Music

World Goes Pop: United Kingdom

by Jeremy Mersereau

Welcome to World Goes Pop, a regular feature where we’ll be taking a closer look at pop’s global presence. Each time we’ll be focusing on one region’s pop music industry: its history, its stars, and its evolution. This week: the UK.

‘Ello guv (Hello, my friend)! I know what you’ve been thinking: “when are those wankers (idiots) at Pophunter gonna get off their arses (asses) and write an article about English pop music? Are those tossers (fools) ‘aving a laugh (making a joke) over there?” Bollocks (That is incorrect)! Are you taking the piss (joking), mate (pal)? Stop whinging (whining), unless you fancy (would like) a row (fight)! We’ve not been skiveing off (lazing about)! Grab yourself a lager (beer) and get right chuffed (very, uh, aroused?), because Bob’s your uncle (???)!

…Alright, that should do it. Now that I’ve completely convinced all the anglophiles out there that I’m one of them, what say we delve into the history of UK pop? Brillant (Great)!

Pictured: The Author.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, popular music in England existed only as the broadside ballad, a piece of music printed on a small piece of paper containing bits of rhyme, news, or illustrations. The Industrial Revolution led to an explosion of brass bands, which reached their peak popularity in the early years of the twentieth century, when it was estimated that there were over 20,000 brass band musicians in the country. By 1950, with American recordings (mostly ballads by the likes of badasses like Perry Como) dominating sales in the UK, the skiffle scene had emerged. Despite sounding like some kind of delicious fruit candy (I’ll only eat the sour Skiffles), it was a genre of music played by primarily jazz musicians attempting to emulate American folk and country in a more raucous, rough-and-ready style.

We don’t really need to give a few certain mobs of raggedy miscreants any more press than they’ve already gotten over the years, but many notable groups did emerge out of the declining skiffle scene as it faded away by 1959. The British Invasion paved the way for the first true “pop” bands in the 1970s, with songs like “Kung Fu Fighting” and acts like 10cc dominating the charts.

Snopes.com says 10cc DIDN’T name themselves after the average amount of semen in a male ejaculation. That’s a relief; my record doesn’t even come CLOSE.

The punk era had minimal impact on pop music at the time, but by the time the mainstream started to take notice of all this “new wave” stuff cropping up, the terms were basically interchangeable; “Post-punk” could mean “new wave” and vice versa, in various contexts (whuh-oh, just heard sirens outside, scene police please let me off with a warning). Chart-oriented new wave mutated into straight out synth-pop by the 1980s, with Gary Numan’s ode to severe agoraphobia “Cars” heralding the sound as it reached Number One in 1979. At the same time, the ska revival was on the rise, influenced by the twin strains of post-punk and reggae. Groups like the Specials, The Beat, and lilywhite 2-Tone posterboys Madness all enjoyed success during this time.

Madness: Still can’t stop their shine (literally, the shine of their skin)

Hi-NRG disco popular in the USA’s gay scenes started to seep into UK pop music at this point, with smash productions like “You Spin Me Right Round” and this forgotten number (gotcha!) tearing up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 1990s, the UK had its own boy band explosion, with groups like Take That, and Irish prettyboys Westlife and Boyzone making pre-adolescents (and some unfortunate adolescents) swoon worldwide.

Pfft, more like “Friendzone.”

Of course, since in the UK much like in the US, dudes with guitars simply cannot stay out of the conversation for more than a couple of seconds without getting insecure and cranky, Britpop soon reared its head, and the only thing anyone could talk about was whether Blur or Oasis rocked the hardest. Hey, I like “Song 2” as much as the next guy, but I’d rather jam some MJ Cole than listen to fucking “Champagne Supernova” ever again.

Jarvis is still a boss though.

Uh-oh, it’s been a few paragraphs and I haven’t reaffirmed my UK cred. Ok, ok, think fast! Alright you geezers, let’s turn our minces to some current pop videos from UK, know wha’ I mean? Sorted, mate! Phew, back on track.

Labrinth, aka Timothy McKenzie, first made a name for himself by co-producing and co-writing Tinie Tempah’s smash hit “Pass Out” in 2011. The success of “Pass Out” led to Labrinth being signed to Simon Cowell’s label Syco, making Labrinth the first artist signed in six years to not have arisen, Swamp Thing-style, from one of Cowell’s countless TV talent shows. His second album, Treatment, is due out next week. Can Labrinth maintain his high level of success, as well as break through in North America? Find out next week on Labrinth: Road to Riches, produced by Simon Cowell. Damn it, already?!

The king of grime makes another play for the big time, this time without a Rolex on anyone. It worked too: “Heatwave” hit number one in the UK charts 3 weeks ago and is currently still sitting pretty. “Heatwave” is kind of a jam thanks to producer Rymez’s classy strings, and constant Slush Puppy shout-outs (Two flavours?! You crazy, Wiley), but I still can’t sign off on a shameless summer jam from a dude who invented the genre that British government officials called “appalling”, and who’s responsible for some of the greatest grime production ever.

I know I was hankering for some kind of weird Adele/Sugababes hybrid, and the English pop scene finally delivers! This off-putting Frankenband is apparently the result of manager Jo Perry liking their look in the UK fashion store Topshop. Nice. But hey, all that hard work standing around looking nice and singing songs someone else wrote is paying off: Stooshe supported Nicki Minaj on the UK leg of her Pink Friday tour. Hold on, brb, I gotta take a wicked stooshe.

Oi! That’s it for the UK edition of World Gone Pop, mate! Now sod off, you tossers! TTFN (Tata for now)!

Celebrate AUX TV’s British Invasion weekend with the best Brit-rock and Brit-pop over the last 40 years. Featuring: movies, documentaries, live performances, interviews and music videos. To find out more, click here, and check out AUX TV (Rogers 107, Shaw 138) on August 25th and 26th.