Yé-Yé Girls

If you really want to make people's eyes glaze over, mention you're into French pop. Once you get Air and Daft Punk out the way, you're seemingly left with not a lot; apart from that eternal oddball Johnny Halliday.

But what about that old rogue/inspired genius Serge Gainsbourg? And what about the girl singer scene of the '60s?

"Imagine the French, inspired by the sounds coming out of the US and UK, taking ideas from the great girl-groups, the beat-groups and combining it with the best of the French chanteuse traditions... The result became known as the yé-yé sound; classic pop songs with a French twist."

Some yé-yé stuff is impossibly cheesy, and some of it charming in the extreme: this website tries to make sense of the scene for an english-speaking sensibility with a high degree of success. Have a read and go looking for some of the music. There are gems out there.

All together now: "Je suis une poupée de cire/une poupée de son..."