Authenticity has NOTHING to do with pop music. That’s a belief system propagated by German music writers and humorless teenage assholes. — John Roderick, Seattle Weekly
Years ago when my husband and I had only been dating for a little while, we were watching a TV show called VH1 Classic One Hit Wonders. The episode theme was “prom songs,” and the first video that came on was “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. (I guess it was an ’80s prom.) I turned to Josh and said — completely sincerely and in an excited tone of voice — “This episode is going to be great, because it’s going to be all crowdpleasers!” He stared at me for a beat or two and then said, “Oh that’s right, you like crowdpleasers.”
This anecdote basically sums up my attitude toward pop and the reaction that attitude often elicits. I like crowdpleasers. More specifically, I like songs that have a catchy hook, a compelling melody, and reasonably good production. Songs with those qualities tend to be likable. Many of them are in fact crowdpleasers, and even hits. And that doesn’t make me like them any less. Maybe that seems obvious, but in my peer group — somewhere along the hipster-yuppie spectrum — I’m constantly surprised by the number of people who dismiss music because it’s popular or accessible.
On the other side of the coin you have people who believe that non-mainstream music is weird, pretentious, or boring. And some of it is, of course. But some of it also has catchy hooks, compelling melodies, and reasonably good production. And I like those songs too.
So here’s my manifesto: I love pop music. I love hooks and melodies. I love a well-produced record. And there are plenty of other non-mandatory qualities I love as well: handclaps, vocal harmonies, horn and string arrangements, duets, clever lyrics, depth of feeling, storytelling, a danceable beat. And perhaps unusually, I love these things regardless of whether they are popular or esoteric, cool or uncool.
I believe the only way to judge the quality of a song is by the song itself. It doesn’t matter if the song was written by the 19-year-old who sings it or a 40-year-old Swedish guy. It doesn’t matter if the band formed organically or was put together by a PR mastermind. It doesn’t matter if the artist looks like a model or someone’s dad. (Notice all of these distinctions are about bands, not songs.) A good song stands on its own and is authentic regardless of whether its by the Monkees or the Beatles, the Arctic Monkeys or Ed Sheehan.
I intend for this blog to function as a musical diary where I can explore my devotion to melodic, catchy pop music. I want to write about the songs, albums, and artists I love. And I want to help reclaim the kinds of songs and artists who might be easily dismissed as lightweight or mainstream. For anyone who ends up reading this site, I hope you discover (and rediscover) the glory of pop.