At least for me. God I love that band.

Ok, it has become ubiquitous over the past couple of months, but stil one of the most tuneful pop songs of the year I think

from me the last while. I first heard it via St Etienne, and there's days I prefer their version, but this'll do for now...

Also this. From the first time my eardrums were hit with it, I'm taken back to the summer of '94, a decent summer job, a trip to France, waking up starkers in a strange house miles from anywhere...ah yes...

(actually, there's also 'Pure' and 'Sense' I could've picked, but I've got sod all in the line of ropy memories to go along with 'em)

Neon Trees - 'Animal'

An idiot told me it was crap and I was not to be trusted for liking it. She was awfully rude about it...

on the radio while I was having a cafe lunch today (pie and chips since you ask) and I wanted to shoe horn it in somewhere, THIS is pop. Thanks Bob!

Love Affair "Everlasting Love"

I bow to no-one that the best 10 of Girls Aloud is a wonderful way to spend 40 or so minutes.

but i think this is poptastic

for me is very much about when you were young. I can handle any amount of discordant avant garde noise, "squeaky door" music, eerie hypnagogic spook-rock, mathematical electronica, 180bpm breakcore you name it. I understand that stuff, I know where I am with bloops and bleeps and clangs and bangs.
But the stuff that constitutes 'Pop' these days I find incredibly cold, barren and alienating. It all seems so uniform, same Daft Punk inspired beats, same vocoder/autotune tricks, very similar melody and chord progressions. There's nothing for me to see there. I'm not knocking it, and I envy anyone over 35 who can get their head around any of it.

My Pop era was the 1980s, So here's Green Gartside (unlike myself he's a scholar of modern day pop and R&B of course!):

My go-to group for the purest of pop

(with some very neat lyrics.
"Don't call me 'baby', when she is waiting in the car"
Is there a better opening in pop?)

The purest of pure pop

They (or he, it being green gartside!) have a new best of album out this week - sugar sweet pop with subversive intelligent lyrics - and a new song called 'day late and a dollar short' which is superb.

been listening to Robyn for a couple of years now, love her - like bjork crossed with madonna and britney, ha! videos are usually good watching too!

None more obvious or brilliant than this:

Been playing this lots since I heard they were back:

And this is just perfect in every way:

For decent pop music, it's always worth checking out top-end Stock Aitken and Waterman produced stuff. This is Kylie's best record by a million miles, and she looks extraordinarily gorgeous in the video:

Moving away from SAW and following Dr Volume's spot on post regarding what you heard in your youth, this, for me, is pretty close to a perfect pop song:

From Jesus of Cool or Pure Pop For Now People as the American version was called for obvious reasons, Nick Lowe's response to David Bowie's hit of the same name.

'Pop' is such a UK-centric term and seems either too all-encompassing to be meaningful (look above: Chic, Neon Trees, Scritti Politti, Girls Aloud, Daft Punk, etc) or slightly pejorative (describing throwaway music by the likes of Steps or X Factor acts). I almost prefer the US term 'Top 40' (although that leaves us with the problem of categorising music which won't make the 40 - and the fear that we may have to use dreadful terms like 'Adult Contemporary').

Anyway, I saw this lady support Janelle Monae in Camden last night. Very high production values, hooks aplenty and an oddness that could be a marketers (sorry) dream or bane. It's cocknbullkid:

Speaking of Janelle, she and her band performed with such verve, discipline and imagination that it served to remind me of how mediocre many performers are. Here's Cold War live at the Grammys.

I guess we can't talk about pop without acknowledging Lady Gaga. When all the hoo-ha about her kookiness, meat dresses, etc have been forgotten, Bad Romance will be left.

Two and a half minutes of pure excitement and joy. AND it's a clip from RSG!

and this was their greatest work.

It's almost never out of my iTunes 'most played' list

The last Kylie album is pretty damn good in the way of pop, as is the Scissor Sisters. Both are mostly electronic with an 80s leaning. The Scissor Sisters manages to lean towards the B52s in places.

Meanwhile one of my favourite albums from last year was the Mark Ronson and The Business Intl album. Especially the songs where Rose Elinor Dougall guests. There's some great pop, lots of 80s influences, including the some Afrobeat influences that normally get forgotten when people recreate the 80s. But it also has a very 60s psych feel in places and in other places a Four Seasons influence. I love it.

I was always a pop kid, being 12 in 1981 was for me the perfect age at the perfect time. (didn't always think so, wished I'd been old enough for punk). My first single was Kim Wilde Kids In America, which along with Chequered Love the follow up, was pretty damn perfect pop music. Then there's the Human League, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Associates, Bow Wow Wow, Culture Club, ABC, Soft Cell,Haircut 100, and on and on. Love em all.

