Music hot takes

[RPS]

I had this mind fuck the other day. I realized that I'm So Excited by the Pointer Sisters is probably one of the greatest songs ever released and in 100 years people will still be listening to that and no one will care about Radiohead. One hit wonders are underrated.  

[Bobfoc]

I'd say that The Pointer Sisters are far from a one-hit wonder.

[GhostMachine]

Fire.

He's So Shy.

Automatic. 

Jump.

 The Neutron Dance.

 Slow Hand. 

Yeah, they are one-hit wonders, alright. 

*edited to add* And for the record, all of those songs were more successful than I'm So Excited. A remix of it made the top 10, but the original didn't even crack the top 25. The songs I posted were all top 10s.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by GhostMachine

[tristy]

None of those songs are in the cultural zeitgeist like I'm So Excited is. Same thing with Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley. You google "one hit wonder" and that phrase plus his name is one of the autocomplete suggestions, for fucks sake. But he had other singles that broke the US top 10, hit #1 or broke into the top 10 in other countries, but he's still considered a "one hit wonder". Because the phrase isn't meant to be taken literally - it's meaning is that they had one song that actually broke into pop culture and has stayed there. I'm So Excited and Never Gonna Give You Up definitely fit those parameters.

I had to look up what other songs Astley had that charted, and I'm willingly to bet you did too with those Pointer Sisters songs, because they don't stay with you like I'm So Excited did/does.

[RPS]

3 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

Fire.

He's So Shy.

Automatic. 

Jump.

 The Neutron Dance.

 Slow Hand. 

Yeah, they are one-hit wonders, alright. 

*edited to add* And for the record, all of those songs were more successful than I'm So Excited. A remix of it made the top 10, but the original didn't even crack the top 25. The songs I posted were all top 10s.

The average person knows none of those songs but definitely knows I'm So Excited. 

[Bobfoc]

I always thought the average person at least knew Jump (For My Love).

[RPS]

1 hour ago, Bobfoc said:

I always thought the average person at least knew Jump (For My Love).

Nope. I think the average person has a a loose grasp on music, which is what I was thinking about. 

In 100 years, no one is going to care about Arcade Fire or the Strokes or Animal Collective or Kanye West or half of the critically acclaimed musicians. They never made that one timeless song that will stand the test of time.  There is something kind of charming about musicians who are able to release one iconic song that is able to stay timeless forever. Like I can guarantee you in 100 years people will still dance to The Macarena. 

[VerbalPuke]

8 hours ago, RPS said:

Nope. I think the average person has a a loose grasp on music, which is what I was thinking about. 

In 100 years, no one is going to care about Arcade Fire or the Strokes or Animal Collective or Kanye West or half of the critically acclaimed musicians. They never made that one timeless song that will stand the test of time.  There is something kind of charming about musicians who are able to release one iconic song that is able to stay timeless forever. Like I can guarantee you in 100 years people will still dance to The Macarena. 

Interesting/Point discussion.

The 80s had a huge collection of one hit wonders, as did the 90s. I see what you’re saying. In 100 years you’ll still hear the one hit wonders in bars, weddings, baseball games, etc. 

But then there are a lot of great bands with hits, that probably will remain timeless (but maybe not a hit that is just universally known), maybe on a lesser scale depending on the band. 

Here’s a maybe not so hot take. The Temptations were amazing. Like not just a great Motown band, but an all time great band in general. The music was excellent, they were all great singers, and they were able to transition into other styles beyond Motown. And it fucking worked. I think they hold their own with any band of the 60s.

[=BK=]

16 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

I always thought the average person at least knew Jump (For My Love).

I like 80's music and I just gave it a listen. It's one of those songs I've heard for 30 seconds in the background of some kind of media I just can't quite recall. 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Didn't a girl band cover Jump? I quite enjoyed the cover at the time.

[Colly]

Girls Aloud did.

[Bobfoc]

I think it was in Love Actually as well.

[Gabriel]

Michale Graves is a better vocalist than Danzig, but his talent is often overlooked because of his association with the resurrected Misfits.

