Yummiest BubbleGum Pop Diva? We Report, You Decide

yesterday I posted about a video by French terrorist Sandra Lou, "Banana Split". Three of the the comments suggested that I should also check out their favorite terrorist bubblegum pop diva. I promised that I would, right after I listened to "Banana Split" just one more time. And so I did! 932 hours later, I turned off Sandra Lou and looked up the artists mentioned. I have created links to all of the videos so that everyone can check them out!

Now remember as you watch these, you are comparing their potential awsome bubblegumosity and infectious yummyness to this video, "Banana Split".

The Pipettes

The first sugestion was The Pipettes by Evil Spock. I have actually listened to the The Pipettes before, so I know how great they are. Here are some of their videos:

The Pipettes: "We Are The Pipettes", "ABC", "Pull Shapes", "Pull shapes (acoustic)", "The Pipettes@TheGarage", "The Pipettes on DR's Christmas Show", "dirty mind", "Your Kisses are Wasted on Me", "Judy", "Judy (Live Europe)", "Your Kisses are Wasted on Me", "The Pipettes on 'De Laatste Show'", ""We Are the Pipettes" (SXSW)", "The Pipettes and Hilter!" (I couldn't get that one to play), "The Pipettes Interview", "Guess Who Ran Away With The Milkman?", and "A Winters Sky".

After careful perusal I think that my favorite songs by the Pipettes are "Dirty Mind" and "Guess Who Ran Away With The Milkman?" and of course, "We Are The Pipettes". The 50s girl group sound that they convey is great! They also have some mighty big shoes to fill, some of the stuff from 50s and 60s is hard to top.

Evil Spock did a pretty good imitiation of Sandra Lou, I think. (I'm not really sure, but I think he is lip-synching.)

Alizee

After I listened to this singer, I think that Alizee comes off as kind of like a Britney Spears knock off, except that she can sing and and dance, and she is attractive, and looks intelligent and sober. And she is brunette. What am I talking about, Alizee is nothing like Britney Spears! Well, they actually do have something in common. Alizee is all of the things that Britney Spears is supposed to be, and isn't.

Alizee: "Alizee" 1, "Alizee" 2, "I'm not 20", "L' Alizee", "J'en Ai Marre!", "La Isla Bonita", "Alizee L'Alizee", "Alizée - 2006-04-30", "Goumandises", "Goumandises 2", "Goumandises 3", "Moi Lolita", "Moi Lolita" 2, "2001-10-26 - Performance", "The Night Elf Dance", "Moi Lolita", "Moi Lolita", and "Alizée Tribute - Veni Vidi Vici".

She does seem to have a nice voice, but is that really what her fans are interested in? [ 1, 2, 3 ] I think that even Alizee knows what they looking for, or she would not practice this particular form of choreography. [ 4 ] As I listened to the different songs, I did not find one that really stood out in my mind. I'm sorry, I was not really impressed with the music. She is a very lovely girl though.

I don't think that you can really compare Alizee to Sandra Lou. Alizee is obviously a well established pop star diva, and Sandra Lou is just kind of a one-hit-wonder, as near as I can tell.

Shonen Knife

Dr. Monkerstein suggested a song I had never heard of called "Banana Chips" by Shonen Knife. And it keeps with the whole banana theme! What a great song! What a great group!

Shonen Knife: "Banana Chips", "Riding on the Rocket", "It's a New Find", "Brown Mushrooms", "Twist Barbie (Live)", "E.S.P.", "Kiss Her Kiss Her"

I love their music! And there is something immediately wonderful about girls with electric guitars. I think that my favorites were "Banana Chips" and "Riding on the Rocket". Another Japanese girl band that I really enjoy is the 5678s. (The Barracuda, Shoobie Doobie Doo, Whoo Hoo).

I would say that "Dirty Mind" by The Pipettes would be my vote for the closest example of what I was talking about yesterday. This song sort of comes close to the light hearted mirth and enthusiasm of "Banana Split". Unfortunately, the lighting, choreography, art direction and camerawork are pretty dreadful in their video. The girl in the glasses makes up for some of these shortcomings, however.

Sandra Lou does not really seem to be very famous. It does appears that, like Bill O'Reilly, she did win a Peabody. Other than that, it appears that she has not done much else musically, at least not on the web. She is just some kind of lame French TV personality. [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]

As she is just covering some Lio hit and has done little else musically, she is by every definition just some flash in the pan. She probably isn't even that good of singer outside of a studio, and the best part about her dancing is that at least she looks like she is having a lot of fun. Still, it is Fantasteriffic! They got all of the component parts correct - the music (and it's arrangement) is great, the singer is yummy, the art direction, editing, camerawork and everything just fit together exactly. What I think really makes the video so great was that it was so upbeat and enthusiastic.

I think that the best examples of music that have a similar quality are songs like the Jackson 5 doing "ABC", or the Partridge Family doing "Having a Ball!", but there are other songs like this, the Monkees hits "Gonna Buy Me a Dog", "Daydream Believer", "Not Your Stepping Stone", the Partridge Family singing "Come on, Get Happy" and "I Think I Love You", and of course the Archies did "Sugar, Sugar". Even the original Banana Splits TV show theme song would fit into this category.