Pop Goes the World
| Pop Goes the World | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Men Without Hats | ||||||||||
| Released | June 29, 1987 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1986–1987 | |||||||||
| Genre | New wave | |||||||||
| Length | 41:34 | |||||||||
| Label | Mercury | |||||||||
| Producer | Zeus B. Held | |||||||||
| Men Without Hats chronology | ||||||||||
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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Pop Goes the World is the third studio album by Canadian new wave band Men Without Hats, released in 1987. It contained the single "Pop Goes the World", which reached the top twenty in Canada (achieving Gold status) and the United States. The album went Platinum in Canada.
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull makes a guest appearance and plays the flute on the track "On Tuesday."
According to the press release for the album, bandleader Ivan Doroschuk was influenced by the work of black lesbian feminist poet Audrey Lorde, having attended a lecture of hers in New York in 1985. According to an interview with MuchMusic in 1987, Doroschuk had been a staunch Quebec nationalist prior to attending Lorde's lecture.
All songs written by Ivan Doroschuk and Stefan Doroschuk.
The album artwork, however, lists the following:
Johnny, Jenny, J. Bonhomme and the baby were actually characters from the opening song "Pop Goes The World"—the album graphics were designed to reference their roles in the song, which opens with the line "Johnny played gee-tar, Jenny played bass." The album follows a loose conceptual thread, and Johnny and Jenny go on to appear as characters in numerous other songs on the disc, being mentioned by name in "Jenny Wore Black" and "The End (Of The World)". The role of "Johnny" on the album cover (and in videos) was played by Stefan Doroschuk, the band's actual guitarist. The actress who played Jenny is unknown. Bonhomme is also referenced in the song "Pop Goes The World" (as "a big bonhomme"). A Bonhomme de neige is a snowman; a character known as "Bonhomme" (a man in a stylized snowman costume with a top hat) is a common mascot at Quebec winter carnivals. The album cover shows the character Bonhomme as the band's drummer. The initial J. would seem to be a multi-lingual pun, referencing both the French phrase "Joyeux bonhomme", as well as the English rock drummer John Bonham.
The only credited musician aside from the Doroschuks and Pinkas is Ian Anderson of the rock group Jethro Tull. Anderson plays flute on track 3, "On Tuesday".
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