Is Rumours an album of catchy pop tunes

[Hawkeye]

Someone on the Lindsey tusk songs thread brought this up So i thought I'd make it an actual poll question Lux said that she thought Rumours was just an album full of catchy pop tunes. And I have a feeling alot of people feel this way about it. But really if you look at Rumours, I feel it's not even close. There's alot of catchy pop out there and I just don't see that in Rumours. The only songs I'd consider catchy pop tunes are Second Hand News, Don't Stop and Dreams. GDW sounds moe experimental then any of Stevie's Tusk songs. The Chain is not like any song I've ever heard by another artist. There's nothing catchy about Oh Daddy, Songbird, or NGBA. I Don't Want to Know is very country. I can see calling GYOW a catchy pop tune, but how can you with that scorching guitar solo. You Make Loving Fun is ctchy in some ways but it's so very bluesy and different. And like I said that leaves SHN, Dreams, and Don't Stop.

[shackin'up]

I voted Yes. But you made it difficult for me, because the question is : Is Rumours JUST a catchy popalbum? Because if I answered that literally I would say No. It's a catchy popalbum that appealed to the whole world, and still does. That's not JUST a catchy popalbum, that's a catchy popalbum that changed lifes, or at least sticks to a lot of lifes as an anchor of memories. It still hasn't lost it's vibration.

[Mari]

it was that "just"word that made me vote No.

[strandinthewind]

Having been alive at the time Rumors was released and having been a radio buff years before then, I can say that although Rumors became the standard for pop music, the actual songs were trendsetting it design and execution. Radio had never heard anything exactly like GYOW and GDW, esp. the percussion parts. Although Dreams is very popular to this say, Stevie's spacey and trippy execution of those brilliant lyrics was not really done before except perhaps by Heart. Don't Stop and YMLF are pop, but CM is/was a pop favorite and I love her for it. Havinmg said that, Oh Daddy is FAR from pop, esp. then when the whole Mid East vibe was nowhere on the radio. Interestingly, I think the only exact homnages to pure pop are IDWTK, which is straight Everly Brothers esq. two part harmony from the late 60's, and SHN which although brilliant, borrowed heavily from the Bee Gee's pop standard Jive Talking. Finally, Silver Springs was not pop in the sense that nothing that sounded like it was on the radio at the time. So, while yes, Rumors became the pop standard, it was different in design and execution than pretty much what was being played on the radio at the time. Thus, I vote no.

[stefan]

Come on now folks, being a fan is one thing, being objective a different thing.
You like Rumours- fine. But please now- it's not a catchy pop album?

[CarneVaca]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Having been alive at the time Rumors was released and having been a radio buff years before then, I can say that although Rumors became the standard for pop music, the actual songs were trendsetting it design and execution. Radio had never heard anything exactly like GYOW and GDW, esp. the percussion parts.

This is an important point. "Dreams" picked up where the band had left off with "Rhiannon." The voice that had already enthralled millions was coming back in song that was just as mysterious and catchy, backed by the same rhythm section, and propelled into the sublime by the interplay of Stevie's voice with Lindsey's beautiful guitar licks. "Go Your Own Way," the first single, became a hit in spite of itself. "You Make Loving Fun" and "Don't Stop" are the true unabashed pop entries that were released as singles.

No question that Rumours is catchy pop; even the more obscure-sounding songs like "The Chain" and "Gold Dust Woman" had a palpable pop sensibility. But I wouldn't say it's "just" a catchy pop album. Not by a long shot. It's a lot more than that.

[MacMan]

I voted yes, not because it's JUST a pop album, but like someone said earlier, you'd have had to have been there in the 70's when this thing was unleashed to know exactly what the difference was between what was out there considered as pop and then Rumours... It was a pop album, but it changed the direction of music, or was a great part of that change in music....

It's a great Pop album from its generation and holds up today.. I think!!

[dontlookdown]

one of the reasons why i love the songs is because they were written in a minor key - with minor chords.
it's the same reason why i love neil young.

not exactly the recipe for "catchy pop" tunes....

[HomerMcvie]

Sting once said it's much easier to write songs in minor keys, than major keys.

[mylittledemon]

Sting? Or "Stink" as I like to refer to him. He's hasn't been creating good music since he left the Police. No further comment necessary there.

Rumours is "just" a pop album? For sure. But it's also got more going on underneath the surface. If it were just a pop album of catchy tunes, it wouldn't have had the longevity its enjoyed. There are many, many catchy pop albums that are released every day. You won't be hearing songs from them 20 years from now on FM radio.

[David]

Originally Posted by dontlookdown

one of the reasons why i love the songs is because they were written in a minor key - with minor chords.

I'm not sure I understand. The album seems to me mostly a major-key bath: "Second Hand News," "Dreams," "Never Going Back Again," "Don't Stop," "Songbird," "I Don't Want to Know" are all predominantly in major keys. As are the verses of "Go Your Own Way" & the beautiful cascading wash of the chorus on "You Make Loving Fun."

I think "Rumours" is definitely a pop album, insofar as that category has (or had) any meaning. In fact, I think that just about every album with Buckingham on it & quite a few Mac albums without Buckingham are pop albums. The Beatles made some pop albums, too. It shouldn't be denigrating to call an album "pop" -- except maybe nowadays, when people think they're too "cool" for pop. (There is good pop & ****ty pop, by the way, which everyone knows.)

To me, pop is all about the song: as a distinct whole & piece by piece, fashioned (sometimes painstakingly) into a whole in which each element plays a key role, balanced against & complementing the other elements. In other words, "pop" as opposed to genres with other concerns, namely metal & prog.

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by Lux

Yes, the word 'just' is kind of manipulating.

I agree. It's obvious what you're "supposed" to answer because voting "Yes" to that question automatically limits Rumours, regardless of whether its tunes are catchy or not, and pigeonholes it into a perjorative space.

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by Lux

But that's not always true, Sgt Pepper went down well, so did Dark Side of the Moon. Maybe it's a conspiracy against Lindsey. That is the logical conclusion.

I think that was Lindsey's goal - make experimental popular. As much as he says he doesn't care about such things, I think in his dreams more people would eat up "Tusk" than ever bought Rumours. Nothing wrong with that, but would it then become "pop" and be something he had to get away from when making the next album? lol

[CarneVaca]

Originally Posted by dontlookdown

one of the reasons why i love the songs is because they were written in a minor key - with minor chords.
it's the same reason why i love neil young.

not exactly the recipe for "catchy pop" tunes....

Hmm... I'm not sure it's that straight forward. I Don't Wanna Know, Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop, Never Going Back Again, Second Hand News and You Make Loving Fun are in major keys. And that's half the songs right there. Then you have songs, such as Dreams and The Chain, which fall somewhere in between major and minor.

[strandinthewind]

Well, Tusk was accessible in the sense that the song Tusk, although very different a la GYOW two years earlier, was a hit and the song Sara was a huge hit and still receives a relative ton of air play to this day. So, Tusk definitely had pop qualities to it in that regard I think the double record aspect of it allowed the quirkier stuff (about 1/2) to get released.