Top ten most important moments in French pop, according to CBC

CBC has just blogged about what they consider to be the Top 10 most important, or “Great Moments”, in French pop. (Click on the link to go the post).

Those are all fine choices, and of course all very subjective, since not everyone is expected to agree with “Top 10″ lists of any kind. Sooooo….that being said, here’s my geeky rant opinion: CBC, you can’t do a Top 10 Greatest Moments in French pop and not include Antoine’s “Les élucubrations d’Antoine“!! It is a song that affected everything and everyone in France in 1966. It sparked debates on the pill, on drugs, on the Vietnam war; it created a “song war” between Hallyday and Antoine, not to mention the countless “Antoine” joke novelty acts who started poppin’ up, like Edouard:

…the song also helped kick start Jacques Dutronc’s career, with his “Et moi, et moi, et moi“, which was a direct parody of Antoine’s song.

Someone over at bootlegsfr.com recently did a brilliant mashup of OutKast’s “Heya” with Antoine’s “Les élucubrations” (“Les Hey-lucubrations”)! Click on the “play” button below to hear it, or download the MP3 by clicking on the image!

“Oh yeah!”

Qui est PAMELA?

Pamela is a mystery to me. Her beautiful Vogue single from 1969 is one that has seemed to escape almost everybody, including L’Encyclopédie du Rock Français . It’s even absent from Vogue’s catalogue (at least the online one).

Poor Pamela, it seems no care went into the design of her record sleeve. The record’s cover is shocking in its dullness; Pamela’s facial features are hard to make out, the cheap black and white photo makes it look like a photocopy and the back only lists the songs, with no credits or the label’s usual plugs for other Vogue artist releases. I am just baffled. Maybe this copy was a promo release? Who knows.

Too bad because the record is very nice. Sure, Pamela didn’t have the greatest voice but the arrangements are pretty and she does a remarkable cover of Antoine’s beautiful “Une autre autoroute”.

(Which reminds me: I should do a giant post about all the Antoine covers I have and invite people to post theirs!)

If anybody has any info on Pamela, I would love to know. Tell me!

Pamela – Le jour où
Pamela – Une autre autoroute (Antoine)