How to explain the popularity of "Uptown Funk"?

nah, ronson feat mars credit aside, it's from the same team that made others mars hits like "locked out of heaven"

according to the liner notes on wikipedia, the two tracks featuring a bruno mars credit are the only two not featuring a michael chabon credit

Chris Molanphy wrote about this back in January:

This is why, ever since “Uptown” dropped two months ago, I’ve found it ironic to see so many bloggers, critics, and friends of mine calling it a ready-made smash. Sure, it sounds like an instantly familiar chart-topper to us now. But “Uptown Funk!” is to vintage electro-R&B in 2015 what “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Basket Case” were in the early ’90s to vintage punk: a catch-up. It’s a penance by America for not making an irresistible style the pop success it deserved to be the first time around.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/01/13/uptown_funk_mark_ronson_and_bruno_mars_hit_no_1_on_the_billboard_chart_why.html

i think a better comparison point might be "stray cat shuffle"

it's not like "living in america" and "you dropped a bomb on me" were pixies/buzzcocks levels obscure

strut

my apologies to the cats

ironically "basket case" only made it to #26 on the charts as an airplay only single (admittedly way higher than anything by the ramones)

Disagree strongly with Chris about grouping "Teen Spirit" and "Basket Case" together--I'd draw a very bright line between those two. (Does he mean that "Teen Spirit" was penance for Husker Du not selling millions of records? I don't know what percentage of the people who bought "Teen Spirit" were familiar with Husker Du, or at least who cared about Husker Du, but I'm guessing it was relatively small, even though it only appeared four years later.) Which has nothing to do with "Uptown Funk." Proceed apace.

yeah it's not the best comparison. people weren't buying Nirvana for nostalgic reasons.

also nirvana and green day represented cross-over breakthroughs from indie-based scenes - while it has a distinct sonic template, this is just the latest big hit from an established classicist Top 40 act who's already big enough to headline the superbowl

us chart nerds aside, how many people think of this as a Mark Ronson song rather than a Bruno Mars song?

so actually, forget "stray cat strut," this is more like "Crocodile rock"

The song also appears to have been strongly influenced by songs from the late 50s-early 60s ("when Rock was young"), including Del Shannon's 1962 "Cry Myself to Sleep", and "Little Darlin'" (recorded in 1957 by The Diamonds and The Gladiolas). The chorus resembles "Speedy Gonzales" by Pat Boone. While there was no actual "Crocodile Rock", there was a dance called The Alligator.

I remember when funk was young
Me and Bruno had so much fun

hard times befallin'
the funk survivors
she thinks i'm crazy
but i'm just growin' old

re this being a bruno or a mick ronson song, i should admit the song's profile is undoubtedly different in the UK, where Ronson's first Top 20 lead credit was over a decade ago and he's had four since. Meanwhile in the US, this remains his first and only Top 100. bruno's big in both countries, though.

lol MARK ronson, sorry.

crocodile rock otm

Big Mark strikes again

Haha I thought I was making a very clever reference to a previous Ronson hit, but I guess the Smiths cover was "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before," not "Bigmouth Strikes Again."

I remember when funk was young
Me and Bruno had so much fun

― clemenza, Thursday, March 19, 2015 1:18 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

clearly "me and bruno and the smeezingtons" or i guess "me and smeezy and the mark ronson"

I love how k-pop this song is. It's all the edm.

i hear no EDM or k-Pop in Uptown Funk?

Ambitious, clocking in at 4:30.

It has a million hooks per minute and it mixes old school styles with new school dynamics. The drop into the horns are straight out of the skrillex-schoolbook. Or like Airplane by f(x).

It's basically engineered to make middle-aged people dance and has enough hooks for the kids.

Totally "Crocodile Rock". Crossed with "Groove Is In The Heart".

It has a million hooks per minute and it mixes old school styles with new school dynamics. The drop into the horns are straight out of the skrillex-schoolbook. Or like Airplane by f(x).

― Frederik B, Thursday, March 19, 2015 11:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is EDM's greatest success the fact that people now assume there was no such thing as a drop before 2007?

Yes. By saying basically 'the drop is edm-like' I clearly stated that no other music uses drops. That is what my sentence means.

I was thinking "Let's Dance" crossed with "Nasty."

But it also doesn't remotely resemble the way the drop typically works in EDM tunes.

No, but it uses those sounds. The rising siren and the quickening of drums. Come on, you've heard that sound a million times these last few years, but not in a number one hit like this, I don't think.

I see the resemblance in the build-up, but the trumpet drop itself doesn't work in the same way because EDM (and brostep) both use the drop as the effective chorus and pinnacle of the tune.

Calvin Harris has perfected (or "perfected") this: see "We Found Love" or "Sweet Nothing", the way that the drop into the synths (whether instrumental or with vocals over the top) goes into an extended repeat-arpeggio for at least 8 bars. In EDM (and increasingly, pop generally), the structure could almost be extrapolated from filter-house, the chorus/drop being the section of the tune where the key riff snaps into clear focus.

Whereas in "Uptown Funk" the trumpet drop lasts for 4 bars and then you get the call and response between Bruno and the trumpets/drums before plunging back into the verse.

On computer screen, the above may seem like a trivial distinction ("four bars, eight bars, what's the difference?") but it totally changes the dynamic of the track.

