been where exactly? done what exactly?.. so they mixed with some cool dudes, but there music was pure pop cheese, nothing more nothing less ...

 

Been number one in America?

Successful in just about every single country worldwide?

Been the biggest all-girl band EVER til Spice Girls?

Had over 30 hits?

A massive selling Greatest Hits?

10 albums?

 

It's easy and predictable to knock Bananarama because of how shambolic they were in the early 80s..... when they appeared drunk on TV shows, were rude to most interviewers and generally TOTALLY lived the punk ethos.

 

You can't forgive them their SAW years, Rob.... you're forgetting the absolutely brilliant pop singles they've made before AND after these times which is a real shame because I for one certainly can't think of a single girlband who've made as many truly fabulous pop singles. Bar the new one, of course ;)

 

Been number one in America?

Successful in just about every single country worldwide?

Been the biggest all-girl band EVER til Spice Girls?

Had over 30 hits?

A massive selling Greatest Hits?

10 albums?

 

It's easy and predictable to knock Bananarama because of how shambolic they were in the early 80s..... when they appeared drunk on TV shows, were rude to most interviewers and generally TOTALLY lived the punk ethos.

 

You can't forgive them their SAW years, Rob.... you're forgetting the absolutely brilliant pop singles they've made before AND after these times which is a real shame because I for one certainly can't think of a single girlband who've made as many truly fabulous pop singles. Bar the new one, of course ;)

 

again m8, its a case where you can use statistics to prove anything.... ive never doubted their popularity, but c'mon man...the cocteau twins they aint! using your 'sales figures' as a guidline, does that mean the cocteau twins are crap? :lol:

 

ive never forgiven them for 'venus' thats true... but dont forget i like 'trick of the night' alot and that came after 'venus'.

 

the thing is .... i like my music to have alittle soul, maybe its my legacy from the mid 60's when british r n b ruled and blues was big... so if a pop track has no soul, like bananaramas material, then i need to give a track some credence by linking it to a memory, or giving it an emotion from myself... and cheesy pop is hard to do that too.

 

anyway in ten years time the saturdays might be the worlds biggest ever girl group..!!!!! :lol:

 

 

 

um

 

 

naaahhhhh! :lol:

But Rob.... pop isn't about 'soul' - pop is about rollicking, anything-goes all-out fun - and there's absolutely no girlband out there who do this like the Bananas. A pop track with 'soul'? Eh? At a push only ABBA have made pop with soul.... maybe Pet Shop Boys, too..... but 'soul' doesn't really exist in the pop market.

 

As for quoting 'sales figures' - I was just responding to your bizarre "been where? Done what?" statement. In the pop world, however ghastly the American charts are, there simply isn't a higher position to go than number one in America... and for a British all-girl band to achieve this is nothing short of phenomenal. So on this occasion, yep, you really have to take figures into account.

 

Bananarama have never ever claimed to be maestros - they know full well their position in things, they're able to take the p*** out of themselves and the industry - and to have a career like theirs lasting over 25 years is kinda something else.

 

Remember, Rob, out of 25 years, the Stock Aitken Waterman years take up just 4 of them - so hardly an indication of anything, really, is it? And the glut of their big hits weren't even made by SAW....

 

The Saturdays?? err.... who?

If 'Love Comes' was released back in 1998, it would've been a surefire top 5 hit for Bananarama....

but in the current download age , 80's acts virtually stand no chance of hitting the top 10....

Look at what happend to great comeback by the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, A-Ha and Duran Duran...

they all flopped hugely in the singles chart......

very very true.... the main problem these days for those of us that loathe downloads is actually finding product in shops... CD singles are rare as hen's teeth these days and even major stockists like HMV barely stock CD singles outside the top 20.

 

I hate, hate, hate downloads with a passion - a file on a computer is a million miles less satisfying than having an acual phyical, tangible product in your mitts. Downloads are vile.....

i find theres something rather tragic about old women trying to recapture their youth. pop as such is for the young, middle aged mums should be producing more 'adult' material and not repeating things they did over 20 years ago. look at their female contemporaries...

 

i don't think older artists should be told what kind of music they should sing...

if they still feel young, hip and energetic :cheer: i don't see why they should not be allowed to release dance-pop music...

have you listened to recent albums by Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Donna Summer, Cher, Cyndi Lauper ????: they are all over 50 (except for Kylie :lol:)and they have recently released some of the best pop albums in history....

art shouldn't be definied by age, it should be defined by talent.... :angry:

and what if Madonna and Kylie are still trying to sound youthful, is that a crime?? or should pop only be limited to teeny boys & girls like Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers :puke2: ???

