Do you reckon you could write a hit pop song?

[Dingus]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362516703' post='2000732']
I remember seeing OMD on ToTP, they depressed the f*** out of me.
[/quote]

Didn't Andy McClusky end up managing Atomic Kitten , and writing or co-writing most of their hits ?

[xilddx]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1362517908' post='2000764']
Didn't Andy McClusky end up managing Atomic Kitten , and writing or co-writing most of their hits ?
[/quote]
Are you f***ing serious!!??

[Dingus]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362517818' post='2000760']
I prefer the Uli Jon Roth approach
[/quote]

I bumped into him one afternoon in Leeds . True story . Unfortunately my childhood infatuation with the Scorpions was long over .

[discreet]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362517962' post='2000769']
Are you f***ing serious!!??
[/quote]

He was in fact the [i]founder [/i]of Atomic Kitten.

Edited March 5, 2013 by discreet

[Dingus]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362517962' post='2000769']
Are you f***ing serious!!??
[/quote]

I am serious . From Wikipedia , but accurate :
[b] Atomic Kitten and The Genie Queen[/b]

In 1997, McCluskey founded the UK [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music"]pop[/url] group [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Kitten"]Atomic Kitten[/url] and co-wrote several of their hit singles. Their song "[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Again"]Whole Again[/url]", co-written by McCluskey, was his first UK [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chart-topper"]No.1[/url],[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-6"][6][/url][/sup] and he and his fellow songwriters were nominated for the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Novello_Award"]Ivor Novello Award[/url] for excellence in songwriting.[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-ivor-7"][7][/url][/sup]
More recently, McCluskey formed White Noise Records and publishing label where he tried to recreate the formula of Atomic Kitten with Liverpool girl group, The Genie Queen.[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-8"][8][/url][/sup] He also bought a recording studio, The Motor Museum, in Liverpool.[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-9"][9][/url][/sup]

[xilddx]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1362518036' post='2000773']
I bumped into him one afternoon in Leeds . True story . Unfortunately my childhood infatuation with the Scorpions was long over .
[/quote]
I love the Electric Sun stuff. But Tokyo Tapes was a great favourite of mine.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1362518125' post='2000775']
I am serious . From Wikipedia , but accurate :
[b] Atomic Kitten and The Genie Queen[/b]

In 1997, McCluskey founded the UK [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music"]pop[/url] group [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Kitten"]Atomic Kitten[/url] and co-wrote several of their hit singles. Their song "[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Again"]Whole Again[/url]", co-written by McCluskey, was his first UK [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chart-topper"]No.1[/url],[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-6"][6][/url][/sup] and he and his fellow songwriters were nominated for the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Novello_Award"]Ivor Novello Award[/url] for excellence in songwriting.[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-ivor-7"][7][/url][/sup]
More recently, McCluskey formed White Noise Records and publishing label where he tried to recreate the formula of Atomic Kitten with Liverpool girl group, The Genie Queen.[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-8"][8][/url][/sup] He also bought a recording studio, The Motor Museum, in Liverpool.[sup][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_McCluskey#cite_note-9"][9][/url][/sup]
[/quote]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1362518119' post='2000774']
He was in fact the [i]founder [/i]of Atomic Kitten.
[/quote]

OMFG!! That's gotta piss Chris2112 off a bit hasn't it? Or perhaps not.

[discreet]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362518232' post='2000777']
That's gotta piss Chris2112 off a bit hasn't it?
[/quote]

Well, there y'go. Every cloud...

[xilddx]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1362518308' post='2000782']
Well, there y'go. Every cloud...
[/quote]

Tee Hee

[HMX]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362510464' post='2000544']
I'm assuming you are being serious because you've been a gobsh*te in the past on similar subjects, so I am happy to say that your pronouncement is absolute bollocks.
[/quote]
+1

I couldn't do it.

[Dingus]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362518154' post='2000776']
I love the Electric Sun stuff. But Tokyo Tapes was a great favourite of mine.
[/quote]

I got Tokyo Tapes for Xmas in 1979 , and went to see them at the first ever Monsters Of Rock at Donnington in 1980 . Imagine my surprise some years later to see Ulrich himself negotiating the crowds of students outside Leeds University one weekday afternoon .

