RDJ's claim to have written secret pop songs (1995)

i think he made this

ask ai

not much bigger chorus than closer. 94, year before he said that. like mentioned above, he was on the remix album for the same album (downward spiral / further down the spiral)

  On 10/12/2023 at 10:43 AM, Key said:

This is textbook bollocks isn't it. Oh yeah my pop songs go to another school in the next town over yeah you havent met them, their choruses are maaasive tho and theyre deeead successful. Sorry I can't tell you who they are I'm not allowed.

He hates pop music ffs and as far as I know has no real contacts or friends in that wing of the industry. The only brief interest was around this same period where he did Milkman and Beetles as kind of pop music parodies, or conceptual dares - it mustve been playing on his mind.

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My thoughts exactly

I also think he was most likely bullshitting, but there are some early 90s UK top 40 hits that don't seem like it would be completely implausible that he ghostwrote them..

For example this from 1994, check the acid breakdown from 3:27 onward

Or something like this? There is some very slight early aphex-y vibe with the piano chords + the seaside cliffs video..

Well, that's just my idle speculation.

  On 12/9/2024 at 7:37 PM, zkom said:

Or something like this? There is some very slight early aphex-y vibe with the piano chords + the seaside cliffs video..

Well, that's just my idle speculation.

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No clue, but that outro is great. Never heard this tune before.

Moby was his manufactured bald vegan pop pseudo character, acted by a baldy nerdy lad, they just added in the back story that he was the moby dick writers great great great great grandson and nobody bothered to check it and the rest is history, fake beefs and everyone was hooked line and sinker

And he also did that Twin Freaks yoke, that was the little clue - twin peaks, moby, aphex twin, twin freaks

  On 12/9/2024 at 7:37 PM, zkom said:

I also think he was most likely bullshitting, but there are some early 90s UK top 40 hits that don't seem like it would be completely implausible that he ghostwrote them..

For example this from 1994, check the acid breakdown from 3:27 onward

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https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/features/baby-d-let-me-be-your-fantasy-floyd-dyce-interview-2024-i-wrote-that

Yeah, that Baby D track probably not.

But The Real Thing is getting me paranoid, lol. It's basically a one-hit wonder from a former bathroom salesman. There's not much information on how he got involved in music. The first version of the song failed, but the 1994 remix is what became popular. I can't seem to find the original one. One of the credited writers (Luce Drayton) is from Cornwall. The other one is her friend (Andy Blissett). Neither of them are that well known but they have produced some other music together and at least some of that music is electronic and new age, so high probability they are at least familiar with RDJ's work. Is it possible Richard was somehow involved in co-writing but for whatever the reason didn't get credited, like contractual reasons with Warp or R&S? Maybe he was helping with the remix?

Well, probably just wasting my time with this pure speculation.

  On 12/9/2024 at 7:37 PM, zkom said:

I also think he was most likely bullshitting, but there are some early 90s UK top 40 hits that don't seem like it would be completely implausible that he ghostwrote them..

For example this from 1994, check the acid breakdown from 3:27 onward

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That acid bit you mentioned reminded me of the only thing that ever made me wonder if it was afx..

Think they had another one with one of his tunes that I can't find rn.. this is the mtv segment with simone angel who interviewed him sitting on the ground. who knows. I just wanna know who made it really it's well squelchy music

  On 12/10/2024 at 2:54 AM, chronical said:

That acid bit you mentioned reminded me of the only thing that ever made me wonder if it was afx..

Think they had another one with one of his tunes that I can't find rn.. this is the mtv segment with simone angel who interviewed him sitting on the ground. who knows. I just wanna know who made it really it's well squelchy music

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They used a clip from SAW2 CD2 track 4 for the Chill Out Zone intro at least

Some interpid reporter should go through all his bullshit interview answers from the 90s and then do a new interview and go through them. Can we send Nardwuar or something?

Most people who are skilled musicians can easily pull generic pop songs out of their sleeves. With Richard’s skill set he could easily do it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Also his song structure is very pop song like most of the time 

He had a bunch of tracks with video clips, obviously. That's as pop as he got, I'm guessing. That is, without losing his personality. (windowlicker, come to daddy, on, donkey rhubarb) Unless some other artist sampled him (avril 14th).

It might be easy to pull generic pop songs out of your sleeve. But to have success in terms of the general population actually liking it is a whole different story. Hard to imagine RDJ selling his soul just to make an actual pop song with that in mind. The KLF was kind of unique in that regard. The Prodigy as well. Underworld perhaps. Don't think RDJ could be arsed. Unless it's by accident (again, avril 14th)

  On 12/11/2024 at 4:42 PM, Satans Little Helper said:

He had a bunch of tracks with video clips, obviously. That's as pop as he got, I'm guessing. That is, without losing his personality. (windowlicker, come to daddy, on, donkey rhubarb) Unless some other artist sampled him (avril 14th).