Edited September 12, 200915 yr by Big Mistake

very very true.... the main problem these days for those of us that loathe downloads is actually finding product in shops... CD singles are rare as hen's teeth these days and even major stockists like HMV barely stock CD singles outside the top 20.

 

I hate, hate, hate downloads with a passion - a file on a computer is a million miles less satisfying than having an acual phyical, tangible product in your mitts. Downloads are vile.....

 

I am with you on that one - I got the Love Comes CD and two 7" singles picture discs - so much more rewarding to own than a computer file, actually feels like you're getting something for your money.

 

My Viva album arrived in the post today, made my day, wasn't expecting it to arrive early.

I am with you on that one - I got the Love Comes CD and two 7" singles picture discs - so much more rewarding to own than a computer file, actually feels like you're getting something for your money.

 

My Viva album arrived in the post today, made my day, wasn't expecting it to arrive early.

 

I pre-ordered it on eBay, not got it yet though :mellow: Got the pic discs and the cd single, though... but can't hear Voyage Voyage or Tokyo Joe because I don't even have decks anymore :(

 

The thing I love about CDs is the artwork, the feel, the smell...call me old fashioned :P There was a time I'd buy an album just for the artwork.... where's the joy in receiving a link to download a single or having to deal with iTunes (horrible)....

 

Big Mistake - post of the thread, I think.... completely agree on Cyndi Lauper's last album - haven't ever liked her, especially in the 80s, but Bring Ya To The Brink was phenomenal - especially Into the Nightlife - criminally overlooked. We'll have to disagree on Cher, though ;) And Madonna, actually - Hard Candy was pretty awful, I thought. Especially THAT cover photo :puke2:

 

The bottom line is we have Radio One to thank for the ghastly ageism in music. They've even blacklisted Madonna for committing the heinous crime of ageing?!?! And if they can play noxious trash like The Saturdays, Jonas Bros, Pixie Lott etc etc etc.... then there's absolutely no reason not to play Bananarama or Madonna apart from one - prejudice. And isn't age prejudice illegal....?

 

then there's absolutely no reason not to play Bananarama or Madonna apart from one - prejudice. And isn't age prejudice illegal....?

 

My thoughts exactly - if it was becuse someone was asian, chinese, black or gay, everyone would be up in arms about it.

But Rob.... pop isn't about 'soul' - pop is about rollicking, anything-goes all-out fun - and there's absolutely no girlband out there who do this like the Bananas. A pop track with 'soul'? Eh? At a push only ABBA have made pop with soul.... maybe Pet Shop Boys, too..... but 'soul' doesn't really exist in the pop market.

 

there again theres confusion (thanks watertwat <_< ) over the term 'pop'..... im refering to pop as the unbrella label to do with all modern music and not 'pop' pop.... real pop always had a degree of soul, or meaning (perhaps inspiration?..) behind it, 'pop' pop never did. but we agree pretty much otherwise

 

i don't think older artists should be told what kind of music they should sing...

if they still feel young, hip and energetic :cheer: i don't see why they should not be allowed to release dance-pop music...

have you listened to recent albums by Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Donna Summer, Cher, Cyndi Lauper ????: they are all over 50 (except for Kylie :lol:)and they have recently released some of the best pop albums in history....

art shouldn't be definied by age, it should be defined by talent.... :angry:

and what if Madonna and Kylie are still trying to sound youthful, is that a crime?? or should pop only be limited to teeny boys & girls like Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers :puke2: ???

 

ive already addressed this issue m8.

 

The bottom line is we have Radio One to thank for the ghastly ageism in music. They've even blacklisted Madonna for committing the heinous crime of ageing?!?! And if they can play noxious trash like The Saturdays, Jonas Bros, Pixie Lott etc etc etc.... then there's absolutely no reason not to play Bananarama or Madonna apart from one - prejudice. And isn't age prejudice illegal....?

 

i see both sides of the argument here, of course im against ageism (im old so i would be! :lol:), but i grew up in an age where pop music was created by a generation , for a generation... you can define pretty much someone age by asking them when the best era for music was...99% would reply that it was when they were in their youth, be it 60's, glam 70's punk 70's, two tone/ska 70's, new romantics 80's, and now your getting S/A/W fans citing the late 80's...

 

now that doesnt mean others, older, music fans cant enjoy modern pop, but surely the youth should have 'their day'? , shouldnt youth have their identity? us oldies should be stepping back.

 

so what if todays popsters are good or not? the sats, pixie, jonas etc belong to todays youth and surprisingly enough criticism of 'current pop isnt as good as what it was' is as old as pop music itself with EVERY generation claiming musical superiority over the new material.