[Mr. Foxen]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manual

[xilddx]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1362518823' post='2000800']
I got Tokyo Tapes for Xmas in 1979 , and went to see them at the first ever Monsters Of Rock at Donnington in 1980 . Imagine my surprise some years later to see Ulrich himself negotiating the crowds of students outside Leeds University one weekday afternoon .
[/quote]



He runs some sort of weird guitar seminar now, the Sky Academy. He's an amazing musician really.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1362519254' post='2000809']
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manual"]http://en.wikipedia....wiki/The_Manual[/url]
[/quote]

Very good

I loved Jimmy Cauty's posters, Avebury, Stonehenge, LotR, and The Hobbit IIRC.

[xilddx]

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1362519476' post='2000817']
. Tokyo tapes is a great album, scorpions was the second band I ever seen live but Mathias jabs had already taken over from uli by then
[/quote]
He was alright, Mathias Jabs. I sort of miss that style of playing, Atomic Tommy M with UFO was damn good too, at the time.

[Dingus]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362519370' post='2000813']


He runs some sort of weird guitar seminar now, the Sky Academy. He's an amazing musician really.
[/quote]

He always struck me as being a little bit burnt- out from the Seventies , but a very influential guitarist nevertheless . German hippies are a breed unto themselves . God knows how many are still stuck in far- flung corners of the World trying to hitch hike back to Dusseldorf .

[xilddx]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1362519732' post='2000826']
He always struck me as being a little bit burnt- out from the Seventies , but a very influential guitarist nevertheless . German hippies are a breed unto themselves . God knows how many are still stuck in far- flung corners of the World trying to hitch hike back to Dusseldorf .
[/quote]


He's got a very powerful but romantic way of playing and composing. And other than SRV, the only player that sounded a bit like Hendrix but with every bit the same power and total control of the instrument.

[Chris2112]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362518232' post='2000777']
OMFG!! That's gotta piss Chris2112 off a bit hasn't it? Or perhaps not.
[/quote]

Not really. The late 90's was the absolute wilderness for any decent 80's outfit. Recent enough to remember firsthand, not yet distant enough to get nostalgic over (irrespective of whether the songs were good or not). Andy did the smart thing, finding himself at a musical impasse as the frontman of a 70's/80's electro rock outfit. He used his means to create a dire pop band, pull the strings and cream the profits. When the time was right for OMD to come back, they came back. Mind you, a cursory glance at the lyrics for 'New Babies, New Toys' should leave you in no doubt as to what he thinks of these naff pop acts, even if he has lined his pockets off the back of one.

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1362520156' post='2000837']
Germans are real rockers.[/quote]

I only heard this for the first time three days ago from 1969!!
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQJY8EVqzwA[/media]

[xilddx]

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1362520272' post='2000840']
Not really. The late 90's was the absolute wilderness for any decent 80's outfit. Recent enough to remember firsthand, not yet distant enough to get nostalgic over (irrespective of whether the songs were good or not). Andy did the smart thing, finding himself at a musical impasse as the frontman of a 70's/80's electro rock outfit. He used his means to create a dire pop band, pull the strings and cream the profits. When the time was right for OMD to come back, they came back. Mind you, a cursory glance at the lyrics for 'New Babies, New Toys' should leave you in no doubt as to what he thinks of these naff pop acts, even if he has lined his pockets off the back of one.
[/quote]
Well reasoned and perfectly fine. I think I'm a realist with music, I love good pop, I love some much more complicated orchestral stuff. I don't think pop gets the respect from musicians that it deserves, it is not easy, and it's usually misjudged by the cognoscenti. Some of it is just to cash up, but most is simply what it is.

[JTUK]

in theory yes... but actually doing it and getting the break is another thing.

[Dingus]

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1362520156' post='2000837']
Germans are real rockers , I go over to hamburg now and again to see my mate who plays in a rock band, and the whole place is very metal orientated , gwaaar ist. Ein grosse metalenburger!!!!
[/quote]

Of course they are metal orientated - you can't make Panzer tanks out of wood !

Edited March 5, 2013 by Dingus

[MiltyG565]

And the french just smoke cigarettes over slow jazz in black and white, with a glass of wine.

[MiltyG565]

And we can't forget the soliloquy either. There's always a soliloquy.

[lurksalot]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362521181' post='2000865']
Some of it is just to cash up, but most is simply what it is.
[/quote]

I think most chart stuff is to cash up and relies more on the promotion than the skill of songwriting , find a formula, promote the bejesus out it and nail its hat on. lyrics and tune follow the promotion and sycophancy of the providers of airtime/press/reviews etc.
I think a lot of people could write a hit tune, whether they have the influence to make it a hit is a completely different story.