5SF: october 9 (British pop edition!)

Thanks to Stuart playing all kinds of wonderful cheesy British pop from the early 00s at Mary’s last weekend, I have been in the mood for more, more, more all week. I decided to make a play list of some of my favorites, and as the list started to get pretty long, I realized that there are some great pop songs out there from the not so distant past that deserve to be shared. Due to the fact that I am practically in British pop overload as a result of making the list, I thought it would be fun to have a 5SF that is totally focused on the excellent cheesy pop music that hails from the UK from the earlier part of this decade.

Clea – I Surrender
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_clea-isurrender.mp3]
Clea were a band that came together after the girls met each other during the auditioning process for Pop Stars: The Rivals. While they didn’t win, they managed to release some pretty great pop music together. Clea had some issues with getting an album out, but when they finally did, it was filled with cheesy pop that has been a guilty pleasure of mine for years. This is my favorite song from the album Trinity, and even though Clea are long gone from the music scene, I still absolutely love this song. It is dance-tastic, and is just the type of cheesy British pop that I can’t get enough of right now.

Rachel Stevens – Knock On Wood
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_rachelstevens-knockonwood.mp3]
Rachel was in a fantastically cheesy-but-brilliant pop band called S Club 7 (who I completely and utterly adore!), and after the band broke up (*sad face*), she went out on her own, and released some pretty great solo stuff. Anyone who has been following this blog for a while now knows that I am a sucker for a great cover song, and this one is nothing short of fantastic (even though it isn’t on any of her albums!). Surprisingly, they actually played this on So You Think You Can Dance (last year I think) during a disco routine, and at the time, I was reminded of how much I love Rachel, and miss her contributions to pop music. My recent resurgence of interest in early 00s pop music wouldn’t be complete without a little love for Rachel and the rest of the S Club crew.

V – Can You Feel It?
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_v-canyoufeelit.mp3]
As is the case with many British pop bands, the formula of releasing cover songs is pretty much a standard, and V are no exception to the rule (this is a cover of The Jackson 5’s hit of the same name). However, even though it is a cover, it is cheesy boy-band pop at its BEST (which is probably why that formula is followed so predictably). Around the time the US was pining over The Backstreet Boys and N*SYNC, the UK had a slew of boy bands popping up left, right, and center. V was one of the bands that managed to have a few hits, only to disappear into near obscurity overnight. It’s interesting to me, that right now, there is another band brandishing the letter V in their name (who were actually featured on a previous 5SF), doing almost the same type of music. I hope they can last a little longer than this great boy band did, because this song showed enormous potential; again, a great cover song will win me over practically every time (I’m looking at you Mariah!!).

Emma Bunton – Maybe
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_emmabunton-maybe.mp3]
Many of you probably know Emma better by her stage name, Baby Spice; a name that she was given to her when she was in the Spice Girls. However, a lot of you might not know that every one of the Spice Girls kept working on music once the band broke up (a lot of it is brilliant!), and Emma’s second solo album is one of the best of the bunch; there isn’t a bad song on it. Emma was on the early end of the currently growing trend to harness a throwback sound; and in her case, as exhibited by the theme of this album, it was the swanky sound of pop music from the 60s. She had moderate attention in the states with her hit Free Me, which was remixed and made some waves on the dance scene, but Maybe was always my favorite from the album. Hearing this again made me realize just how much I love that whole album, and I’m glad to feature it today as one of my all time favorite British pop songs.

Steps – Stomp
[audio:http://www.duanemoody.com/audio/fsf_109_steps-stomp.mp3]
Arguably one of the biggest of the songs featured on today’s 5SF, this massive song by pop super group Steps pretty much embodies the uber cheesy heart of British pop of the early 00s. Steps were insanely huge when they were making music, and caused quite a stink with their fans when they disbanded; mostly because they had reassured everyone they wouldn’t when the rumors of a break up started flying. Because I didn’t find out about Steps until after they disbanded, I was shielded from any bad feelings about them, which is good, because I truly love some Steps. They are like a cheesy ABBA disco tribute band gone completely over the edge with bubble gum pop goodness. This is my favorite song by Steps, and it really is a shame that they didn’t continue on, because they made some really great pop music together. I’ve always thought this song was the perfect song for a Friday, because it’s all about getting ready for the weekend, so I thought it really worked for today.

I have thoroughly enjoyed bringing you some of my favorite cheesy British pop songs today. Reaching back into the vault of music that I own is often very fun; especially when I take a nostalgic trip down the pantheon of British pop that I own. I sorted through a huge pile of CDs making the play list that inspired today’s 5SF, and I will definitely say that it was really hard to choose just five. However, I think I picked some great ones, and I tried to pick ones that people might not have ever heard, and ones that they should. I hope you enjoyed them. Let me know what you thought, and if you have any suggestions of British pop that I must hear, please, do tell! Overall, what did you think of this week’s theme and selections? Should I do more fun British pop from the early 00s? I have tons!