Word: popped
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...songwriters (including Ringo) and such graybeard kibitzers as Brian Wilson (who provides a Morse-code background % vocal of dit dit dit-dits on the Diane Warren tune In a Heart Beat). Somehow it all coheres, perhaps because this musical militia wanted to honor the group that shaped their pop tastes, and to do it with the one Beatle who could take direction from them as he did from Lennon and McCartney...
...anybody paid tribute to Ringo Starr when he turned 50, we missed it. Makes sense. Ringo was the Least Beatle, the onstage mascot, the one who didn't write songs or sing well. He was along for the amazing ride three pop geniuses took through the '60s. Early on, his goofy smile and steady beat kept the group grounded. Sometimes the other lads would throw him a tune (With a Little Help from My Friends, Yellow Submarine) that tapped the great good will he shared with his audience. But when John, Paul and George swerved off into drugs, mysticism...
...HUMOR: Pop Culture Paterfamilias...
Rapper Ice-T challenges his fans to take action. "We got two options," he says. "Either vote or hostile takeover. I'm down with either one. We're youth; we have to change things." Pop vamp Madonna literally wraps her otherwise scantily clad body in the American flag and cries out "Vote!" to - the staccato rhythms of her hit song Vogue, ending with the admonition, "If you don't vote, you're going to get a spankie...
Although it clearly has its merits, pop patriotism does run the risk of trivializing the electoral process. What, for example, would have been the effect if Comedy Central had provided commentary when Mario Cuomo made his eloquent "family of America" speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention? Can it really be considered progress if youths vote for a candidate solely because Michael Bolton says they should? People need reasons beyond that, argues Curtis Gans, who heads the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. "If we used that star quality to help kids figure out something they'd like...