 

whilst the likes of madonna should have the right to produce pop and cavort around scantily dressed pretending shes still young, its so fcukin undignified... if that makes me ageist then so be it!

So Rob, you'd rather see Madonna parading around in her videos in a twinset and pearls brandishing crochet needles whilst singing about Stannah stairlifts would you? Or the Banana girls sitting on comodes resplendent in Mrs Slocombe purple rinses stroking their pussies?

 

Whilst I agree, Madonna can be hideously undignified, especially for the photoshoots for her last album and the accompanying videos (some of which made me as a watcher feel like a gaenacologist), but Bananarama have NEVER been about selling their sexuality - the closest they've come is a glimpse of bare back in the new video. If anything, these girls have always gone anti-sex with their image - the dungarees and boxer boots of the early 80s through to biker jackets and jackboots at the end of the 80s.... now, they simply wear classic, fabulous designer dresses - and let's be honest, they look fricking incredible. There's no way they're trying to sound or look younger than they are they're simply making the utmost of what they've got - and they're making very similar music to the music they had their biggest hits with.

 

I'm staggered that you of all people can be so ageist..... pop music doesn't 'belong' to any age or generation.... pop music is a genre. Same as indie is a genre (a youthful genre?). And as for the pop stars in 'our day' being whippersnappers..... ABBA were having their biggest hits in their 30s.... go figure.

 

Are you saying now then that maybe, because Morrissey's in his 50s, he should quit singing protest songs about the Royal family and American politics and Hispanic gangs? In effect, stop singing half his back catalogue? Is his music and viewpoint now irrelevant because of his age? Same with Bob Dylan.... perhaps Kate Bush should quit singing about birds and trees and haunted washing machines and instead concentrate on the ever-rising price of gas bills and Steradent? Siouxsie should maybe take up the cause for the Women's Institute and back off from deep, dark, perhaps youthful subjects that ladies of her advanced years should have forgotten about in their youths?

 

Just because the genre is pop..... doesn't mean a thing. pet Shop Boys have just released their most 'pop' album since the 1980s - they're both in their 50s now.... is this in some way unacceptable and embarrassing?

 

No.... of course it isn't. Then again, they ARE male.... and male ageing always seems far less of a public crime than ladies getting on in years.

Heartbroken that it only made No 44 - that's probably my brief resurrected interest in the charts for the first time in a few years over and done with.

Heartbroken that it only made No 44 - that's probably my brief resurrected interest in the charts for the first time in a few years over and done with.

 

DITTO. Still, as comeback singles go, it's not a great one, really, let's be fair.... it's no Only Your Love or even Move In My Direction, is it? Plus they had major label backing with this one for the first time in years....

 

God knows how 'Viva' will fare now.... their albums are always notoriously weak sellers.

 

I bet they're gutted, bless 'em... :(

So Rob, you'd rather see Madonna parading around in her videos in a twinset and pearls brandishing crochet needles whilst singing about Stannah stairlifts would you? Or the Banana girls sitting on comodes resplendent in Mrs Slocombe purple rinses stroking their pussies?

 

Whilst I agree, Madonna can be hideously undignified, especially for the photoshoots for her last album and the accompanying videos (some of which made me as a watcher feel like a gaenacologist), but Bananarama have NEVER been about selling their sexuality - the closest they've come is a glimpse of bare back in the new video. If anything, these girls have always gone anti-sex with their image - the dungarees and boxer boots of the early 80s through to biker jackets and jackboots at the end of the 80s.... now, they simply wear classic, fabulous designer dresses - and let's be honest, they look fricking incredible. There's no way they're trying to sound or look younger than they are they're simply making the utmost of what they've got - and they're making very similar music to the music they had their biggest hits with.

 

I'm staggered that you of all people can be so ageist..... pop music doesn't 'belong' to any age or generation.... pop music is a genre. Same as indie is a genre (a youthful genre?). And as for the pop stars in 'our day' being whippersnappers..... ABBA were having their biggest hits in their 30s.... go figure.

 

Are you saying now then that maybe, because Morrissey's in his 50s, he should quit singing protest songs about the Royal family and American politics and Hispanic gangs? In effect, stop singing half his back catalogue? Is his music and viewpoint now irrelevant because of his age? Same with Bob Dylan.... perhaps Kate Bush should quit singing about birds and trees and haunted washing machines and instead concentrate on the ever-rising price of gas bills and Steradent? Siouxsie should maybe take up the cause for the Women's Institute and back off from deep, dark, perhaps youthful subjects that ladies of her advanced years should have forgotten about in their youths?

