The state of the UK Charts
SunnyBears
Posts: 70 Forum Member
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Does anyone else think that the charts lately are just awful?
Maybe I am getting old at an ancient 34 but I just don't listen to the radio anymore. With a few exceptions it's just manufactured digital crap. Don't even get me started on Wanted/1D etc etc.
I like a mix of music from country through to dance (I can even stand some Pitbull for a good gym tune).
I just finished reading 'Listen Out Loud' the Ron Weisner Biography so maybe I am thinking about current music more cause he reminded me in his book about good production of tracks featuring real live musicians.
These are my rambling thoughts this Thursday morning.
Maybe I am getting old at an ancient 34 but I just don't listen to the radio anymore. With a few exceptions it's just manufactured digital crap. Don't even get me started on Wanted/1D etc etc.
I like a mix of music from country through to dance (I can even stand some Pitbull for a good gym tune).
I just finished reading 'Listen Out Loud' the Ron Weisner Biography so maybe I am thinking about current music more cause he reminded me in his book about good production of tracks featuring real live musicians.
These are my rambling thoughts this Thursday morning.
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Comments
Is it not Wednesday?
To keep on-topic: I've paid very little attention to the charts since I was about 14, so I think you've lasted very well to get to 34 and only question them now.
Please point to a time when the UK charts were a bastion of musical awesomeness. Was it Black Lace of the endless streams of novelty songs in the 70s? The charts has always been mostly full of gash, disposable radio snippets used to sell a product. Most of it junk, the odd gem here or there.
At some point in many peoples lives they realise that if they want to actually listen to real music, they are likely going to have to leave the plastic safety of the Top 40. Branch out and you will never look back.
(although if you get into indie rock, you have to accept no other genre group will like you haha)
I wish there was a way of compiling an, oh I don't know, adult, old style, type chart - call it what you will. Then we can see how the older artists who put out albums, and singles are faring. For example Deacon Blue have new product out. Like them or not, it's very difficult for them to penetrate the genres making up the present chart, get exposure, get more sales, get higher charts placings and so the circle continues.
I suppose the likes of Spotify etc makes it needless to 'own' music - just stream it at will. And yes I know that streaming now influences chart placings.
I am a function DJ, who carries chart material 'just in case'. I end up mainly playing the tried and tested from the 60s to 80s, with not even the younger dancers asking for 'chart stuff'.
It must be demoralising to have put together what you consider a great album only to find your audience's awareness of it shrinking due to lack of exposure.
The great days of the 70s chart rundown and it's effects are long gone......
By the way I'm 61.
You're just one year older than me, and I've completely given up on the UK charts this year. The whole pre-order for endless weeks before release have killed all the joy from the charts. It's become that bad, you pretty much know what's going to be the next #1 based on it's pre-order iTunes chart position weeks in advance.
That said, it's not all bad news. Next week's UK #1 (Prayer In C) is already one of my fave singles of the year thanks mainly to discovering the track via all the european countries where it's been #1 for the last two months.
I will be genuinely surprised if Taylor Swift (with no pre-order sales and basically been released worldwide OA/OS) manages to make #1 in the UK this coming Sunday. Not that I like the song, but it'll be probably the only chart topper of the year that I wouldn't have predicted happening 2 weeks ago.
I'm a bit dismayed that this instead doesn't seem to be the case, and it's all very much the same as ever just blander and more repetitive.
It's the same for every year in music.
That's actually bang on.
I'm also aware that while my favourite year for music ever was 1999, there's a ton of people who absolutely despised everything in the charts even then - similarly there's those out there who will always remember this year as some incredible golden pinnacle that will never be beaten. All subjective, no one right and no one wrong.
I think the songs hanging around for over 30 weeks in the singles charts these days is odd. According to the most recent chart rules for the Official Charts Company, the eligibility is based on genuine purchases by genuine consumers. I could understand it more if people still had to go out and buy physical copies, but seeing as people can buy the thing from the comfort of their own living room, I can't fathom why things are hanging around so long. I just had a quick look to check, and low and behold 'Happy' is STILL in the top 40.
