There’s a performance-based definition of one-hit wonders, but there should be an aesthetic definition too. There are poor groups who make one important single, who against all expectations Get It Right on a particular occasion and leave the st[…]

The Manual – the book Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty wrote after this record went to #1 – is an essential read. It tells you a lot about the music business in the late 80s, a bit about the country in the late 80s, and it has many sharp thi[…]

As I hinted last time “Little Help” showed up, it’s probably the most inappropriately covered Beatles song. It’s such a strong sentiment and such a rousing tune people can’t seem to resist it, but it only really works fo[…]

This record really enrages me without my being easily able to work out why. It’s not the tune – when I’m not listening to it “Perfect” bops around my head quite pleasantly, or at least the “beey-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee&#[…]

“Ohh – that’s bad.” Any claim S’Express might make to pioneer status seems not to stand up – as people on the M/A/R/R/S thread were quick to point out, this kind of sample-dense cut-up was losing its novelty by Aut[…]

The Pet Shop Boys’ last and most unexpected Number One is also their most stripped-down, in texture and mood – “Heart” is a synthpop love song of uncomplicated devotion. They wrote it for Madonna, apparently, but never offered[…]

Listened to on an overcast Wednesday this sounded supine and dreary: on a shirtsleeve Friday it’s springy and playful. Such is the way of pop-reggae, a genre which more than any other depends on the weather. Aswad’s version of “Don&[…]

They did their best work before her, and she ended up doing her best after them, but nonetheless Kylie Minogue was Stock Aitken and Waterman’s muse: the Dionne Warwick to their Bacharach and David, the Girls Aloud to their Xenomania, the point […]

Listening to it now, what strikes me most about “I Think We’re Alone Now” is how discofied it is. Its clipped drums and chunky bass synths mean it starts like a low-rent “Always On My Mind”, and it looks set to head down[…]

Attention Popular readers and disputants: I have a poll coming on!
It is about music writers and music writing throughout ALL OF TIME! If you wish to make nominations in all or any of the categories the details are here.
(Not posted on Popular per se[…]