And then there's one of my favourite singles of the time, not the most credible of things, but the reason ABC wanted Trevor Horn to produce The Lexicon Of Love. It's Dollar and Hand Held In Black And White. Great pop music.

Rather good for a song with a polka beat.

...as opposed to "Pop" was something bandied about in the Melody Maker in the early nineties. By and large the template would have been ABC in their gold lame wearing pomp. Contemporary acts like World of Twist and Intastella formed part of a retro-indie movement whose main problem was that they didn't have the funds for the kind of big budget productions of say ABC and Dollar. From the same stable were Saint Etienne, whose use of samples meant that they were able to acheive a more timeless sound.. Hail pure pop

None finer....

especially the first album, have a listen to this

Their first three albums are just brilliant but stick to the recorded output - been to see them live twice and they are no good at all.

The following is pretty good as well, a side FOW project, and I'm a sucker for anything with a sultry suggestive vocal.

Believe FOW are a Mark Ellen approved band, so there you have it.

I would also recommend anything by Kirsty Macoll, however Kite, the album, is my favourite.

Neck and neck in the race for the No.1 slot in our house this week are "Something Here In My Heart" by The Paper Dolls and "Sally Put Your Red Shoes On" by Johnny Johnson & His Bandwagon. They're both written by Tony Macaulay, an unsung giant of British pop music who also wrote Build Me Up Buttercup, Baby Now That I've Found You, Kissin' In The Back Row Of The Movies, Down On The Beach Tonight, More Than A Number In My Little Red Book, The Lights of Cincinatti, Blame It On The Pony Express, Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes etc. etc. These songs were written as "disposable" pop hits, but they"re "timeless". If Tony Macaulay's name's in the brackets it's more than likely to be poptastic.

It is hard to find these days I find and I heartily agree that the main standard bearers are Girls Aloud and Robyn. I honestly can't remember the last pop album I bought. Indeed it may have been Scritti's White Bread, Black Beer. I've bought the odd single since then but can't think of an out and out pop album. Some oldies:

Ooh ooh Mr Peasly! Just remembered a more recent release, Pop Levi

Am absolutely loving her pop stylings at the moment. And she's Scandinavian as well. Which is usually a good sign of quality. And her name's Nanna. Brilliant.

This is her track "Heavy Eyes" which comes strongly recommended.

Shockingly Macaroon doesn’t hold this in high esteem

If you like Robyn then I would love to point you in the direction of Annie if you are unaware of her. Her debut Anniemal is perfection and includes 'Greatest Hit' which is fantastic. The follow up Don't Stop was superb as well.
My fave pop moment in recent memory was Junior Senior but I never heard the album. Let me know what you think.

Back in the days when I still gave a toss about what was in the charts, I was really gunning for this first single by Sing-Sing to Be A Hit. Emma Anderson formed the band after Lush went their separate ways. The singer is Lisa O'Neill, the song is Feels Like Summer, and I love it to bits.

When this was released in the mid nineties I thought it was great, but found it safer not to tell anyone.

At it's best it's as good as any other music I know. Plus it's exhilarating and a refreshing change from the dusty contents of the vaults of the revered 'old'.

For me Robyn's 'With Every Heartache (Kleerup remix)' is a masterpiece. The incredibly sad and brilliant lyrics are offset by the euphoria of the electronic dance backing:

The there's the Chinn Chap seventies evoking 'Strict Machine' by Goldfrapp with it's cool synth sounds:

Roisin Murphy 'Overpowered':

And it's not because the performers of this stuff are often hot females, in case you think that's the interest here, though it is a bonus I admit.

It's the good feeling of dance music you can enjoy at home for it's catchy tunes and melodies. And these women with their style, imagination, cleverness and humour make the rock lads look kind of dull and conservative.

Of course I should pay homage to this record which kind of led the way, way back in 1977 unbelievably, yet still sounds fresh and new.

And no I'm not gay!

As with I Feel Love, the full length version is even better..

Clout - Substitute

Haircut 100 - Fantastic Day

Noisettes - Never Forget You

Twelve Stops And Home. Best pop album of the last.. Oohh.. Twenty years?

And a pop song hasn't been as fine and lovely and sparkly as that in a long, long time.

Although this lot did run them very, very close..

Pop Music personified. It gets no better.

