Oh, someone finally started that pop thread. Excellent. 
The Pop Thread
- Thread starter The Flash
- Start date
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
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.
JudasMyGuide
The resident reactionary recalcitrant
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...
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Judging from this thread, that statement appears to be an understatement.
Agree 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.
The Flash
Dennis Wilcock did 9/11
Judging from this thread, that statement appears to be an understatement.
Taylor Swift to James is what Britney Spears is to me.
(He might have surpassed me, actually. I, too, roam around fan forums but I haven't actually bought her albums yet)
I would consider a lot of Beach Boys progressive.
JudasMyGuide
The resident reactionary recalcitrant
Yeah, that one's been originally from Smile too
The Flash
Dennis Wilcock did 9/11
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.
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
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.
DJ James
A coma stole my name.
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.
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.
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
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.
THESEVENTHMARINER
Ancient Mariner
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.
Damn, it's quite a good song. I feel ashamed.