 

Just because the genre is pop..... doesn't mean a thing. pet Shop Boys have just released their most 'pop' album since the 1980s - they're both in their 50s now.... is this in some way unacceptable and embarrassing?

 

No.... of course it isn't. Then again, they ARE male.... and male ageing always seems far less of a public crime than ladies getting on in years.

 

i dont have an issue and never have with the nanas fashion sense...so no problem there.

 

nor do i have an issue with older artists releasing 'mature' music, so abba, morrissey, bush, banian etc are doing exactly what id expect them to do... but would they EVER release a 'pop' pop track?... 'pop' as a sub genre of pop, (watermanesque disposable cheesy material) though by its very nature is aimed at children and young teens... so i stick by my assertion that 'pop' pop music should be by the kids and for the kids... now historically with few exceptions, every pop sub genre since the beatles (and even before) was youth lead, by youth for youth..

 

as for the psb, they always produced better pop music then the nanas... music that could be recognised by generations as good.. not so the nanas, who specifically targeted the youth/gay markets.... fair play, that was more appropriate then when they were young.. but i cant get past old people trying to be hip in the youth market....

I'm absolutely loving this album, I'm going to go out and buy it when I get spare dosh.

 

WOW at 'Rapture' being a cover of Iio, how random. I'd have guessed Blondie if anything.

DITTO. Still, as comeback singles go, it's not a great one, really, let's be fair.... it's no Only Your Love or even Move In My Direction, is it? Plus they had major label backing with this one for the first time in years....

 

God knows how 'Viva' will fare now.... their albums are always notoriously weak sellers.

 

I bet they're gutted, bless 'em... :(

 

Not as gutted as me - well maybe slightly more.

 

I thought it was quite a good comeback single personally.

 

If there's to be another single from the album I'd hope that they'd go for Dum Dum Boy, which seeing as they performed that at GAY and Manchester Pride would indicate that that might have been their plan.

 

'Viva' is a stronger album than Drama - but as you say their albums aren't strong sellers, well here's hoping....

 

 

 

 

'pop' as a sub genre of pop, (watermanesque disposable cheesy material) though by its very nature is aimed at children and young teens...

 

Bananarama's brand of 'pop' is far more aimed at the gay market than the youth market, Rob - testament to this is their massive coverage in the gay press this month (front covers all round), glowing reviews in the pink press, their gig at G.A.Y. last week, their appearance at Manchester Mardi Gras the week before, a schedule full of appearances at gay clubs.... and their insistance on scantily clad dancers at all opportunities (for a change - MALE scantily clad backing dancers... how refreshing :D ).

 

I don't think the Nanas would even consider a straight teen buying their music.... hence them working with the people behind Girls Aloud....

Bananarama's brand of 'pop' is far more aimed at the gay market than the youth market, Rob - testament to this is their massive coverage in the gay press this month (front covers all round), glowing reviews in the pink press, their gig at G.A.Y. last week, their appearance at Manchester Mardi Gras the week before, a schedule full of appearances at gay clubs.... and their insistance on scantily clad dancers at all opportunities (for a change - MALE scantily clad backing dancers... how refreshing :D ).

 

I don't think the Nanas would even consider a straight teen buying their music.... hence them working with the people behind Girls Aloud....

 

i accept that they are shrewd businesswomen, they identified a market and exploited it... however as a straight male im sure youll understand why i didnt like them! :lol:

Weirdly bananarama were huge in the early 80's where the gay scene was not as big as it is now(well at least i think not) however since the mid 90's to the the present day they were really part of the gay scene and havent sold aswell. So the plan of exploiting their "gay" market hasnt exactly being the best move they ever made in terms of sales, however if they didnt exploit the gay scene i dont think they would be even herad of in this era now. Bananarama have done some good pop songs in the past but for me they havnt really done anything to great since the pop life album.

 

I will always have a soft spot for the band and would like to see them continue as they were in a way the first girl band i really knew much about when growing up. Personnaly i think stereotyping music is irratating and pointless as im a staright guy and i enjoy some of their stuff. A guy does not have to be gay to enjoy pop music, its like saying girls shouldnt like rock music.

. Personnaly i think stereotyping music is irratating and pointless as im a staright guy and i enjoy some of their stuff. A guy does not have to be gay to enjoy pop music, its like saying girls shouldnt like rock music.

 

true... but the nanas themselves (along with s/a/w) knew what gay people like and provided music that appealed to the gay market as a result... its ok saying stereotyping music is irritating, but it appears to be a fact that certain styles of music does interest certain types of people in society.. (and im not talking just gay)