http://www.indiecult.com/2006-04/television-personalities-my-dark-places An indie cult. Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:20:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 http://www.indiecult.com/2006-04/television-personalities-my-dark-places#comment-848 Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:59:09 +0000 http://www.indiecult.com/2006-04/television-personalities-my-dark-places#comment-848 [...] For me, the appeal of the Pipettes is conceptual. They are a pretty good retro girl-group outfit, but Saturday Looks Good to Me writes more formally interesting songs and the Aislers Set sounds more authentic. The Pipettes’ appropriation of girl-group pop seems to me a critical move in the tradition of late 80’s and 90’s indiepop bands, particularly Talulah Gosh and Heavenly, who take aim at the idea of rock and roll as the authentic counterpoint to artificial and manufactured feminized pop music. (I have written about Television Personalities’ reaction to the same phenomenon.) Where Talulah Gosh’s “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Thank God” and Heavenly’s “Cool Guitar Boy” ask the question, “What makes the Rolling Stones serious music?”, the Pipettes ask the same question of Gang of Four. To be sure, “I Like a Boy in Uniform” is more serious than Franz Ferdinand and makes it plain for all to see. [...] […] For me, the appeal of the Pipettes is conceptual. They are a pretty good retro girl-group outfit, but Saturday Looks Good to Me writes more formally interesting songs and the Aislers Set sounds more authentic. The Pipettes’ appropriation of girl-group pop seems to me a critical move in the tradition of late 80’s and 90’s indiepop bands, particularly Talulah Gosh and Heavenly, who take aim at the idea of rock and roll as the authentic counterpoint to artificial and manufactured feminized pop music. (I have written about Television Personalities’ reaction to the same phenomenon.) Where Talulah Gosh’s “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Thank God” and Heavenly’s “Cool Guitar Boy” ask the question, “What makes the Rolling Stones serious music?”, the Pipettes ask the same question of Gang of Four. To be sure, “I Like a Boy in Uniform” is more serious than Franz Ferdinand and makes it plain for all to see. […]

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