It’s something that’s all around us. Everyone is caught up and defined by it. Yet it is almost never publicly acknowledged, let alone commented on. Let’s change that. We live in a world defined by class, organized economically and experienced socially. A properly functioning culture would reflect on that. So today’s post is all about melodic ruminations on class.
Songs about the poor? Sure, we got lots of them. But a few rungs up the social ladder is group we used to call the working class, the largest class by far in modern societies, and yet they rarely appear in the hit parade. A lot of it has to do with class bias – opinion leaders tend to look down on working people. This influences how people talk about themselves. For instance, compare Drew Neely and the Heroes “White Trash Girl” to The Ravines “Working Class Girl.” Both songs have great hooks but the former is embarrassed about a girl’s ‘white trash’ roots while the latter is searching for just the qualities that make his girl ‘working class.’ Needless to say, we could use a lot more positive songs about working class lives.
It is much more common to hear talk about the middle class. Apparently everyone from the Starbucks barista to a neurosurgeon belongs to this group, lodged between the rich and poor. Perhaps because it’s obviously such an ideological construct, we don’t hear a lot of people singing about them. When we do, they tend offer critical takes on the emptiness of middle class life. This is captured effectively in the manic poppiness of Indoor Pets’ “Middle Class.” Occasionally, artists focus on class privilege, like the withering critique of the double standard applied to white collar crime offered up on Fastball’s new single “White Collar.” When it comes to the middle class, it would appear the less said, the better. If people really started talking about it, it might become clear how inaccurate the term ‘middle class’ is as a description of most people and their situation vis-a-vis the broader class dynamics of western societies. Indoor Pets – Middle ClassFastball – White Collar
Which brings us to the rich. They too tend to fly under the radar. I mean, popular culture portrays everybody as sort of rich – big houses, fancy cars, kids going to Harvard or Yale. But the wealth differences between the upper middle classes and the uber rich are routinely obscured. For most people, it’s hard to fathom just how the rich the rich truly are and the influence they wield. I don’t think my song choices are going to help that much (even though they’re great!). Danish band Superheroes have an eccentric sound that never fails to be catchy and distinctive. On “Rich and Famous” an earwormy keyboard drives the song into your head like a melodic screwdriver while the lyrics recount the kind of class privilege that allows the wealthy to pine for love in extreme comfort. And then there’s Everclear’s more recent grungy yet hooky take on Hall and Oates’ classic statement of wealthy relationship indifference, “Rich Girl.”Everclear – Rich Girl
When it comes to class, it’s mostly class dismissed. But the few examples here show that you can have people humming about class distinctions, if you try. Click on the hyperlinks to show your classy side to today’s artists.
What were the biggest hits that weren’t in 2017? Who were the biggest should-be stars? In our alternate universe here at Poprock Record, these guys were all over the charts, the chat shows, the scandal sheets, as well as memed all over Facebook, Snapchatted by the kids, and Instragrammed into oblivion. Jesus, they were so popular you are well and truly sick of them by now. But sadly for our poprock heroes, the universe is not just ours to define. In the world beyond our little blog, they could all use another plug.
Daisy House dominated my playlist this year, both their current record and their back catalogue. They channel the 1960s but never let it wholly define them. They have two amazing singers and one fabulously talented songwriter. They deserve all the accolades the internet can hand out. If this were 1970 they’d probably be headlining The Flip Wilson Show tonight. The Rallies were an accidental discovery that turned into an obsession. Their whole album is great but “Don’t Give Up” makes my heart twinge every time. Aimee Mann and Fastball ably demonstrated this year that veterans can still turn out fantastic, career-defining albums. And I got to see both of them live! Los Straightjackets did Nick Lowe proud, producing a phenomenal tribute to his body of work. “Rollers Show” was my go-to summertime happy tune.
I won’t review every selection from the two-four, but I will say that I think the mix of poprock I feature on the blog is evident here. There’s fast and slow, country and rock, guitars and keyboards, etc. And then there’s always the hooks. Case in point: check out the 42 second mark on Greg Kihn’s “The Life I Got.” If you don’t feel the excitement he creates with some classic poprock guitar arpeggiation and the subtle vocal hook you’re kinda missing what we’re doing here. Here’s hoping 2018 is as hit single worthy as this past year has been!
I am going to sneak in an honourable mention for what I consider the compilation of year: 
Putting a famous name in your song title would seem to be a sure fire way to have a hit. Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” or Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” readily come to mind. But really, those are the exceptions. A quick search of the internet actually turns up a whole bevy of celebrity names on songs, mostly on the indie side of things, most of them album cuts. So why do bands do it? Homage? Satire? Or are they just as celebrity obsessed as everyone else? The French duo Please was formed and recorded a song with the sole explicit intent of getting a response from Paul McCartney – not that Paul appeared to notice! The range of material covered in this post gives us a bit of all these approaches, from hero worship, to ridicule, to little more than just mentioning the celebrity name.
Are you a fan of Fastball? If you love straight up rock and roll with a keen sense of melody, you should be. Fastball is another band that I somehow missed when they broke out in the 1990s and have only just discovered recently. Now when you mention Fastball to people they nearly always know “The Way” and that’s about it. Sure, it’s a great song but I’m not even sure it’s the best song on that album, let alone the defining moment of their career. This is band that just keeps getting better and better with each album release.
Their debut album from 1996, Make Your Mama Proud, lays out the basic genius at work here. This is a band that gels solidly around the rock and roll combo fundamentals – solid beat, hooky lead guitar lines, and a generous helping of harmony vocals – captured nicely in the featured tune here, “Seattle.” Then came their breakout album, 1998’s All the Pain that Money Can Buy with its monster single “The Way.” Personally I prefer “Fire Escape,” “Slow Drag,” and the brilliant “Out of My Head.” The band followed up that hit album with The Harsh Light of Day, a record that really pushed the development of their sound melodically and sonically (let those guitars ring!), apparent on tracks like “Don’t Give Up On Me.” But audiences didn’t take to the new sound and sales fell off precipitously.
The band pressed on in 2004 with what might be their greatest achievement, Keep Your Wig On. The songwriting on this record is amazing, with Petty-esque brilliance on tracks like “Perfect World,” and “Our Misunderstanding,” or the easygoing, almost Eagles-like confidence of “Someday” or “Mercenary,” or the Mexicali fun of “Red Light.” Five years later, Little White Lies took the band into a more melody-drenched direction and the should-be hits are many: check out the James Bond undercurrent to “Little White Lies,” the great swing of “Mono to Stereo,” or the nice Beatles’ touches and bouncy piano on “She’s Got the Rain.”
Fast forward to 2017 and Fastball are back after an absence of eight years with what I am prepared to boldly declare may be their best record yet: Step Into Light. The record blasts off with “We’re On Our Way,” a rocking number with a few ELO flourishes on the keyboards. Vocals give way from the more rough-hewn Mike Zuniga to the oh-so-smooth Tony Scalzo on the next track, “Best Friend,” a song that screams hit single with its propulsive, driving hookiness. Other candidates for hit single include the Beatlesque “I Will Never Let You Down” (with its great video!) and the very catchy “Just Another Dream.” The care in choosing the instrumental mix on this record is impressive. Check out the nice guitar bits on “I Will Never Let You Down” that echo George Harrison’s simple and straightforward guitar lines on a host of mid-career Beatles records. Or the jaunty acoustic guitar that anchors “Behind the Sun,” clearly an homage to McCartney’s felicitous picking on tunes like “Mother Nature’s Son.” I could go on. Suffice to say, there isn’t a bum track here – if you like one song, you’re going to want the whole album.