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Your Favourite Totally Naff Song

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    #51
    I don't know whether I actually 'like' it as such, but Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus is an admittedly very good (naff) pop moment.

    Originally posted by Nocturnal Submission View Post
    I'll plump for Mouldy Old Dough by Lieutenant Pigeon (an anagram of Genuine Potential), though again more novelty song than naff. High score on the childhood nostalgometer too.
    So that's how they came by the name? Now I'm just left wondering how they arrived at 'Genuine Potential' as starting point...

    So many kids I knew had that single - hence it held onto number one for five weeks. I guess it was at a time when everyone knew every song on the charts and there was no real stigma about buying novelty records. (One of my first singles was Popcorn by Hot Butter from earlier the same year, so there goes your proof.)

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      #52
      I'll go in to bat for Star Trekkin' - the video never puts to put a smile on my face and I like when it goes all bizarre at the end. Why is Ronald Reagan there and why is he wearing Mickey Mouse ears?

      Still less strange than Star Trek V though.

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        #53
        As alluded to in previous posts the “naff” idea is a bit tenuous but if it’s generally understood to be a song and artist generally derided by your contemporaries and your genuine enjoyment of them kept strictly to yourself at the time of their popularity I would go for ‘Nothing Rhymes’ by Gilbert O’Sullivan and ‘Macarena’ by Los Del Rio.

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          #54
          I've never understood why Let Me Entertain You isn't regarded as the work of genius that it is.

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            #55
            Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post
            Yeah “Safety Dance” is a sophisticated bit of synth pop.
            Well, I see it that way too. (I even own an album by Men Without Hats.) But I think a lot of people would see it as naff.

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              #56
              Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post

              I'd even go into bat for The Ketchup Song.
              Me too, with all three of Saturday Night, Macarena and The Ketchup Song.

              And the likes of Bucks Fizz and Dollar. I also love a few of Matthew Wilder's songs - not just the obvious one either. And Corey Hart. (I'm just a big pile of 80s naffness, me.)
              Last edited by Jimski; 25-01-2023, 16:44.

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                #57
                Originally posted by Sean of the Shed View Post
                Point of order, Safety Dance is far from naff, even if the video tries to push it in that direction. It's a piece of high quality new wave.
                Men Without Hats have so many good, hooky songs, too. I Got The Message, Antarctica, I Like, Where Do The Boys Go, Jenny Wore Black, etc.

                But the Safety Dance video was just sooooo wrong for the song.

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                  #58
                  C'mon guys. We're building up the mother of all party playlists here.

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                    #59
                    The woman in the “Safety Dance” video is a very tenuous friend of a Facebook friend. Went into the publishing world.

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                      #60
                      Originally posted by Artificial Hipster View Post

                      Styx - Babe. It's not my favourite Styx song. I could probably think of a few of those - the title track from Pieces of Eight perhaps, or Half Penny Two Penny followed by A.D. 1958 from Paradise Theatre. I hadn't heard it in years when it featured on Pick of the Pops during a drive to football recently. I couldn't turn the radio up loud enough.
                      I can't really get on with Babe, but Mr Roboto I definitely have some time for.

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                        #61
                        What about “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers? I think a lot of its reception was shaped by the somewhat nerdy, bespectacled, identical brothers singing the song, and there's an unfair air of novelty around it. But take all that away and you have a superbly constructed song, and an unbelievable performance. If someone like Dylan had come out with anything like this in his later years he'd have been rightly lauded.

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                          #62
                          Would 500 Miles ever have been considered naff? Great song, and I think a lot of people recognise it as such. I get what you're saying about the image of the band though.

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                            #63
                            Totally agree it's somewhat adjacent to true naffness.

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                              #64
                              I am a bit obsessed by 80s naffness though. e.g. I re-listened to the two Red Box hits in the hope that they were actually quite good. Unfortunately not, but I really wanted them to be.

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                                #65
                                Originally posted by WOM View Post

                                Men Without Hats have so many good, hooky songs, too. I Got The Message, Antarctica, I Like, Where Do The Boys Go, Jenny Wore Black, etc.
                                Pop Goes the World is the puppy's pills. Especially the extended version

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                                  #66
                                  Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post
                                  What about “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers? I think a lot of its reception was shaped by the somewhat nerdy, bespectacled, identical brothers singing the song, and there's an unfair air of novelty around it. But take all that away and you have a superbly constructed song, and an unbelievable performance. If someone like Dylan had come out with anything like this in his later years he'd have been rightly lauded.
                                  It's not so much The Proclaimers themselves, but the office-party types buying into it that have made that song 'naff' (or 'appear naff', if you prefer) - plus that painful Peter Kay charity version.

                                  Forever tainted, unfortunately.

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                                    #67
                                    Originally posted by Jimski View Post
                                    I get what you're saying about the image of the band though.
                                    Quite possibly the most boring band I've ever seen live. I can't say with any certainty they even said 'Hello' or 'Thank you...good night', but I know there was nothing but 'the tunes' in between.

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                                      #68
                                      Originally posted by WOM View Post

                                      Quite possibly the most boring band I've ever seen live. I can't say with any certainty they even said 'Hello' or 'Thank you...good night', but I know there was nothing but 'the tunes' in between.

                                      TBH, I've been to a few gigs where a bit less chat and a bit more music would have been most welcome!

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                                        #69
                                        I hear you. We've seen John Mellencamp and Steve Earle a few times where they got talking and....oh boy....<checks watch>.....

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                                          #70
                                          I don't really like gigs where the songs are announced. Just get on with it.

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                                            #71
                                            Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                            I don't really like gigs where the songs are announced. Just get on with it.
                                            No, but a bit of connection with the audience is nice. Not every song, but let me know you know what town you're in tonight, etc.

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                                              #72
                                              Still not clear on definition of NAFF, but I'm throwing in GO FOR SODA by Kim Mitchell. Goofy song, ridiculously dated video, but I still find it catchy as hell.

                                              I seem to remember WOM mentioning that he's pretty much a douche.

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                                                #73
                                                Originally posted by Cal Alamein View Post
                                                I seem to remember WOM mentioning that he's pretty much a douche.
                                                Nah, I'm okay with Kim. My wife can't stand him cuz he made a Springsteen joke once. He's the epitome of not taking himself too seriously.

                                                His high point for me was I Am A Wild Party.

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                                                  #74
                                                  MWH are a fantastic band and I love the video for The Safety Dance - the woman did indeed go into publishing, in fact she later became the editor of Cosmopolitan. For people who think they've only ever heard that one MWH song, if you watch international tournament football you've probably heard some crowds chant the melody to Pop Goes The World.

                                                  As regards naffness, personally I don't like anything that I think is naff, but I love loads of things that other people might (wrongly, of course) think is naff. There have been a few related suggestions so far on this thread but the mid-80s vogue for Eurodisco or Italodisco - I'm not going to get hung up on the labels - threw up some fantastic pop records like Spagna's Call Me, Sabrina's Boys (Summertime Love) and the outstanding record of the crop, Desireless' Voyage Voyage.

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                                                    #75
                                                    I'm quite late to the eurodisco party, but this Belgian new beat number was one that stayed with me.

                                                    It contains the lyric 'wall street crash got me burning'.

                                                    What more can I say?
                                                     

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