Pop! What Is It Good For? BBC4
Very few gigs in January, so clever of the bods at BBC4 to schedule an absolute barrage of music programmes, many of which were built upon the premise that pop music is something to be taken seriously. We know that, but it does seem like there’s quite a recent trend in discussing the supposedly throwaway within an intellectual context, probably because people who grew up in the fifties/sixties when pop exploded are now running the TV stations.
This particular programme was written and hosted by Mr Pop Picker himself, music journo Paul Morley. A word on him first. He seems to be a part of every music show on TV, leading many to tire of his odd-shaped face and stuttering proclamations. Fair enough, but he’s still good when given the right vehicle. He did a doc on Chrissie Hynde once that was clever and hilarious, and he’s also sharp and funny in this gonzo journey into the very meaning of pop.
The premise was simple: Paul thinks of six classic pop songs and then meets other fans of the songs, the song’s writers, the singers, people who made the videos, etc., to talk about them. First noticeable thing: he didn’t score many of the big guns. His first selection was Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’. It would have been interesting to hear Kylie’s thoughts on that great track, but alas, she was AWOL. Morley did, however, get to meet the song’s writer - Rob Davis of seventies glam rockers Mud, curiously - and therein lied a lesson: simple is good in pop. Less is more.
Morley’s other selections were T.Rex’s ‘Ride The White Swan’, ‘Lola’ by The Kinks, ‘This Charming Man’ by The Smiths, Adam Faith’s ‘What Do You Want’ and The Sugarbabes doing Richard X mash-up track, ‘Freak Like Me’ - all classic pop songs and very varied. Is it possible to unite them under one central understanding of the importance of pop? Possibly, but Morley didn’t manage it. Plenty of the people he interviewed - Suggs, Robert Wyatt, Richard X, the poet Simon Armitage - had significant things to say, but the enemy of this investigation was time: it seemed like it’d been botched together with great haste. Noticeably, it was cold throughout filming, suggesting it was probably shot before Christmas for a January 8 viewing. With more time, it may have made more sense. Up against what was likely a tight deadline, it suffered - there was no conclusion, nor much of a comprehensive through-line.
But it was a romp to watch and never over-earnest. You can, of course, over-do the importance of pop and forget that, for the most part, it’s just good fun. Morley understands that and he also realises that the best pop songs are often the weirdest ones. That seemed to be something of a theme, but over to Robert Wyatt who came up with one simple word that seemed to get to root of it all. Pop! What is it good for? Connection. It connects people and it always will.