Mint Royale Ft Lauren Laverne.

while i seem to be one of the few that doesn't hate her on tv, i really wish she'd go back to music...

for Robyn here. This was the song that started it for me.

This is a prime slice of Euro-cheese which would count as deeply uncool for anyone who cares about such things. I think its great.

What a delightfully un-snobby thread this is! And some superb choices. Long live pure pop!

I don't think this one was released as a single, but it's my favourite pop song of the last 10 years.

Haircut 100 - Love Plus One. Shame Nick went a bit bonkers in the nut cos they were a lovely little pop band

The mighty Kirsty MacColl had pop tunes by the bucketload. Ready everyone.....boom,boom,bah,boom,bah,boom,BABY!

and despite your honest endeavours this one wins..by a mile.

..is, obviously, the Terry Hall/Ian Broudie collaboration "Forever J".

New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too.
Seriously - this is a superb album. Classy, upbeat, interesting, dynamic pop music. Quit the music business straight afterwards and left this flawless legacy behind.

Mr Haynes - Up After Dark.
70s/80s style pop with a bit of ambient in there too. Apparently, he played 28 instruments on this album - one more than Prince did on his debut...

Guillemots - Red.
Slated by pretty much everybody on release but actually crammed full of memorable pop moments. Don't Look Down is an absolute BEAST.

All of the above are on Spotify.

these come to mind -

all saints - never ever

Nelly Furtado - Fly like a bird

Blancmange - terribly underrated eccentric 80s duo.

And much more recently, the divine Roisin Murphy. Possibly my favourite vid of all time. If you don't like this video, what's wrong with you?

shouldn't be too much of a surprise given that Cee Lo Green's, erm, "Forget" You was number one by quite a wide margin in last year's Word Festive fifty, and Robyn also featured somewhere in there.

Here's another cracker. The song ain't bad either.

... I loved this at about the age of 12, and still do - "you messed about, I caught you out!

It's a bit soppy, but always gives me a "zing" of joy:

..."and as we sit here alone..."

.... funny, I've never really thought of this song as being as melancholy as that phrase has just struck me as I wrote. Happily, I'm sitting here reading this thread and listening and having great fun.

Two more: both of which I will always associate with someone before Mrs Pajp. Enough said.

I think it's a bit alienating when you see negatively-styled threads on the forum where members have a whinge about how music's not as good as it used to be, or use it as a pathetic excuse to imply that their music taste is superior to others, etc.

This sort of thread is far more productive - we all love music, films, TV etc, and I dunno about you, but looking through this one, I've seen at least three artists who's music I may now buy, along with others worth my reappraisal.

Anyway, pop-pickers - here's some more.

(I particularly like Timberlake's white "Thriller" jacket, and the way everyone "woofs" their approval - I remember when people did that in clubs!)

I still bloody love this - from the funkiest Yorkshireman who ever lived.

And I dunno why I like this so much, but it is a very pretty, rarely seen vid...

I'm on a roll tonight...2 examples of perfect pop:

and this (a bit overblown and teenage-intense, but marvelous)

This Is Pop

Goldfrapp - Rocket

Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning

Now this is what I call a Friday night thread.
Amazed how many of my favourites have turned up.
Yes it's nostalgia but this is just my top tune today.

And this was just the B side to a single. They don't make 'em like him anymore.

But poor grammar.

...is the pure pop lover's delight. A song virtually ALL sumptuous chorus:

How about some sly and witty im-pure pop?

Or, now I come to think about it, how about the ultimate in "Stupid" Pop.

old tune made with maximum joy :

new tune made with pop in mind :

classic pop to swoon over :

pure pop pure pop pure pop

and just time for a quick hooray for Everything Everything and their great LP Man Alive from 2010

But this, for me, is still one of my favourite 45s ever:

So good I posted it twice.

Original video:

Loin stirring Hot Gossip interpretation through dance as seen on Kenny Everett Video Show:

And homage to Cerrone from Goldfrapp:

Fabulous.

the answer is As Usual

"Changes"

et

"Everything Is Everything"

the answer is Edwin Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros

"40 Day Dream"

Somehow the week seems much more bearable.

This always makes me smile

...for the sheer bloody cheek of hijacking the world's greatest intro for their own uses..

I mean I love these just as much, if not more, than the tracks I've added already...

and

both guaranteed to STILL fill dancefloors, in my book.

Del Shannon.

Glorious, distilled sunshine:

however, tune!

clever bastard alert.

I was surprised to discover this bona fide pop classic only last year -- I thought they'd stopped making them. Like so many pop hits, it's a female vocalist. Sadly, the official video's been taken down from YouTube.