pop tarts

[the_siobhan]

I'm not completely immune to pop culture, much as I might like to be. The world of people who make front page news by falling off the stage at concerts, getting busted for drunk driving, losing custody of their children and offing their spouses leaks in around the corners every time I stand in line at a supermarket or pick up one of those free daily "news" papers off the bus seat next to me.

I wouldn't know most actors if one bit me on the leg, but occasionally when the person being talked about is a musician of some kind I make a point of going to listen to their music because I actually care about that shit. So last night I looked up a bunch of wassername Winehouse videos on youtube.

Usually this causes me a world of hurt, but they actually weren't bad. Kind of catchy. Very Motown for white people. I now have that "Rehab" song stuck in my head in endless loop but since I'm very unlikely to ever hear it unless I actually want to it's not making me want to shoot myself.

But the one question I have to ask all my Brit friends, is that what you mean when I see you use the word "chav"?

Comments

[redcountess]

I wouldn't class Winehouse as chav, no. Chav is closer to what the USians call "trailer trash" etc. Think Britney Spears and her family.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

See "trailer trash" is exactly what I thought of when I saw her.

Bad tattoos, shapeless dresses and too much makeup.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Ditto. What kills me is that the girl can actually sing. Really well even. She's got a great voice. The first time I heard her, my reaction was "how did that big voice come out of that little white girl?" She's got such huge talent and she's digging her own grave by falling apart in public. God forbid that she and Britney ever end up in the same room together.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

She definitely has the pipes, but what I heard was a little... I dunno. Like she was taking the easy route. Like she's not challenging her abilities. Catchy, but not much beyond that.

I know it's cliche to say something is over-produced, but that's how I would rate the videos I watched. Maybe I didn't listen to a wide enough variety of her stuff.

(I did like that Rehab song though. God is an iron.)

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, definitely overproduced. She reminds me a wee bit of PJ Harvey in that the less produced her voice is, the better she sounds.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

She has lost loads of weight due to drugs in the past few years. I was surprised to see the difference when a magazine had an old photo of her to illustrate an article. So, the shapeless dresses might be left over from when she had more of a shape.

[miss_squiddy]

She's far too individual to be a chav! Try thinking Wigger and you'd be closer.

[latemodel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, wigger is closer. I think chav also has elements of overweening sport-fashion, whereas US wiggers are usually thugging it a bit more. In that way, it looks a little more like NJ guidos, who really are trying to look good but missing the mark by a wide margin.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to ping you! Are you or heresiarch still living in California? Axel and I are going to be there next month.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what Amy Winehouse comes under, apart from dreadful hair that looks like something died in it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav might help with the other thing, though. It has lots of useful links.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't put her in the chav catagory. Her tattoos are too nice and her taste in music too good. ;)

This link shows a comedy sketch character who is a chav:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/littlebritain/characters/vicky.shtml

Basically, it's a style adopted by certain people which is indicated by certain styles of dress, jewellery, vehicles driven, musical taste, etc. Most chavs wear Burberry knock-offs, loads of bling-type gold jewellery (usually from Argos), and tracksuits on both males and females.