Similarly, the Jerry-Fits aren't nearly as bad as people would make them out to be. Live, it's a fun singalong show. The Devil's Rain and Project 1950 are good records. Devil's Rain, in particular, isn't even in the top five Misfits albums, but it's not the disaster that it was made out to be. The songs are well done and catchy. Admittedly, having another person to write things with and run ideas through would have helped immensely. Michale Graves and Doyle having their hands in American Psycho and Famous Monsters made those albums great, but they still would have been good with Jerry's songwriting. It also would have helped The Devil's Rain if they had a straight up vocalist. If Graves sang those songs, the album would have been much better received.

One more: Ignite is a criminally under-valued hardcore band.

[RPS]

16 hours ago, VerbalPuke said:

But then there are a lot of great bands with hits, that probably will remain timeless (but maybe not a hit that is just universally known), maybe on a lesser scale depending on the band. 

I think there are the indisputable hits that are iconic and crack the zeitgeist - like Hey Jude or Billie Jean or I Will Always Love You. Songs that will exist forever and are transcendent. 

But there are those type of songs that exists for people who follow other genres. Like every punk fan has heard Blitzkrieg Bop and it is iconic for them. Every rock fan can probably hum the lyrics to Seven Nation Army. Every person who is into dance music probably knows Sandstorm. It is still an impressive feat, but it is still incredible that people listen to Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You every single year. 

 

[Bobfoc]

I think we're probably just disagreeing with what the term "one-hit wonder" means. If we're talking about songs that could get an entire room of people with different musical tastes to sing along, I agree, and there are probably an awful lot of hugely successful acts that don't have any of them. By that definition, Bon Jovi's got one and Kanye West arguably doesn't have any, despite all his chart success. If that's what you mean, I can see what you're talking about now.

There's definitely something special about a universally known hit that can get people singing together. I'm never likely to go to a concert involving either of the Gallagher brothers, but Wonderwall singalongs are always fun.

As for a hot take, I think MMMBop is a genuinely good pop song.

[apsham]

1 hour ago, Bobfoc said:

As for a hot take, I think MMMBop is a genuinely good pop song.

Sweet holy christ, I was just coming in here to post this actually - been on my mind (and in my head) for a few days now since I've been listening to the String Theory version that they put out a year or so back. But a year or so back I found it again, actually found out what the lyrics were and I think it's a song with a good message for what many people think of as just a catchy chorus.

[Meacon Keaton]

It never came to my mind while reading this thread, but yeah, I don't and never did get the hate for Mmmbop other than it just being the cool thing to do to hate on three successful kids for having a hit single. I swear I heard it on the radio the other day and it's still as catchy as it was 20+ years ago. 

Also, Jesus Christ, typing that Mmmbop was 20+ years ago makes me feel like an old mudduh'fugga. 

[Draevyn]

John Mayer is amazing....I don't really know if that's a hot take but I feel like on this board it would be. I think he has amazing song writing ability and his voice is amazing.

[Gabriel]

I always thought that Ed Sheerhan (spelling?) was a more accessible John Mayer, so people who didn't get into Mayer because not all of his stuff is Your Body is a Wonderland-type pop music ended up liking Ed... but John Mayer is superior in so many ways. Killer guitarist too.

[Daniel Bryan]

On 26/06/2019 at 12:56, RPS said:

The average person knows none of those songs but definitely knows I'm So Excited. 

I know Fire, Slow Hand, and Jump, but didn't realise they were Pointer Sisters songs, for what that's worth. I'm pretty sure that's only because Fire was on Glee, Slow Hand was on one of those TV adverts for compilation albums that played relentlessly when I was younger, and Jump because of the Girls Aloud cover. But then I likely only know I'm So Excited because it was on the Crunchie ads so who knows. I wouldn't exactly bank on it lasting forever though. It's already a nostalgia thing and it'll get supplanted by new nostalgia. Our lifetime, maybe. Beyond that? Not likely.