It might be easy to pull generic pop songs out of your sleeve. But to have success in terms of the general population actually liking it is a whole different story. Hard to imagine RDJ selling his soul just to make an actual pop song with that in mind. The KLF was kind of unique in that regard. The Prodigy as well. Underworld perhaps. Don't think RDJ could be arsed. Unless it's by accident (again, avril 14th)

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I don't think he authored a pop song by himself but he maybe co-wrote something, lent a melody or a hook, or did some production work? A lot of his bullshit stories are kind of based on something real. Like the "tank" turned out to be an armored car, and not like an Abrams M1, a Tiger or whatever. Buying an armored car isn't that hard or expensive even for an average person compared to an actual tank. So I'm just saying there might be a seed of truth in that pop song story also?

The KLF was all about fucking with the music industry and they even wrote a manual (called imaginatively The Manual) about it and Drummond used to be an A&R consultant so he knew what he was doing. The Prodigy was riding both the rave/UK breakbeat hardcore wave and then the "big beat" wave. The success of Baby D is also explained by how popular breakbeat hardcore was in UK at the time. Aphex never hit that kind of perfect timing, but SAW and SAW2 were kind of close with the ambient hype I think? But maybe too weird for the general audience who had been more used to something like the Orb, who had several top 40 hits in UK in the early 90s.

  On 12/11/2024 at 6:40 PM, zkom said:

The KLF was all about fucking with the music industry and they even wrote a manual (called imaginatively The Manual) about it and Drummond used to be an A&R consultant so he knew what he was doing. The Prodigy was riding both the rave/UK breakbeat hardcore wave and then the "big beat" wave. The success of Baby D is also explained by how popular breakbeat hardcore was in UK at the time. Aphex never hit that kind of perfect timing, but SAW and SAW2 were kind of close with the ambient hype I think? But maybe too weird for the general audience who had been more used to something like the Orb, who had several top 40 hits in UK in the early 90s.

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But the Prodigy did more than riding waves, Imo. Although that was part of it. But arguably, they were a part of why there even was a wave! They pushed the wave on with their albums. Not just ride it. Without the Prodigy, that wave wouldn't have been is big for as long.

Or another example: take Goldie-Inner City Life. How many artists/bands were "riding the wave" of jungle/dnb back then? And how many ended up high in the charts? It's more than just riding a wave, or lucking out by being at the right place at the right time.

Goldie made a 20+ minutes monster track that could be edited down to 3 minutes without losing its soul. Add a great video, and voila. Lucky? Well, in the sense that a lot of pieces of the puzzle happened to fall in all the right places, yea kinda. But the fact there was this 3 minutes track with a video was no coincidence. There was a conscious push for the charts going on there. Did he push the wave on like the Prodigy? No. His next album went nowhere.

O, btw, one obvious example of RDJ going commercial was... (different, i know)

I remember seeing that pirelli commercial on TV as a kid, it was kind of mind-blowing, almost incomprehensible in a "what did I just see" kind of way.

This was back when TV was ephemeral, you'd see something maybe once and never again, and you could never really be sure if you'd just misremembered or dreamt it entirely.

Was quite cool rediscovering it years later on the internet, I hadn't just dreamt it... and not only that, it was an Aphex Twin track! I had no idea at the time.

  On 12/11/2024 at 7:26 PM, Satans Little Helper said:

But the Prodigy did more than riding waves, Imo. Although that was part of it. But arguably, they were a part of why there even was a wave! They pushed the wave on with their albums. Not just ride it. Without the Prodigy, that wave wouldn't have been is big for as long.

Or another example: take Goldie-Inner City Life. How many artists/bands were "riding the wave" of jungle/dnb back then? And how many ended up high in the charts? It's more than just riding a wave, or lucking out by being at the right place at the right time.

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Maybe riding the wave was a wrong term. What I just meant there is a kind of time window for genres when music from those genres can become popular hits. Kind of like being in with the zeitgeist. Yes, maybe the Prodigy expanded that window for breakbeat hardcore but there was already a lot of momentum and exposure for that kind of music and the general public was more accepting. If they had come a few years earlier or later maybe they would have just stayed underground?

Also, what I understand, the Prodigy was kind of unique even with the rave scene that they played live instead of just DJ'ing and had the same regular MCs and dancers. And that's what made them a popular live act, besides making catchy tunes, and maybe made them appear more like a pop music act that you can see live? Altern-8 was maybe a bit similar, but too silly and druggy for a long term popular success?