounds somewhat familiar, it was used for a Mars advertisement for a number of years. 

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero (2009) 

 The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have wavered between being Pop, Alternative, Punk and Grunge over the past decade, with varying success. After a couple of lackluster albums, they released It's Blitz! in 2009, demonstrating that they are a truly talented band worth paying attention to. The biggest (and perhaps best) song on the album was Zero, a frenzied dance track that is almost impossible to resist. Many label the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as "Alternative", but Zero is a Pop song inside and out. 

3. Nothin' On You (Beautiful Girls) - B.O.B. feat. Bruno Mars (2010) 

 Regardless of your opinion on it, Hip Hop has ingratiated itself into Pop Music over the past decade, so it would be remiss of me to ignore the Hip Hop/Pop/Hip Pop style of song that tends to grace the Pop charts. Never mind that this is easily Bruno Mars' only palatable performance, or that B.O.B. is clearly the inheritor to Andre 3000, this song would be great without those outside influences propping it up. This is a true love song, the kind of which isn't really seen much these days. I just don't see how people could really hate on this... don't we all want to be loved? 


4. Poker Face - Lady Gaga (2008) 

 I'm getting just a little bit sick of people hating on Lady Gaga. It's not like I'm a fan or anything, it's just not the kind of music I'm really into. However, when compared to the endless list of manufactured, auto-tuned, plastic Pop starlets, how can a Juliard-educated, piano prodigy who writes her own songs and refuses to be conventional not come off better? This clip is (in)famous for showing off Gaga's real talent and is well worth watching, especially if you claim to hate her. 


5. Metric - Black Sheep (2008/2010)

This song, an Underground Pop hit from 2008, got  a second life after being featured on the Scott Pilgrim Versus The World Soundtrack. Once again, this song can be considered more "Alternative", but I've included here because it does demonstrate the traditional Beatles-esque verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure. It's a Pop song through and through, and damn enjoyable one too.

There you have it, give Pop music another try, there's plenty of good stuff out there if you're prepared to look.