Ed Torpey nominates
(One Brother recently died - Louis Johnson - see also Aaron Grossman's tribute to the late great bassman)
Ed also suggests this
Kevin Quinn proposes "Hit Factory / Business Is Business" by Godley & Creme, while conceding it's more about the industry of music than music-as-music (as saviour, haven, elevation, surrogate friend, reason to believe, reason to keep going, remedy for all that ails, etc ). Indeed this falls into the category of anti-pop pop, the tradition of The Byrds's "So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star", Pink Floyd's "Welcome To The Machine" and "Have A Cigar", etc. As Kevin notes, it's about "the economic benefits of renovate/revive/repeat/release/reap the rewards... the clanging music of the machines churning out product, the ennui-driven mantra of the drones at the plant."
Keep it simple
Keep
it neat
Aim
your hook
At
the man in the street
Throw
him the bones
But
freeze the meat
`Cos
the meat goes off
But
the beat goes on
Business
is business
Business
is business
Business
is business
And
only the tough survive
Radio
fallout
In
an open prison
Jazz-based
soul tinged
Watered
down rhythm
Too
many pretty sleeves
With
Nothing in `em
Johnny
be good or bad
But
not indifferent
Hard-core
bland-out
Stocking
filler
Soft-sell
overkill
Tee-shirts
given
Everybody's
wearing them
See
you at the party tonight
Force
fed
On
half dead melodies
Dragged
up from the archives
Playing
on your sympathies
I'm
being brain-washed
And
don't know how to block it
`Cos
something in the chorus
Burns
a hole in my pocket
And
I can't feel the pain
When
my finger's in the socket
And
only the numb survive
Only
the numb survive
Only
the numb survive
The Godley & Creme reminded me of two other pop-about-pop tunes by (over)producers and master confectioners, albeit in this case celebrations of pop:
"Silly Love Songs" actually starts with wheezing 'n' clanking sounds suggestive of the idea of manufacture, pop as assembly line...
Also, as I learned reading Aaron's post at Airport Through the Trees, the bass on "Silly Love Songs" is played by Louis Johnson....