Someone suggested on some other thread that whites make the best pop and boys do it better than girls. Interpreting this charitably, I suppose this was intended to be ironic or provocative, But be that as it may, let’s try the alternative thesis. Who can come up with a better pop song list than:
1. The Locomotion
2. Sweet lil’ sixteen
3. Stand by me
4. Dock of the bay
5. La Bamba
JustB says
Oh don’t rise to it. It’s just Deram semi-trolling as usual. He pretends to believe that there’s something holy about the 60s, and all music produced before or after that decade is worthless. I can never tell if he’s taking the piss: I suspect he is.
However, regardless of the origin, it’s a great premise for a thread. Almost all my favourite music wasn’t made by white boys. I’ll check in with a list later!
DogFacedBoy says
Strange how one of the biggest pop labels, pop musical movements etc – Motown came out of the sixties and despite a near miss from The Fall rarely a honky to be seen on the label
Tiggerlion says
You are right about The Fall. The real TAGIMH hit-maker was R Dean Taylor. He is white.
Rigid Digit says
Kiki Dee was something of a rarity at Motown being both white and British
ivylander says
Also at Motown: Chris Clark – a white American woman.
minibreakfast says
Deram was clearly being sarcastic. In this case, anyway.
Tahir W says
Good, although to what end, one wonders.
Sewer Robot says
I believe the D man was referring specifically to pop albums. Still debatable, but a necessary distinction..
Mike_H says
He may have a point with early ’60s Motown. Not so much with Stax, Atlantic, Chess etc.
Berry Gordy perceived that the teens his label’s music was mainly targeted at wanted a steady stream of singles and had no interest in (or money to buy) artist’s albums, whereas their parents had more to spend and were possible buyers of albums. The early Motown albums were often blighted by the inclusion of naff show tunes and standards to try and attract the parents.
African-American pop or R & B artists and their labels have generally, until fairly recently, been much more interested in the singles market than the album market. Albums have often been no more than collections of old singles, with filler where found necessary.
Tahir W says
In general, is there such a thing as a pop album as such? Don’t albums tend to be rock or jazz or something a touch more highbrow than pop? A pop LP for me precisely used to be one that had the best collection of good tunes, not the best unifying concept. The best illustration for me would be early vs. late Beatles.
My favorite Beatles ‘album’ by a long shot is With the Beatles, my least favorite is probably Sgt. Peppers. The former is great because every track on it is a great tune, whereas the latter doesn’t have any great tunes. However I do realize that the term album blurs this distinction. As a result the best ‘album’ in my collection now may be my double Chuck Berry compilation (except of course for you-know-which blot on his record). But if this doesn’t seem right, it’s probably because pop culture and album culture have never been quite the same thing.
deramdaze says
Re: black. Best pop “albums” I said, not best pop songs.
Can’t vouch for you, but the vast majority of black music I own (straight down the middle, it’s about 50%/50%) are compilations. For pretty much every blues, Stax, Tamla, Jamaican artist this is the case, the only genre where it isn’t is modern jazz on Impulse! and Blue Note. Indeed, the current 60th Anniversary of Stax appears to be revolving itself entirely around compilations.
For white acts, I rarely have compilations, they are usually albums-as-albums … The Kinks, The Doors (soon to be remedied with the upcoming U.S. 45s CD), The Velvet Underground, Jethro Tull, The Pretty Things, The Small Faces, don’t own a compilation by any of them. All the salient hits/non hits come in the form of bonus tracks.
So, unless you load up a Top 100 or Top 500 list with James Brown’s “The Foundations of Funk,” “The Impressions Part 1,” “British Motown Chartbusters Vol. 2” etc., which I don’t think you should, such lists are necessarily going to feature more white acts.
Glad I sorted that out.
Tahir W says
Sure me too. But see my earlier post on the ‘album’ question. Album was a word that came to replace ‘LP’ and it had a different connotation, which distinction now seems to have fallen away. But regarding your point about compilations, note the use of the term ‘compilation album’. Confusion is bound to occur. A more relevant question with pop (I say POP) music, is what are the best tunes, which was more or less my original point. But good that you clarified, and you weren’t it turns out being sarcastic.
Sewer Robot says
Yeah, I got that. Although your argument, if it holds water, only does so because your interest in new music dwindles after December 31 1969. And both the acts you refer to – James Brown and Curtis Mayfield are among the many black artistes who pop up on most lists from then on…
DogFacedBoy says
Nope there are zquillions of great pop albums from black artists and plenty within your self inflicted narrow frame of reference. But therein lies the problem and life is too short
Sewer Robot says
“Life is too short” .. just like Let’s Get It On!
ivylander says
I suspect that, for those of us of a certain age, the pop we love most was largely made before the LP became the preeminent vessel for music delivery. 45s were the big sellers, long players generally dashed off and marketed to a more selective audience – i.e., those with actual stereo systems. So, whether the artists were black or white, LPs tended to be 2-3 hits plus padding. I seem to recall several post-Beatles albums by second- or third-tier acts like Gerry and the Pacemakers or Brian Poole and the Tremeloes that very clearly a couple of songs you know, filled out with warhorses plucked out of their club setlist.