5 Great Pop Songs That Were Performed, Not Programmed

Here are five pop songs, both old and new, that feature real instrumentation in a prominent role – i.e. they don’t sound like the cookie-cutter, over-produced, synth-laden, sugar pop that permeates the airwaves at times. (Whilst you will find synths and electronic instrumentation in some of these songs, the key criteria is that their primary instrumentation is performed by a musician rather than programmed.)

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Paolo Nutini – New Shoes

Who he is: a scottish singer-songwriter (father is of italian descent) who was discovered by his manager when he won a chance to sing a few songs onstage to stand in for a tardy David Sneddon. [Paolo on Wikipedia]

Why I like it: bouncy, jangly acoustic pop with a clappy head-bopping beat – what’s not to like? xD Paolo’s voice is kinda soulful in a folky way imho and he may not have the deepest story to tell xD but it’s interesting enough on the first listen .

Obligatory Cover: Paolo sings Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” – features a slideshow of Paolo’s disturbing prettiness (disturbing for a macho paragon of manliness like myself – girlies (and you, Tim) might like it…)

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Alphabeat – Fascination

Who they are: a Danish pop band with an 80s retro pop sound. The Spice Girls asked them to open on their 2007-8 reunion world tour but Alphabeat declined. [Alphabeat on Wikipedia]

What I like about it: The voices of the male and female leads (Anders and Stine) work together well and the chorus is driving and muscly in its own poppy sort of way. Plus there’s a definite contemporary air about the song in spite of the very 80s pop sound.

Obligatory Mash-Up: Destiny’s Child vs. Alphabeat – Fascination Woman

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A-Ha – Minor Earth Major Sky

Who they are: norwegian 80s pop icons – everybody’s heard “Take On Me“, right? [A-Ha on Wikipedia]

Why I like it: The rolling bass line gets your head bopping and Morten sings in an unusual mode for a pop song which gives the tune a vaguely exotic flavour.

This track is from their 2000 “comeback” album of the same name. I read a review at the time (which I thought was by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic.com but I can’t find it now…) that convinced me to check it out. Whoever the reviewer was they claimed that the album showed A-Ha sticking to pop but bringing it into the adult contemporary realm – pop for adults. I have to agree – there are some very good songs on the album that have the catchiness of radio-friendly pop but a little more longevity than the average 3 minute flash in the pan single due to A-Ha’s seemingly mellower and more grounded approach.

Honourable mention: Another song from the same album – Velvet – is sweetly smooth and the video’s worth seeing for the simple fact that you don’t often see a pop video that hints at necrophilia… O_o

Obligatory Mash-Up: A-Ha vs Royksopp – What Else Is An Early Morning? – fellow norwegians melanchol each other out – Royksopp’s awesome surreal video helps

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Cliff Richard – Devil Woman

Who he is: He’s 67 as of the date of this post – and he’s the only artist other than Elvis to make it into the UK singles charts for every decade of its existence (1950s – 2000). [Cliff on Wikipedia]

What I like about it: Yes, he’s old – he’s very old… and so is this song – but the chords and melody in the verse are immediately catchy – Cliff could write some tunes, man! xD If someone doesn’t cover this soon I’m going to have to do it…

Obligatory Obscure Cover: Cradle Of Filth actually recorded a version of this song… Since there’s no official video some comedian edited a concert appearance by Cliff over it xD.

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Yael Naim – New Soul

Who she is: a french-israeli singer-songwriter – she’s the first Israeli solo artist to have a top ten hit in the US. [Yael on Wikipedia]

Why I like it: quite high profile as it was used to launch the MacBook Air but the song is … errr… ‘airy’, fresh and upbeat anyway. Apparently Steve Jobs himself picked her song for the campaign.

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I love to know what’s good in pop but I can’t stand listening to the radio so if you know of anything good (especially if you think it should be on a list like this xD) please let me know in the Comments!