Pop Goes the World (song)

Infobox Single
Name =Pop Goes the World


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Artist =Men Without Hats
Album =Pop Goes the World
A-side =
B-side ="The End (Of The World)"
Released =1987
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Length =3:38
Label =Mercury
Writer =
Producer =Men Without Hats, Zeus B.Held
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Last single =
This single ="Pop Goes the World"
(1987)
Next single ="Moonbeam"
(1987)
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Pop Goes the World is a song by Montreal-based pop group Men Without Hats. It was featured on the group's 1987 album of the same name.

The song very generally tells a story of "Johnny" and "Jenny," the two members of fluid musical group (both the members' instruments of choice and the band name appears to change throughout the song) on their quest for fame in the industry, though at one point the lyrics note that they come to the realization that they could make "more money on a movie screen." The lyrics imply that the fictional group's best-known single is, in fact, called "Pop Goes the World".

Interjected in the narrative about Johnny and Jenny are more abstract (or less sensical) lyrics such as "One two three and four is five/Everybody here is a friend of mine/Whatever happened to the Duke of Earl?/Pop Goes The World".

The video features lead singer Ivan Doroschuk and a female companion (presumably representing Johnny and Jenny) dancing around a bubble-filled stage along with numerous other characters including a keyboard-playing baby, Bonhomme Carnaval (the mascot of Quebec City's annual Winter Carnival), and a type of Elvis impersonator. The word "Pop!" in writing reminiscient of a comic book appears periodically on screen, often timed with the popping noises that punctuate the song.

The song reached #20 in the United States, #3 in South Africa, and #1 in Austria and Sweden. It was also featured in the movie "Date with an Angel" (1987), starring Phoebe Cates, Emmanuelle Béart and Michael E. Knight.

In popular culture

* Stacy Ferguson covered the song in a 1988 Kids Incorporated episode.
* LMP covered the song in their box-set A Century of Song.

References