Welcome to Litsy!

This was a lot of fun, and Stanley seems to be a similar type of pop fan as I am, though not always of the same opinion. I feel he was a bit too grumpy about the β€˜80s and β€˜90s and the very British perspective seemed to shortchange the significance of hip hop and country. I also think he‘s wrong about the modern pop era being β€œover” just because of changes in technology and media (to be fair, this was published in β€˜13; things look different in β€˜20)

β€œA single called β€˜The Burial‘ sampled Tracy Chapman. But this time they [Shut Up and Dance] wouldn‘t get shut down - now there were entire legal teams to deal with samples. The industry had caught up and, if they hadn‘t tamed dance music, they‘d still turned it into a manageable, album-format genre. PJ and Smiley weren‘t bitter. They were aware of their place in the scheme of things. β€˜It‘s how you do things,‘ said PJ...”

β€œReturning home, their [the Go-Go‘s] first album, 1980‘s Beauty and the Beat, included the waterfall-fresh singles β€˜Our Lips Are Sealed‘ (no. 20, β€˜81) and β€˜We Got the Beat‘ (no. 2, β€˜81). It became the first number-one album to be written and performed by an all-female band. A year later they were all dressed as surfing cheerleaders on the cover of Vacation. Here was another way beyond post-punk‘s impasse.”

β€œNone of this makes any sense until you remember their [the Bee Gees] upbringing: cocooned, with extreme arrested development, they had no instincts for cool pop moves.”

β€œDr. Feelgood‘s commercial success was an exception: most random bursts of disaffected 1975 noise disappeared into cardboard boxes - discarded by critics, underpromoted by the industry - and were only unearthed two or three decades later by modern pop archaeologists. A few of these isolated attempts to break free, to extemporate mid-seventies angst, are astonishing. Spunky Spider had maybe the ugliest name ever...”

β€œThe LA sky in 1976 was flawless, as if a nip-and-tuck surgeon had removed the creases. LA was the industry. And CSN [Crosby, Stills, and Nash] now looked and smelled like the industry rather than the underground. The Laurel Canyon scene was rank, sloppy, and happy to peddle such weak fare as James Taylor‘s gutted version of the old Marvin Gaye hit β€˜How Sweet It Is‘ (no. 4, β€˜77). Desiccated, devoid of joy, it was time for pop to go back home...”

β€œBeyond this, there was simply a lot more water to swim in. It felt like San Francisco had given modern pop a sixth and a seventh sense, something that even the hep parents who dug Elvis and the Beatles couldn‘t really get their heads around.”

β€œ[The Shadows‘] best single was β€˜Wonderful Land,‘ a UK number one in early β€˜62. It was probably written as a hymn to America, its glamour, its color, and its endless skies. But what I hear in β€˜Wonderful Land‘ is a British dream of the future, the primary-colored optimism of postwar Britain, people moving to the new towns ringing London, the space and light in the bright open spaces of Crawley and Stevenage...”

β€œThe music of 1952 was the music of the generation who had been in the war, and if some craved more of the same excitement and exotica, plenty craved calm, reserve, and culture that hinted more than it blared. The later idea that modern pop was all about the spreading around of forbidden knowledge didn‘t really count in the decade after the war ended, when there was pretty good reason for people not to be sharing the things they‘d learned...”

This book is PACKED with information and would merit multiple readings, ideally with a playlist of the songs mentioned in each chapter. I hope I‘ll be open to trying more new music after seeing just how varied and cool pop music is.

Belated wrap-up post from @Sace β€˜s Read With Me event this past weekend. Finished four books in four days. Just finished the tagged this afternoon, after the readathon. Haven‘t started the Nigel Tranter yet, but will probably do this evening.

β€œthe Doctor Who theme remains arguably the most influential electronic record ever made.”

I am prepared to buy this argument, but I am monstrously biased 🀣

There is a point on [I Heard Her Call My Name], immediately after [Lou] Reed sings β€œand then my mind split open,” where you can actually hear a tear in the time-space continuum. This was 1967, but it was also 1977. And 1987. Reed and Cale had somehow created a noise so brand new that it tore a hole in pop‘s natural state of progression...

« Resident beat group at the Iron Door were the Searchers, fronted by an ex-boxer with a squashed nose called Tony Jackson. »

Makes it sound like the guy‘s nose is called Tony Jackson ?

I‘m mad I didn‘t know more about Ms Wanda Jackson before today! Her growl-y rockabilly style is such a mood.

So Aug 9th is book lovers day! So happy happy everyone!!

This is my husband‘s selection for #SheLovesYou . The answer is obviously Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

#HeyJune

@GypsyKat
@Cinfhen

Hit a milestone! It's been fun with you all! Can't wait to see what everyone does next.

I feel better about posting my #yearofbooks from Goodreads now. πŸ˜„ I reached my goal of reading 100 books, and went over it too which is awesome!

@MrBook and I are in the Big Apple, having a swell discussion about this book and about music with our 20/30-Something Long Reads Book Club! πŸ«πŸ“šπŸŽΆ

@BookBabe & I are running a meeting of our #The2030SomethingLongReadsBookClub! I ate my breakfast sandwich already, sorry 😜. It was gooood πŸ˜‹: Taylor ham, egg, & cheese on a roll. Mmmmmm! What a great discussion πŸ˜πŸ‘πŸ»πŸ‘πŸ»πŸ‘πŸ»! Wish you all were here with us!

#BookNDinner! I finally managed to pry my book from Coale's fuzzy little paws! 😹 Tonight's feast is comprised of baked teriyaki and garlic herb marinated salmon fillets, steakhouse seasoned garlic green beans, and white sushi rice, paired with a pot of organic Kukicha Japanese green tea. 🍡 Yum! This has been another production of #MrBookBookBabeKitchen. Happy reads & happy eats! πŸ˜‹

#BookNDinner! Accompaniment this very dark evening: teriyaki salmon fillets, white rice, steakhouse garlic green beans, and sparkling lemon water. MMMMMM πŸ˜‹! This has been another presentation of: #MrBookBookBabeKitchen! Happy reads & happy eats! πŸ˜ŽπŸ‘ŒπŸ»

Um, #Coale, can I have my book back now please? I need to finish it by the weekend! You can read it after I'm done. #catsofLitsy

As a snowstorm brews outside, #Coale and I are curled up in our living room, as I‘m reading and drinking tea and listening to soothing piano music. ☺️ πŸŽΆπŸŽΉβ„οΈπŸ“š

#BookNDinner! Accompaniment this chilly evening: grilled teriyaki tilapia fillet; steamed white rice; steamed green beans; sparkling lemon water. This has been another presentation of: #MrBookBookBabeKitchen. Happy reads & happy eats! πŸ˜ŽπŸ‘ŒπŸ»

#BookNBrunch! 🍳 Scrambled eggs with New York Sharp Cheddar cheese, extra crispy tots, and crispy bacon, with a mug of organic loose leaf chamomile lemon tea! πŸ˜‹ @MrBook and I are trying to power through these tomes in time for our Long Reads book club Meetup in NYC on Sunday. πŸ“šπŸŽΆ

#BookNDinner! #Libraryhaul edition. Reading this one for the #2030SomethingLongReadsBookClub that @BookBabe & I run 😁. Accompaniment includes: baked ziti with meat sauce; meatballs in marinara; warm buttered peasant bread; and Coke. MMMmmm πŸ˜‹! This has been another presentation of: #MrBookBookBabeKitchen. Happy reads & happy eats! πŸ˜ŽπŸ‘ŒπŸ»