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jawnbcThe recent, seemingly innocuous music poll was actually an attempt to probe your very psyches. Oh how interesting the results are!
I listed Madonna, Pet Shop Boys, The Who, Streisand, BNL, Robbie, Kylie, Bruce, ABBA and some One Hit Wonders. The list started out rather arbitrarily, after watching Live8. At the concert most acts could only do 3 or 4 songs, which made for some interesting choices. So I began musing what were the 3 songs I thought each should have done. Bored yet? You will be...
It also occurred to me that not all songs become hits everywhere. Some artists are huge everywhere (Madge, PSBs, Who, Streisand), some were everhwere but the US (Kylie, ABBA), some mostly UK (Robbie, though he now does very well everywhere except the US). So I purposely used some artists whose reputations internationally are more varied. And I used 3 artists as "archetype" acts for each of 3 countries near and dear to my heart: Canada (BNL), Australia (Kylie, but also perhaps ABBA) and the US (Bruce). No I'm not saying that all Canucks love the BNL...but if I had used ma chanteuse canadienne préferée I've perhaps have been shot.
What I've now done is analyze the responses along national lines. There were only 3 folks who aren't (or who have never been) Aussie, Canadian or American (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fao, sapphire_moon and le_lapin), but their choices don't fit any patterns, so we'll ignore them. sorrrrryy. Here's what I got:
Madonna: the Americans almost equally liked Ray of Light and Like a Prayer, as did the Canadians. Australians, however, slightly favoured Ray of Light. The Others went for Take a Bow. Hrm, maybe because of the bullfighter who bangs Madge in the video? Overall choice: Ray slightly ahead of Prayer
The BNL: Here's where national tastes become inneresting. Canadians, we like it all with One Week, Enid and The Old Apartment each getting 2 votes; $1,000,000 got 1 vote so it's all pretty even. Americans, you avaricious bastards, went for da money, with One Week following...wait for it....weakly behind. And you don't know from Enid. Australians went for One Week in a big way. As for The Others....not much of interest to report. Overall choice:$1,000,000 a bit more than One Week
Robbie: Now this was a surprising one. American went overwhelmingly for Come Undone, with Angels a fair way back, Rock DJ just behind, and not much interest in Millenium. In Canada Rock DJ was tops, with a bit of support for Angels and Millenium, but none for Come Undone. Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! was all about equality: same support for each song. The Others were a bit Angelic.Overall choice:Come Undone just pips Angels and Rock DJ
Kylie: She's not been big in the US, despite having a #1 with The Locomotion in the late 80s. Apparently Can't Get You Out of My Head is all that the Yanks know about her, it cleaned all the other songs clocks. The Canadians agreed, though I Believe in You was a close second. Now the Australians, as Kylie konnosieurs, favoured Spinning Around (the hotpants methinks) and I Believe in You, though I Should Be So Lucky and Can't Get You Out of My Head were not far behind. The Others Should Be So Lucky. Overall choice:Can't Get You Out of My Head
ABBA:All the bitter ones picked The Winner Takes It All The Australians have always held ABBA close to their hearts; you'd think the Skandinavi were from friggin' Geelong or something: for them, The Winner Takes It All, though they think Dancing Queen is A-O-K too. The Canucks also went with The Winner Takes It All, with Waterloo beating Dancing Queen by a smidgen. 'Merkuns had to smuggle their ABBA in from Canada and Mexico, thanks to the Carter White House boycott on pop music; only Dancing Queen got any real airplay (it was their only #1 in the US), and it romps to victory here. Waterloo, another top 10 came second, with The Winner Takes It All and SOS tying for third--why did everyone else ignore SOS? The Others are largely a bunch of Queens. Overall choice:Dancing Queen
One hit wonders: Ok this is boring now. A-ha's Take On Me by a mile in Canada and Australia. But A-ha and Sinéad tied in the US, and Sinéad limped ahead among The Others. Overall choice: Take on Me, by A-ha
I listed Madonna, Pet Shop Boys, The Who, Streisand, BNL, Robbie, Kylie, Bruce, ABBA and some One Hit Wonders. The list started out rather arbitrarily, after watching Live8. At the concert most acts could only do 3 or 4 songs, which made for some interesting choices. So I began musing what were the 3 songs I thought each should have done. Bored yet? You will be...
It also occurred to me that not all songs become hits everywhere. Some artists are huge everywhere (Madge, PSBs, Who, Streisand), some were everhwere but the US (Kylie, ABBA), some mostly UK (Robbie, though he now does very well everywhere except the US). So I purposely used some artists whose reputations internationally are more varied. And I used 3 artists as "archetype" acts for each of 3 countries near and dear to my heart: Canada (BNL), Australia (Kylie, but also perhaps ABBA) and the US (Bruce). No I'm not saying that all Canucks love the BNL...but if I had used ma chanteuse canadienne préferée I've perhaps have been shot.
