ordinary pop songs and why they're great.

Sunday, March 09, 2003

 
This is my very best idea. The only one I'm likely to sustain anyway. Each entry will be a record of mine and why I like it (or maybe why I don't). It's my all-consuming interest, arriving at that REASON why a song is good. Might be a song that's universally perceived as naff, or maybe just extremely ordinary. But I have an idea that we all like the same thing about each and every "pop" record.

Here's my best illustrating record. "I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. It's everso radio friendly. A big overblown number. Bet loads of people like it. I do, I have it. BUT IT'S ACTUALLY NOT THAT GREAT! How tedious and turgid is the verse? And the chorus isn't that strong - not really. The entire point, the reason for liking that song is the feeling you get from the bridge between verse and chorus ("In my life, there's been heartache and pain...."). Paring it down further, I swear it's just the keyboard chords underpinning that section that do it. So there!