The Pop Thread

If I've been somewhat quiet around here it's because I ended up buying everything (yes, everything) from Taylor Swift and I found a community of people online that I've been discussing her music with. Really damn good stuff.
 
One of the all-time great pop songs -- but also proto-progressive? For such a short song, it's got a number of different sections. Whatever, it's a great song regardless, and I'm not a huge fan of the group generally.

Yeah, pretty much everything intended for SMILE is somewhat proto-prog-pop. My personal favourite is Heroes & Villains (all versions, the following is from Smiley Smile)



however, like them or not, at least Pet Sounds, some version of Smile (whether the Smile Sessions boxset or the Brian Wilson solo reconstruction from 2004) and possibly even The Beach Boys Today! is a necessary listen, IMHO. You get this overt creativity mixed with relative complexity (on par with contemporary Zombies, at least), beauty, introspection and madness, which is an explosive combination you would never get from the Beatles, in fact (but then again, they were different).

Oh, since I mentioned Zombies in the last paragraph, would you believe this following song is dated 1964? That's somewhat hard to believe...

 
I really like Taylor Swift.

Judging from this thread, that statement appears to be an understatement. :pAgree she's talented.

I'm not sure how talented Demi Lovato is, but she's easy on the eyes.

In terms of more current pop, there is some decent stuff out there. These two songs are from albums I have already mentioned in "Best Albums of 201__" threads:




And, to show that I'm not just a middle-aged perv who likes attractive young women, I think this song is great too.
 
One of the all-time great pop songs -- but also proto-progressive? For such a short song, it's got a number of different sections. Whatever, it's a great song regardless, and I'm not a huge fan of the group generally.

I would consider a lot of Beach Boys progressive.
 
Do "Surf's Up" and "Student Demonstration Time" represent the greatest difference in quality between two songs on the same album ever?
 

So might be my favorite pop album ever. (Along with Violator by Depeche Mode)
 
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So is a good one. My favorite pop album ever has to be Purple Rain.
 
I haven't heard Purple Rain aside from the title track, which was good. Prince isn't making it any easy to find the tracks online.
The CD is easily worth the $5 it's going for now. It was HUUGE when it came out. I still listen to it from time to time. Very good 80s R&B/pop.
 
I listened to CHVRCHES's debut album today. Enjoyable, not entirely memorable. This was actually my first non-Taylor Swift pop album. I really like this whole modern pop thing, it's a sound I thoroughly enjoy. Some complaints: All the synths are a bit much, they need to improve their songwriting, they get really hipster-y really fast, and I don't like the lead male vocals. The good: the pacing is excellent and they're some really catchy songs on here. Also, Lauren Mayberry is really pretty.


 
Chvrches is one of my favorite current bands right now. Saw them live last year and they were awesome. The TS song Out of the Woods is also totally an homage to them.

Male vocals aren't any good on the first album but luckily there's not a lot of it. He's improved a lot since and sounds really good on his song for the second album: High Enough To Carry You Over.
 
I actually first heard of the band through a review of 1989 (reviewer compared Out of the Woods to CHVRCHES). A few friends of mine prompted me to listen to them. Yeah I bet they'd be an awesome live band.
 
I bet they'd be an awesome live band.
Not really. Much of it is prerecorded, and they pretty much just stand there and bounce a lot. But the girl does have a nice voice and is cute. That does not a great live show make. I do like their music. But if you like that electronic pop sound, Grimes is much much better.
 
My sister put one of her One Direction CDs on yesterday, and I found myself singing along to Drag Me Down.

Damn, it's quite a good song. I feel ashamed.
 
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