Comments on: I need a perfect way to make the girls go crazy.

Question: I need a perfect way to make the girls go crazy.

matkline — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:52:28 -0800

I'm looking for music that has "pop" mass appeal and lyrics that are ironic/post-modern. In other words, intelligent, but not intelligent at first glance. Some acts that I've found which fit this criteria are: Steely Dan, Scritti Politti, and Beck. Any other recommendations?

By: bricoleur

bricoleur — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:59:39 -0800

The Police.

By: svolix

svolix — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:01:51 -0800

Electric Six.

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:07:28 -0800

Sparks

By: kookoobirdz

kookoobirdz — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:10:48 -0800

I was going to say Barenaked Ladies, but those might be intelligent at first glance. David Bowie has some choice selections. Very popular and singable, but you might not appreciate the lyrics until you really look at them.

By: turaho

turaho — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:12:09 -0800

Devo

By: rhizome

rhizome — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:18:30 -0800

Prefab Sprout
The Clash
10cc
Warren Zevon

I know, lots of oldies, but it's what comes to mind.

By: strangeleftydoublethink

strangeleftydoublethink — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:19:45 -0800

Momus

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:19:58 -0800

Elvis Costello, Randy Newman.

By: Blacksun

Blacksun — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:20:22 -0800

You'll struggle to find a better lyricist than Jarvis Cocker

Different Class was a critical and commercial success here, for just about the same reasons you give.

Check out anything else by Pulp and you can't go far wrong.

"...When you raise your pencil skirt like a veil before my eyes
Like the look upon his face as he's zipping up his flies.
Oh I know that you're engaged to him.
Oh but I know that you want something to play with baby.
I'll be around when he's not in town, I'll show you how you're doing it wrong
I really love it when you tell me to stop.
Oh it's turning me on.... "

Pencil Skirt from Different Class

By: piedmont

piedmont — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:20:46 -0800

They Might Be Giants?

By: gnutron

gnutron — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:27:11 -0800

Lupe Fiasco?

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:36:55 -0800

Regina Spektor's songs are incredibly catchy & also intelligent.

By: vkxmai

vkxmai — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:39:13 -0800

Berlin
The Human League - "Seconds" from the album "Dare"
Fluke - "Atom Bomb" from the album "Risotto"

As KSU grad, I have to nth DEVO and The Numbers band.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:47:59 -0800

Gnarls Barkley.
Ben Folds.
Natasha Bedingfield. No, I'm not kidding.

By: Roach

Roach — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:48:50 -0800

Tool.

By: dzot

dzot — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:48:52 -0800

Fountains of Wayne

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:51:51 -0800

Pulp

By: Kloryne

Kloryne — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:08:05 -0800

Joe Jackson

By: diogenes

diogenes — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:08:23 -0800

Modest Mouse.

By: newmoistness

newmoistness — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:14:40 -0800

Mekons.

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:20:34 -0800

The Magnetic Fields have very pop song styles, but are recorded in a pretty lo-fi/indie way. The lyrics are pretty inventive, but almost more for what they get to rhyme rather than their "meaning". For example, one song rhymes "Ferdinand de Saussure" with "bulldozer".

Or this string from "I Don't Want to Get Over You":
cause I don't want to get over love
I could listen to my therapist,
pretend you don't exist,
and not have to dream of
what I dream of
I could listen to all my friends
and go out again
and pretend it's enough
or I could make a career of being blue
I could dress in black and read Camus
smoke clove cigarettes and drink vermouth
like I was 17
that would be a scream
but I don't want to get over you

Both songs on 69 Love Songs.

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:25:15 -0800

The Beautiful South were conceived of, created, and flawlessly executed as a pitch-perfect all-surface pop band that starts to fracture and splinter into brilliantly twisted whorls of songwriting when you take a closer look.

Their predecessors, the Housemartins, were similarly brilliant, sounding like jangly British guitar-pop but flying a rather radical agenda behind it; the Housemartins also gave birth to Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook, who one could argue has done a pretty interesting job of subverting dance music.

