Perfect Pop Songs

Ok, I'm going to dip a toe in the Chuck Berry well. Emmylou with the Hot Band. Albert Lee on the lead guitar, Rodney Crowell on rhythm, Glen Hardin from Elvis' TCB band on the keys.

Tasty version. I love Emmylou, and this is good stuff.

 

I love the DC5. Sort of pop, but man, heavy use of the sax and keyboards really gave them a "Wall of Sound" vibe you just didn't get out of the other British Invasion groups. They were from Manchester and just had a different, more hard-driving sound than their Liverpool or London compatriots. Much less guitar-dependent, if that makes sense.

Albums from the Beatles and Stones were much stronger overall. But the DC5's hit singles, and there were a lot of them, still sound great today. I'd say "Catch Us If You Can," a great song, is the poppiest. You can't not sing along with the chorus.

We share a lot of musical tastes, my friend.

 

I can't help but wonder how it would have worked if she had replaced David Lee Roth in VH.

 

Mine are fairly eclectic, although I have a strong bias toward 4/4 rock. If I had to point to a single data point that sort of set my standards it would be my mother buying me "Meet the Beatles" and "The Beatles' Second Album" after Ed Sullivan. Look at what's on those records: All that early Lennon/McCartney. A show tune from The Music Man - "Till There Was You". Chuck Berry - "Roll Over Beethoven". Little Richard - "Long Tall Sally". Motown - "You Really Got A Hold On Me", "Money", "Please Mr. Postman". I wore those records out.

Folk/country/bluegrass, what is now classed as Americana. Not so much Nashville Country pre-Outlaw Country, with a yes to those guys. Rockabilly. Boogie Woogie. Soul/Funk. New Wave/Punk. I touch ground in a lot of other places but that's my general comfort zone.

 

I'm going to double dip here. The song unquestionably belongs. Dennis Yost's vocals are arguably better, but the ARS version is far smoother and better produced. Several members of ARS were in the Classics IV, and J.R. Cobb played guitar on both.

 

Not sure if you'd call Brandi Carlile "country," "alt-rock," or "pop." Whatever genre you pick, she has a great voice and this is a great song:

 

"Americana" is a great catch-all for American music that has a recognizable ancestor somewhere on the Country/Bluegrass/Folk/Blues/Country Rock spectrum but does not quite fit there. I don't think of her as pop, but alt-rock fits as well, I think.

 

The song that started it all for them.

2019

 

Pixie pop song

 

1983

2020

 

A few from the late 80s:

One from the Primitives, made famous in Dumb and Dumber:

One from Jane Wiedlin solo:

A beauty from a somewhat more obscure band, The Darling Buds: