Once upon a time, Top 40 radio stations played pop music (aka popular music) from every genre, creating an hourly playlist of diverse sounds.
Rock, New Wave, R&B and Dance music sounded perfectly normal played together.
But after the “narrowcasting” radio purge of the 90s, a rock station now only played rock music, soul music was on soul stations, never to meet again.
“Pop” music lost its meaning and, worse, became a genre itself.
But is that so bad?
Done right, 21st century pop music has a lightness and a playful vibe that sometimes belies the lyrical or musical brilliance hiding beneath a boppy surface.
Enter Mike Rosenblum, a San Francisco-based songwriter and guitarist performing under the moniker PrettyBoy Chance. Rosenblum created an unapologetic pop album and the project is better for it.
His process was to create the songs but then invite musicians to deconstruct them in order to create something completely new, resulting in a vulnerability and soulfulness not immediately obvious.
PrettyBoy Chance’s debut album Chasing the Sun is a welcome blast of power pop fresh air. It has notes of nostalgia, but also with ruminations on love and the soul crushing realities of modern life. You know, like classic pop music.
Produced and recorded at Lucky Recording Company in San Francisco by Travis Kasperbauer (Go-Go’s, Jackson Browne and George Clinton) and MikeL Ross (also featured on bass), PrettyBoy Chance is not only ready for his close-up, he’s ready to lift you out of your doldrums with a purposeful blast of feel good … say it with me … pop music!
