Pop hurts.

"...no one’s telling you how to live your life, but it’s a set up, until you're fed up.”

- “Nobody Knows Me”, Madonna (from American Life, 2003)

Welcome to my new blog!

The other one was a bit grey and Radiohead/Dead-Air-Space wannabe. Ok, not so much that latter; as much as I pretend to be a dark and mysterious individual, in truth, I'm just a deeply nerdy gay man who dances around his room to "Vogue" by Madonna at least once a week and who cries at Glee.

When people ask me what type of music I like, I generally say "from Radiohead to Madonna", which is categorically true. Radiohead changed my life, and I used to be reet into my metal (albeit the homoerotic stuff with keyboards). But my 25 most played tracks on Itunes betrays the truth. Let's have a look:

Oh, there's Janet Jackson at 20. And 13. And 10. And 5. Oops. That doesn't look very credible. Maybe I should wipe the play count? (I always do that whenever I listen to my own music, it makes me look more modest.) Oh crikey, Madonna appears 3 times in the top 10? And the bleedin' Saturdays at number 4? I must be so gay it smarts. Either that or I'm a 14 year old girl, it would explain a lot.

Ok, ok, this is turning into a pop music confessional. But you know what? I admit, I did have a Janet Jackson phase, a major one at that, and sometimes I wish I was fifteen years older so I could have been a teenager dancing to "Like a Prayer" and "Express Yourself" in '89. And "Chasing Lights" by the Saturdays... you know what? Fuck you all, it's a gorgeous tune.

The point is, I like pop songs. Not necessarily "popular" songs, but songs that understand the nature of pop music. The search for the perfect melody, the perfect bridge leading into the perfect chorus. Each time this formula has been found, e.g. "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey, "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson, "Vogue" by Madonna, "Stop" by the Spice Girls... people, whether they actively seek out new music or not, are always subconsciously listening out for the next perfect pop song.

And so am I. So every week on this blog I’m going to talk about my thoughts on pop music, current and not so current. I’ll post links to my favourite songs and at the end of every month, as I’ve been doing on my other blog, I’ll compile a top 10 songs of the month. Oh I do love a list.

I’ll kick the blog into motion, with a track that kicked me into orbit when I heard it. Xenomania are the production team behind Girls Aloud, but I think the firecrackers in Mini Viva actually give more of an edge to Xenomania’s future-disco beats. Glorious high energy electronic dance with a chorus that is borderline euphoria, in every sense of the word, their new single “One Touch” is out this month.



It reminds me of what dance music used to be like, before it became infested with urban attitude. Here's a reminder of the kind of shamelessly camp dancepop that used to be popular. Angel City were mainly known for "Love Me Right", a seductive slice of trance-infused dancepop from 2004, but their album (of the same name as the lead single) contained some much superior material, especially this track, "City Lights", which reflects the very excitement and anticipation of its subject matter. It simply oozes nightlife spirit in a way that current number one single "Roll Deep" can only dream of.



On a sad note, Angel City seem to have dropped off the face of the earth after 2005. Shame.