I don’t normally go into the “making of” stuff on Popular, but this one is a great little snapshot of the 60s pop biz at work. The band formed as a rich man’s present to his aspirational drummer son – all photogenic teen[…]

And so to 1968. Recently I read a book called 1968 – Mark Kurlansky’s breathless tour of that year, which touched dutifully on all the accepted counter-cultural highpoints without really bringing them to life. It didn’t talk much ab[…]

Your chance to vote on the songs you would have given 6 or more out of 10 to from 1967’s chart-toppers.

Number Ones of 1967: Which would you have given 6 or more to?
The Monkees – “I’m A Believer”
Petula Clark – “This Is My […]

Someone on I Love Music recently asked the sharp question, when someone says a song is “Beatlesque”, which Beatles records are they actually thinking of? (more…)[…]

Brazenly unconvincing love-lost flummery by the same people who wrote the previous Number One. Baldry, wearing his serious bluesman’s hat, later professed to hate the record but listening to it I don’t believe him for a second: this sound[…]

Few acts have got poorer from doing Motown knock-offs – at least since Motown themselves stopped doing stomp-stomp-clap (which would be round about now). The stomp here much outweighs the clap, and the big chugging riff just ups the stomp even […]

An answer record of sorts to “San Francisco”, but this time a place – or placename – chosen for its delicious phonemes, not its youth-historical weight. So the longing that suffuses “Massachusetts” is really un-pla[…]

After the write-up of “Release Me” I got several comments and emails from Engelbert fans. They ran along familiar lines: Engelbert is a superb performer, he has a remarkable voice, his fame and renown will far outlast your puny blog.
The […]

The history of Britain’s summer hits and the history of British holidaymaking go together like sand and towels. The key factor is the balance between function and description, place and pleasure in pop – these days the summer hit template[…]

On the I Love Music message board, someone just asked for a definition of “schlock”. I answered, because I wanted to be in the pub and not at work, “anything that you only like when you’re drunk”. I don’t like this[…]