The DAN ZONE

Ke$ha will probably get slammed by the onslaught of web crawlers who love to bash anything that isn’t ‘art rock’ or ‘smart music,’ a definite plague that has resulted from the dawn of the internet age. We’re talking those who scathingly refer to pop as throwaway and forgettable, despite the fact that this is the very music that has proven time and again that it gets stuck in your head and has huge staying and comeback power. Not sure why they even bother wasting their precious holier-than-everyone time attacking music they’d never listen to—and I can’t imagine what would have been posted about the music I loved as a kid had the internet existed. Those who don’t like dance and pop music shouldn’t–you know–bother talking about it so much. If you don’t like a certain music genre, then why would those who DO like that genre really CARE what you think? Don’t quite get that.

Having said that, let’s get into the adolescent pop dance perfection that is the Ke$ha CD. Forget the hit singles “Blah Blah Blah” and “Tik Tok”—those who love party pop and dance music will go wild for this album. Imagine if Avril Lavigne recorded a dance rock record ripe with electronics and you pretty much have Ke$ha, who covers everything from puking at parties to ragging on ‘old’ men who look at her and think they’re going to get some. Straight up rocking dance tracks include “Your Love Is My Drug,” “Take It Off,” the adrenaline rush “Kiss and Tell,” the electro punk “Party at a Rich Dude’s House,” the more moody dance tracks “Blind” and “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes” (no, not a cover of the Ultravox new wave classic), “Boots & Boys,” and “Animal.” “Stephen” sort of takes the classic upbeat girl group pop sound of the 60s and gives it a modern twist. “Hungover” and “Back Stabber” are the closest thing you get to actual Avril Lavigne pop rock. And then there’s the quirky, almost Tom Tom Clubish “Dinosaur.” But it doesn’t end there. The UK edition of this CD has two must-have bonus tracks. “V.I.P”. is a sleazy sexy electro dance rocker with attitude and atmosphere. “Dirty Picture Part 2” is a surprisingly hardcore electro house track. What I want to know is, where is “Dirty Picture Part 1”???