The Back To The Future thread has me reminiscing about my own school days. I just pulled out one of my old diaries and one of the first pages I happened upon was a particularly sore memory.

“Today”, it goes “I made another effort to get in with the cool boys. I managed to stand at the edge of the group for a few minutes without being told to go. Encouraged, I took out a cigarette which I lit without anyone paying enough attention to me to notice I wasn’t actually smoking. The plan was going well – all I had to do was wait for a moment to join in the chat with one of my prepared put-downs for one of the more detested teachers and I might be in. Then I felt a nudge on my shoulder “What about you?” I had been busy concentrating on holding my fag properly and scanning the horizon to see if anyone had noticed me mixing with the cool kids, so I had lost track of the conversation. “What?” I affected what I thought was an air of confidence. “You got a girlfriend?” Oh no. Half an inch of fag ash » Continue Reading.

What is the greatest dichotomy in popular music? Some might suggest it’s more cowbell or less cowbell, or should I stay or should I go, or selling out or selling nowt. But I put it to you that the single question that cleaves le pop is, when confronted with an irresistible dancey groove, whether to “get up” or “get down”. In this video for the sublime new single by Swedish beatbots Galantis, we observe a quintessential example of the “get up” reaction (although I suspect any TOTP screening of same would necessitate a sober health and safety warning advising not to imitate the behaviour on view). Where do you stand on the get up/get down dilemma (and do you, in fact, just stand). And what are pop’s other great dichotomies?