What I've now done is analyze the responses along national lines. There were only 3 folks who aren't (or who have never been) Aussie, Canadian or American (
fao, sapphire_moon and le_lapin), but their choices don't fit any patterns, so we'll ignore them. sorrrrryy. Here's what I got:Madonna: the Americans almost equally liked Ray of Light and Like a Prayer, as did the Canadians. Australians, however, slightly favoured Ray of Light. The Others went for Take a Bow. Hrm, maybe because of the bullfighter who bangs Madge in the video? Overall choice: Ray slightly ahead of Prayer
The BNL: Here's where national tastes become inneresting. Canadians, we like it all with One Week, Enid and The Old Apartment each getting 2 votes; $1,000,000 got 1 vote so it's all pretty even. Americans, you avaricious bastards, went for da money, with One Week following...wait for it....weakly behind. And you don't know from Enid. Australians went for One Week in a big way. As for The Others....not much of interest to report. Overall choice:$1,000,000 a bit more than One Week
Robbie: Now this was a surprising one. American went overwhelmingly for Come Undone, with Angels a fair way back, Rock DJ just behind, and not much interest in Millenium. In Canada Rock DJ was tops, with a bit of support for Angels and Millenium, but none for Come Undone. Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! was all about equality: same support for each song. The Others were a bit Angelic.Overall choice:Come Undone just pips Angels and Rock DJ
Kylie: She's not been big in the US, despite having a #1 with The Locomotion in the late 80s. Apparently Can't Get You Out of My Head is all that the Yanks know about her, it cleaned all the other songs clocks. The Canadians agreed, though I Believe in You was a close second. Now the Australians, as Kylie konnosieurs, favoured Spinning Around (the hotpants methinks) and I Believe in You, though I Should Be So Lucky and Can't Get You Out of My Head were not far behind. The Others Should Be So Lucky. Overall choice:Can't Get You Out of My Head
ABBA:
One hit wonders: Ok this is boring now. A-ha's Take On Me by a mile in Canada and Australia. But A-ha and Sinéad tied in the US, and Sinéad limped ahead among The Others. Overall choice: Take on Me, by A-ha
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Completely OT ...
Date: 2005-07-05 07:10 am (UTC)Re: Completely OT ...
Date: 2005-07-05 12:49 pm (UTC)And nothing feels right
Just keep holding on
to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Yeah baby!
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 09:13 am (UTC)But, I was just trying to figure out just last week what the best ABBA song was (for my iPod playlist you know), and I already said it has to be The Winner Takes It All. Between the imagery in the lyrics (the "gods may throw a dice" - if not the sophistication of the rhyme scheme "their minds as cold as ice") and lushness of the arrangement it's tops. I was hooked even in seventh grade and that's way before I was bitter.
Was ABBA so ignored in the US? My friends in Picayune, Ms had all their albums (mom only let me buy Debbie Boone and Shaun Cassidy singles). And we knew all the songs. Maybe something in the water? But see, I come by my inclinations naturally (or is that nurturally).
I just posted the rest of my "Winner Takes It All" memories on my page.
I also really like "One of Us" and "Thank You For The Music". "Thank You For the Music" is tied to a memory of my first encounter with a very talented Hungarian street performer in Zurich who's made it her signature song. From time to time in the summer she stands there in a doorway, with a jam box with an accompaniment track, in the old town and pours her heart and soul into that song. You'd love it and her too.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 12:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 12:50 pm (UTC)*does the dance of exploitation*
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 12:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 01:29 pm (UTC)A good record, but pales to their sales and hits pretty much everywhere else in the world. I was speaking with that in mind: should've been more precise. My bad.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 02:24 pm (UTC)and i LOVE how thorough you are with chart stuff.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 01:55 pm (UTC)Conversely, though I've loved Abba from age 6 onward, I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy "Dancing Queen" again.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 02:22 pm (UTC)One of Mr. Jenner's cousins asked for a Robbie William's calendar last Christmas (she is 13) and so we acquired that for her and when she opened it up most of the female relatives sat up and took notice. Auntie Barbara liked the picture of Robbie on a horse and said, "Oh my...isn't he quite nice."
Hee.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-06 12:02 am (UTC)*sniff*
So was I a US data point or Canadian??? Haha! I have corrupted your data!
no subject
Date: 2005-07-06 12:11 am (UTC)