Brostep and EDM are structured around the drop as the focal-point of the tune. In "Uptown Funk" that build-up to the drop and the drop itself are one (or arguably two) dynamic moment(s) amongst many, several of which are of equal prominence - the "i'm too hot / (hot damn)" call and responses in the first pre-chorus, the first "girls hit your hallelujah" which sounds like it's bringing in a breakdown before you realise it's actually presaging a build-up, the actual breakdown with the "Uptown Funk you up" section, etc.

It's that relative equality of peaktime moments that make the tune's use of dynamism (not surprisingly!) resemble Wild Cherry much more than EDM, notwithstanding the presence of a drum build-up into a drop.

Has this thread made it this far without mentioning Kool and the Gang? Because I can't hear this without thinking hearing "Ladies Night," at least a bit.

Reaching back, but in what universe did "vintage electro R&B" not generate a bunch of major hits?

Plus go Tim.

Yeah, I am a wedding DJ and I KNOW I will be playing "Uptown Funk" at all the weddings this summer. Requestors will be like, "Um, do you have that one funk song? With Bruno Mars?" I guarantee it. The summer before I played "Get Lucky" and "Treasure" and "Blurred Lines" at almost all of the weddings. It is definitely wedding material. As for vintage electro r&b, when exactly was there last a hit in the charts that had that sound?

"Also, I don't think there's much of a song behind the signifiers."

Yeah, nope, there really isn't. At worst it is a mashing together of familiar sounds and tropes within electro r&b, and time won't to be too kind to it. Yes, the EDM build is the worst part.

Wedding song was the first thing I thought of hearing this. Like "I Gotta Feeling" it's pretty epic in length for a pop song, it has an intro that gives people a chance to run out onto the dance floor, etc.

As for vintage electro r&b, when exactly was there last a hit in the charts that had that sound?

― lowlytootle, Thursday, March 19, 2015 10:21 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ages, but if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, I understood the point to be that the sound was, in its earlier incarnation, widely successful - not an obscurity that Mars is translating for the masses (re: the Nirvana comparison).

Wedding song was the first thing I thought of hearing this. Like "I Gotta Feeling" it's pretty epic in length for a pop song, it has an intro that gives people a chance to run out onto the dance floor, etc.

― with HD lyrics (Eazy), Friday, March 20, 2015 3:22 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"I Gotta Feeling" is actually a really helpful non-obvious point of comparison, not just for length but also the sense that it's not ime. I heard it at lunch and immediately thought of "Uptown Funk" structurally.

Fixed:

"I Gotta Feeling" is actually a really helpful non-obvious point of comparison, not just for length but also the sense that it's not immediately apparent what is the key hook. I heard it at lunch and immediately thought of "Uptown Funk" structurally.

"Calvin Harris has perfected (or "perfected") this: see "We Found Love" or "Sweet Nothing", the way that the drop into the synths (whether instrumental or with vocals over the top) goes into an extended repeat-arpeggio for at least 8 bars. In EDM (and increasingly, pop generally), the structure could almost be extrapolated from filter-house, the chorus/drop being the section of the tune where the key riff snaps into clear focus."

i really love this paragraph

"Also, I don't think there's much of a song behind the signifiers."

Yeah, nope, there really isn't. At worst it is a mashing together of familiar sounds and tropes within electro r&b, and time won't to be too kind to it. Yes, the EDM build is the worst part.

― lowlytootle, vendredi 20 mars 2015 03:24 (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The few times I've tried to listen to it I couldn't even make it past what you guys call the "EDM part" !

Ages, but if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, I understood the point to be that the sound was, in its earlier incarnation, widely successful - not an obscurity that Mars is translating for the masses (re: the Nirvana comparison).

― Doctor Casino, vendredi 20 mars 2015 05:11 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agreed. besides the quality of each song, there's a difference between making it big with alternative/underground influences and making it by reviving a genre that was popular AND cool.

Because it sounds like Walk the Dinosaur by Was Not Was?

It makes people dance and it's a palette cleanser from previous hit singles that made people dance.
Also Bruno Mars sort of inventing a dance move for it in the video. You have to do a dance move on your dance hit to seal the deal.
It also sounds familiar.
Also Bruno Mars is no stranger to the hit charts.
It follows every rule on the manual by klf.
Why would it surprise to anyone this is a number one hit?

one of the key influences i'm hearing in this song is 'more bounce to the ounce'

Better this than what would probably be number one if not this. What's number two right now? (/easyjoke).

I thought it sounded exactly like Oops Upside Your Head?

Man, saying that this sound hasn't been in a number one hit before this was way off the mark, I was way wrong. It was late at night, I was tired. Yeah, it also sounds like Calvin Harris, or something like Starships - which I've also always thought of as EDM-like. The new thing, for me, is the way the retro seventies sound is accented by these pop-EDM signifiers, and I love that, and think it's very k-pop like. Saying it's more like Wild Cherry misses the point, imo.

American pop is often eiter tasteful or -less. This mix of things I don't often see.

they werent making songs like uptown funk in the 70s - this is the 80s after get lucky's 70s, like 1985 after daft punks 1978

Eh, I think this and "Get Lucky," contemporary production flourishes aside, are straight up 1979/1980.

I find it awesome that this is peaking right after the "Blurred Lines" verdict, given how closely it approximates the "feel" of so many of the above.

what became of that whole "suing songs for being vague soundalikes" thing? I wasn't really following. Was the decision upheld? Have loads of people followed suit? Could massive attack sue over this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhc7Gqr1SwM