By: rosebengal

rosebengal — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:31:24 -0800

The Fatal Flaw - my fave is "The Great Indoors"

By: desuetude

desuetude — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:40:25 -0800

X

Nthing Beautiful South and Mekons

By: desuetude

desuetude — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:40:59 -0800

nth because mere seconding is not enough

By: divabat

divabat — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:53:40 -0800

Darren Hayes, though don't look at Spin because that's not really his most intelligent work.

By: BobFrapples

BobFrapples — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:01:25 -0800

Just coming in to propose The Beautiful South... Shepherd nails it.

By: BadMiker

BadMiker — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:21:34 -0800

Faithless.
Maxi Jazz is a poet, and very cle ver. "You dont need eyes to see, you need vision."

By: chrchr

chrchr — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:29:57 -0800

Blur

By: hippugeek

hippugeek — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:39:22 -0800

Seconding Fountains of Wayne.
Pavement.

By: jet_silver

jet_silver — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:55:29 -0800

Talking Heads.
Doug Bennett of Doug and the Slugs.

By: rooftop secrets

rooftop secrets — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:15:25 -0800

I'm not entirely sure what you're describing, but it makes me think of...

Weezer (although they've sort of devolved into dumb at first AND second glance)
Ben Kweller
Beulah
Magnetic Fields
Frank Zappa
Del tha Funkee Homosapien
Fountains Of Wayne

By: maloon

maloon — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:55:38 -0800

Roxy Music

By: punchdrunkhistory

punchdrunkhistory — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:39:38 -0800

of Montreal

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:22:23 -0800

Crowded House

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:40:02 -0800

Magnetic Fields is a good suggestion. The approach you seem to be looking for is one of the hallmarks of the indie-pop genre, I think. Also check out Love is All, Cats on Fire, Jens Lekman. Basically Scandinavian people is what I'm saying.

By: indienial

indienial — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:25:33 -0800

The Long Blondes.

By: dowcrag

dowcrag — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:35:36 -0800

Pet Shop Boys

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:32:36 -0800

Fosca

By: knile

knile — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:49:20 -0800

If Fountains of Wayne fits your criteria (I'm not quite sure I "get it", what you're looking for), then you might also be into the Push Stars and their front man Chris Trapper's solo work.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:24:51 -0800

Madness

By: slo

slo — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:32:23 -0800

Seconding Modest Mouse and Of Montreal, but they may not work if you're looking for something that people recognize instantly (i.e. if you equate "pop" with top 40).

Honestly I think you can put late Beatles in this category.

Also:

New Pornographers
The Shins
Okkervil River
The Hold Steady

Some songs from the above artists may fall into the "first glance" intelligent category, but there are plenty that just sound fun until you get to the lyrics - "Black" by Okkervil River is a perfect example.

By: snofoam

snofoam — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:45:58 -0800

The Gleaming Spires. Are You Ready for the Sex Girls? seems like a straightforward, utopian, adolescent fantasy: The wild ride, fast ride pony girls who can talk about love because they know where it goes. They have time on their hands and skin like seals. They play pool in your house and take off all their clothes. THEY ARE WOMEN WITHOUT ANY FAULTS.

Sounds pretty good, eh? One comes over, then they all come over, then they party all around your house.

But then they just keep coming, they're going crazy in the bedroom. If you can't talk love, you better get out. There's a knock on the door, they've come back AGAIN! The party never ends.

And, as it turns out, they are simply too much. Are you ready for the sex girls?

NO ONE IS READY FOR THE SEX GIRLS.

(In about 2000, I actually bought a new copy of the original vinyl pressing of their first record from 1981, which hadn't ever sold out and was still available on Posh Boy records. Checking their store now, it seems that sometime in the intervening years they managed to sell the rest of the copies.)

By: saturnine

saturnine — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:56:10 -0800

Robyn. But only her last album onwards.

By: shannonm

shannonm — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:42:19 -0800

XTC (last.fm link)

By: jne1813

jne1813 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:57:40 -0800

Frank Zappa

Zappa evolved a compositional approach, which he called "conceptual continuity." The idea was that any project or album was part of a larger project. Everything was connected, and musical themes and lyrics would reappear in different form on later albums. Conceptual continuity clues are found throughout Zappa's entire œuvre.