“There’s a friend of mine/ Who’s wasting all his money/ Think he’s had his time/ Think he’s lost his mind/ Still a friend of mine/ Could have had it all/ From the Albert Hall/ To the uni ball/ How the mighty fall.”
Jauntiness + Meta = ?
I’ve got to have respect for the man. When the great and mighty British boyband of the 90s crumbled into dust, Gary disappeared into obscurity, Robbie disappeared up his own behind, Jason disappeared altogether, and Howard? Not even a day-time TV soap walk-on for the man.
But wee lil’ Mark? He’s spent the last decade churning out mildly jaunty guitar pop songs that nobody buys, and by god he’ll just keep doing so! There he is: strange faux-indie fashion styling, real instruments and all, singing blindly in wind of utter public indifference. And his voice isn’t even that good!
This one wins my instant adoration because it acknowledges exactly how insignificant he is on the pop landscape, and actually revels in said irrelevance. Plus, it really is rather divinely swooping - all energetic ‘oh oh oh oh oh’s, ‘woo woo woo’s and climbing chord progressions. And then the chorus hits, with a jagged strum and fierce optimism, and I can’t help but be swept along in this man’s peculiar vision of music karma.
Mr Owen, I salute you! Long may you give us our ‘Clementine’s, our ‘4 Minute Warning’s, our ‘315’s!
Jauntiness + Meta = ?
I’ve got to have respect for the man. When the great and mighty British boyband of the 90s crumbled into dust, Gary disappeared into obscurity, Robbie disappeared up his own behind, Jason disappeared altogether, and Howard? Not even a day-time TV soap walk-on for the man.
But wee lil’ Mark? He’s spent the last decade churning out mildly jaunty guitar pop songs that nobody buys, and by god he’ll just keep doing so! There he is: strange faux-indie fashion styling, real instruments and all, singing blindly in wind of utter public indifference. And his voice isn’t even that good!
This one wins my instant adoration because it acknowledges exactly how insignificant he is on the pop landscape, and actually revels in said irrelevance. Plus, it really is rather divinely swooping - all energetic ‘oh oh oh oh oh’s, ‘woo woo woo’s and climbing chord progressions. And then the chorus hits, with a jagged strum and fierce optimism, and I can’t help but be swept along in this man’s peculiar vision of music karma.
Mr Owen, I salute you! Long may you give us our ‘Clementine’s, our ‘4 Minute Warning’s, our ‘315’s!
PopText
- 1. noun: Eclectic uber-pop blog.
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- See also poptextiest; poptextastic; poptexty
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Have you posted Mark Owen before? Has someone else? I am thinking so, but I can't locate it and it's making me crazy. (I dig this, btw.)
I haven't here, and I can't think of anyone I read who has... (And god, I read way too many blogs!). If you do find '4 Minute Warning' check it out.
I'm going to go home and dig through all my CDs to see if I can at least find what it reminds me of.
Ah-ha! It was Mark Owen. "Makin' Out." Though I still don't know where I got it.