In any event, it sprung to mind after I stumbled across this interesting story online a few days ago.
Here's a hint: The Floor Models pretty much agreed with Townshend.
Anyway, you can read the complete article over at the link HERE. In case you're wondering, it was Pete's daughter Emma who outed him in this regard.
Which leads us, inexorably, to the subject of the weekend's business. To wit:
...and your favorite objectively schlocky post-Elvis pop/rock/soul-r&b/country hit song that you love unreservedly anyway is...???
Discuss.
Arbitrary rule: I'm disqualifying obvious novelty records, i.e. "Gimme Dat Ding" or that kinda stuff. Instead, we're talking about records that aspire to something serious/artsy/significant, but simply fall short for whatever reasons. Or that you love, but everybody else makes fun of you for it. Or that just strike most normal people as kinda cornball.
And in case you're wondering, apart from everything else by ABBA, my nominee is...
Actually, a pretty good, if overly melodramatic song, and Pitney's great, but hey -- some of the arrangement touches, like the wailing girls chorus vocals? I mean, oy gevalt.
So alrighty then -- and remembering the Shaw quote -- what would YOUR choices be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
28 comments:
I really, really hate to admit to weeping whenever I heard on the radio:
Michael Martin Murphey - Wildfire
Embarrassed Captain Al (Oh the shame!)
There is something in your "screen refresh" that loads the current image but then skips back Feb 11, 2026. Any ideas?
It's the embedded MC Carpenter track. Happens on my blog when I use that service, too. I can't figure out how to disable it.
Me neither. Sorry 'bout that.
steve will bitchslap me unmercifully for this, but I've always had a soft spot for In the Year 2525.
Heh. 😎
Shannon by Henry Gross fits in this category too. Maybe Steve should have a future quiz " Best/worst songs to sob along to"
rs
I could probably make a pretty big list of these. I'll try to restrain myself.
Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes by Edison Lighthouse
Ferry Cross The Mersey by Gerry and the Pacemakers
The Air That I Breathe by The Hollies
I Started A Joke by Bee Gees
The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand
Nobody needs to be convinced of the excellence of “If You Could Read My Mind” or “Wichita Lineman” any more, right?
Right?
Beyond those, I will admit to loving “The Windmills of Your Mind.” The English lyrics are rather silly, but that Michel Legrand melody is first-rate.
Agree totally.
You Don't Own Me by Lesley Gore is overly dramatic and over the top but I like it. Also, it is a 180 degree shift from the opinion expressed in her song That's The Way Boys Are.
rs
Despite being dismissed as R&B Bubblegum and featuring the worst guitar solo since 'Lightnin' Strikes,' I have always unreservedly loved Crazy Elephant's 'Gimme Gimme Good Lovin.'
Oh yeah? Listen to this version by Klaus Nomi. That'll break the habit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVF-wlzBJec&t=59s
Smile a Little Smile for Me, Rosemary
Jai Guru Dave
Geez; I'll join the 12-Step Club
"Worst that Could Happen" Brooklyn Bridge
and now I feel better...........................
The first, and only thing that came to mind was MMM's 'Wildfire', tho it doesn't come close to making me weep; nevertheless, I find it very affecting, excellent storytelling that builds tension and release, married to a great arrangement. Since the good Captain already claimed what I was going to proffer, I'll add 'All The Things She Said' by TaTu, the 'Kashmir' of faux-teen-lesbo melodrama songs.
C in California
Angie... by you know who 😉
Let's add "Far Away Eyes" as well
Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat by the DeFranco Family. I mean, that is seriously a great pop record, true 70s AM gold.
Bob in IL
Well I used to love Y.M.C.A somewhat unreservedly- I now have lost my amusement.
Okay, that one I'm not willing to give you. 😎
Steve - Actually, Pete Townshend outed himself years ago regarding his love of ABBA's "S.O.S." He did it in one of the editions of "The Guinness Book Of Hit Singles" - these books are basically the U.K. equivalent of the Billboard chart books that the late Joel Whitburn used to put out. In this particular edition of the book, the publishers asked a bunch of U.K. pop artists to name and write a little bit about their all-time favorite hit single. They used the excerpts as full-page sidebars sprinkled throughout the book. Pete chose "S.O.S."
Wichita Lineman is one of the greatest pop songs ever written, and yes, I will die on that hill if necessary. Oklahoma boy Jimmy Webb outdid himself on that one.
Here’s two:
First, “Ride Captain Ride” by the one-hit wonder Blues Image. Lyrics are kinda schlocky but the performance is great, the production is good (drums sound great!) and the outro guitar solo is damned good.
Second, “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top. The Top have done a lot of darned good stuff over the years (the Rev is indeed a killer blues-rock guitarist, Dusty Hill played a mean bass, and Frank (no) Beard was a solid drummer) but have always been undone by super-cringy lyrics and too much wink-wink; well, on this one, they turned down the nudge-nudge in favor of a slyly knowing approach, and it worked like a charm. Add in a cool musical figure as the main riff (it’s fun to play too!), great production, and it’s just about my favorite Top song.
867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone --this song is not really schlocky, exactly, as I understand the term - perhaps the right term is "sordid" - and yet there is a purity in the fervor for a human connection, and hope to find love through a kind of social connection that better adapted to a purely carnal interaction - i would pair this with Steppenwolf's "Everybody's Next One" - as Todd Rundgren said, everybody's on a quest for knowledge and a quest for love - his song from Something/Anything "Slut" is pertinent - but really, for fervor, "Jenny" is it
I was a big Tommy Tutone fan. Loved that whole debut album.
Not objectively schlocky, but when Popsicles and Icicles by the Murmaids comes on the radio, I turn it up. I'll get ahead of the comments and add that it was written by David Gates.
Me too! “Cheap Date” is one of the great lost songs of the ‘80s. The second album is not quite as good but still worthwhile.
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