Pop music = stuff that you can very easily sing along and/or dance to, and it doesn’t outstay its welcome.
I think about pop music as being very much geared to young people and expressing the feelings and experiences of that stage of life. Some rebellion, some insecurity, and of course love and all that goes with it. I think many of the lyrics of “You Get What You Give” express feelings of teenagerhood so strongly, and that along with what to me is an irresistibly buoyant sound is why I think it popped into my head. But if that one doesn’t do it for you, let’s try this one: Love Will Keep Us Together by The Captain & Tennille.
Ok, I don’t think this one will get too much argument:
Dan Hartman, I Can Dream About You
ETA: Oh and Divinyls, Only Lonely
You can never go wrong with early Divinyls.
How about something from this century? (I’m working on 52 BTW, but these kids can make music)
and male singers. . .
One Republic - Counting Stars
Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)
These all must be 4 or 5 years old. Who know’s whats pop now? ----Thanks El Kabong for mentioning songs everybody knows. Hope mine count-----some of them have over 2 billion views.
I bet all of these songs will out live us.
gahhh! knows what’s-----punctuation is difficult.
But since I’m posting what about the a-little-less-pop Renegades by the X Ambassadors?
I’ll add Call Me, Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.
That’s pretty pop. Also, played the hell out of here in this market.
For this century, my favorite pop songs (in the “popular” sense you are using it) are “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, “Hey Ya!” by OutKast, “Umbrella,” by Rihanna, “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce, and this one maybe a slightly personal favorite, “Milkshake” by Kelis. For “pop” in the genre sense, I’d go with “Dancehall Domine” by the New Pornographers.
Great tune, that, fairly unconventional sound, but with massive earworm potential. Helluva video too.
Yeah, I remember the first time I heard it back in late 2003 or early 2004 when I moved back to the US. I had been surrounded mostly by rock and Euro dance music (if I ever hear another song by Scooter, it will be too soon) for the previous five or so years, and it was just so refreshing and “new” for me to hear this relatively minimalistic and rhythmically hypnotic track. It reminded me of something like an urban playground chant, interspersed with a sultry, soulful and melodic verse/B section. Plus that dirty synth bass hook, and that playful bell sound that accentuates the rhythm track every so often. I was and still am so sold on that song. Just a great, tightly produced Top 40 tune.
I have to agree with putting “Waterloo Sunset” and “September Gurls” at the toppermost of the poppermost.
I would add:
“I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” by Gamble & Ross, as recorded by the Supremes/Temptations
“Along Comes Mary” by the Association, who did several other examples of perfect pop, too
“Dandelion” by The Rolling Stones
“Grazing in the Grass” by Hugh Masekela
And what the hell, let’s give Mr. Chilton some more props…”Alex Chilton” by the Replacements.
Red Velvet - Russian Roulette
Cosmic Girls - Secret
Laboum - Hwi Hwi
TWICE - Like Ooh Ahh
BlackPink - As If It’s Your Last
Some great pop music has come out of South Korea the last few years.
“Crazy” is great.“Hey Ya!” is fun. Etc. I’m not trying to hijack the thread. I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole. It’s too deep. I thought “Pop” was easy, and reading the thread would be a dance down memory lane. My New Pornographers choice would be, "The Jessica Numbers". TTFN (TaTaForNow). Bless you, if y’all want to explore the breadth of pop music. Not my thing. Adieu. But I do recognize all of the latest submissions, so is this a good “goodbye” or bad? Or a STFU and let someone else post moment?
Pretty much everything by the New Pornographers is pure power pop goodness!
“Stein Song - University of Maine” by Rudy Vallee.
Og, In my best Shakespearean voice, “I’m leaving! I’m really leaving!”
But I had to post Donald Glover’s Childish Gambino - This Is America (Official Video)
I think we are allowed a single bump. “This is America” wins the thread.
Only one paltry mention of XTC so far in this thread? Sigh. Well, this seems as good an opportunity as any to put forth my nominee for the Perfect Pop Song:
Evidence:
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It’s a happy song about something sad, specifically, the singer and his girl are falling out, and the guy is tired of being humiliated. (In fact, songwriter Andy Partridge would later divorce his wife and cite this song as proof he knew it was coming on an unconscious level.)
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It’s both simple and complex. The main verse is more or less the basic I-IV-V chords, but the two minor bridges are actually different, with subtly varied chord progressions.
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It’s impeccably produced and arranged. Notice how it begins simply, with bass, drums, voice and acoustic guitar, and then gradually builds to include vocal harmonies, a Hammond organ (appearing at the end of the first bridge) and, most gloriously, that 12-string guitar that enters on the second verse and returns midway through the last one. Also, a nice note of trivia: the crowd roar in the last verse was taken from an Elton John concert, at the moment when John Lennon walked onstage to play with him.
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It has a tambourine. I don’t know why this is essential, but it is.
So there.
I’ll also put in a pitch for “Senses Working Overtime”. Granted, the verses are a little odd musically for a typical pop song, but the pre-chorus and then the chorus are pure, infectious, pop goodness. XTC write what I think of as “intelligent pop” or “art pop.”
My choice from XTC would have been “The Loving.”