Weighty Pop
Last night on BBC 4 there was a program called: Pop, what is it good for. In which Paul Morley went on a journey to evangelize about the worthiness of pop music. He did this by picking 6 songs and investigating their background - the artists, the song writers, the period and the meaning. The 6 songs he picked were: I can’t get your out of my head, Lola, Ride a white swan, What do you want, This charming man and Freak like me.
Amazingly factory free - but the manchester element survived though the smiths. He touched on the dark melancholy that resides behind so many pop songs, be it in the lyrics or music. For me pop is the perfect subversion. It’s rebellion on a mass scale, it’s sex, it’s youth, it’s beauty, it’s perversion and it’s joy. To quote Martin Gore ‘It is all of these things and more’, and all on tea time TV in front of your parents. Pop provides a narrative for coming of age, but also its enjoyable on many levels, by all ages - hence its popular nature.
Great pop defines a time, but also lives beyond that time - however it’s replaying will always transport you back to the period from which you first discovered it. There are teens today discovering led zep, the smiths, nivarna, mamas and papas etc as if it was newly released - touching them permanently even though the playing ‘back to back’ life span will be short. Its like backing up your memories in a handy format.
One other element of the show that hit a personal note for me was the interview with Peter Blake. He will always have a special place in my heart, transporting me back the 4th year art class and a trip to the tate gallery in (1983/84) to see an exhibition of his work. Not only did we have free reign to wander though london’s streets (and get a reprimanding by the constables in Carnaby street) but i got to see real modern art - that changed me for life - both the blake exhibition and the rest of the Tate - esp Roy Lichtenstein’s work - Whaam! being a firm favourite of mine. Pop art and Pop music. Two inclusive art forms that will live forever.
If your reading this within a week of its posting - you should be able to watch the show on BBC iPlayer.
