Song · XTC
“This is Pop” by XTC
From the album White Music (1978)
“This is Pop” by XTC appears on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2001 and 2022. It was first released in 1978 on the album White Music. Its best result is #772 on the 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #7,312 alternative song of all time.
"This Is Pop" comes from White Music, XTC's 1978 debut album, and Andy Partridge wrote it as a retort to the music papers and their genre labels: as far as he was concerned, "punk" and the rest were just other words for pop. He even based his opening F chord on the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night". A rerecorded version, titled "This Is Pop?" with a question mark, went out as a single on 20 January 1978, the same day as the album.
Partridge sings lead and plays guitar, with Colin Moulding on bass, Barry Andrews on keyboards and Terry Chambers on drums; Robert John "Mutt" Lange and John Leckie share the production credit, and Leckie engineered with Bill Price. The title stuck around, too: the band's 2017 documentary was called XTC: This Is Pop.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1156 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2003 | 1908 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2022 | 772 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
Also listed as: This Is Pop; This Is Pop?.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "This is Pop" by XTC.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.