I did that for a bit a few years ago myself. The problem I found then (this was early-mid 2000s) was that a lot of the then current music was so disposable and had no real staying power. You'd be able to possibly get away with playing most modern tracks at an average function for a month or two but after that they'd just be useless.
There would be one or two tracks from a year that would be useful after they'd been out, though sadly (in my case) they'd be things like 'Sex Bomb,' 'Rock DJ' and 'Reach.'
Admittedly private parties are typically an affair where you need to cater for such a broad range that you stick to tried and tested because it'll work (in most cases). However, I think it's also fair to say that if you'd have been DJing in earlier decades, there would have been far more modern tracks at the time that would have been instant successes and go-to tracks within weeks of coming out. than say you would find DJing for private parties now.
Let's take the 1980s to compare as an example. You can go to just about any year from that decade and pick out tracks that would have been played to death the year they were out, most likely when DJs would have been asked for something modern. However, a considerable number of tracks would have quickly gone on to become go-to choices for a lot of functions every year afterwards. Some years are bumper for them - let's look at 1983:
Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
UB40 - Red Red Wine
Lionel Richie - All Night Long
KC & The Sunshine Band - Give It Up
Irene Cara - Flashdance
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Wham! - Club Tropicana
Bob Marley - Buffalo Soldier
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Spandau Ballet - True / Gold
Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry Love (know it was released in late '82, but it was a #1 in January 83).
I would have probably played at least 6 of those at most functions, and that would have been some 18 years+ after they'd been released.
On top of that, the OCC have now incorporated data from streaming sites into the UK charts.
If a song is streamed 1 million times in a week, that is now considered equal to 10,000 sales that are added to all download sales. However, what if there are 200k (on average) who stream the same song 5 times a day, for a month. The song will have made 50k in sales in a month, and it's basically just the same people streaming the song over and over again.
Also because UK radio are so reluctant to be at the forefront on new music, there is less choice in general for people who listen to the radio, and even people who watch music channels regularly. If you look at Radio 1 and Capital FM, the chances are they both played more or less the exact same songs all day today. So this limits peoples tastes - they will only buy what they know exists, and because UK radio playlists are so limited this is why you get songs like Happy still in the top 40 when it's already sold 1.8 million copies. The reason why it's selling so much is down to the same small amount of people streaming the song several times a day. Quite why anyone would want to listen to Happy now is beyond me. I'm sick of hearing it, just the first few seconds of the song and I change the channel.
Like I say, it's artificial sales. If I bought 20k copies of a CD single, it'd probably be disqualified. Then again, I don't think the OCC have ever really thought about the complications to their own chart rules and regulations.
Gosh, we've been through this discussion so many times.
Actually the charts in the 60s and much of the 70s were full of great, well written and very diverse music. Novelty music which actually has a history that predates recorded music is less represented in modern charts but that might just be an indicator of a loss of collective humour. ;-)
The chart is overpopulated with homogeneous, well produced rather bland pop most of which is quite listenable but just not very interesting. Cutting edge new wave rock, soul, disco, electronic and reggae music made the charts in the late 70s in to the early 80s.
This trite, it's always been the same doesn't do justice to the history of UK pop.
Looking back from this era with its multifarious ways of distributing and consuming music is quite dissimilar from earlier times. Also the youth movements and major genre development of the past is not reflected in modern music.
Don't get me started on that Happy song....bloody awful piece of dirge.
Yes, but looking back they weren't always right.
It's quite fascinating that the decade that has unearthed the most interesting music on this site is a thread dedicated to the 60s.
this.
spot on. theres nothing new bemoaning the charts or modern music.
true, but as the threads op, the 60's had more detractors to modern music then any decade since. pop music in the 60's appealled to a very small demograph, which grew as music developed over time. pop in the 60's was little more then niche, with hardly any teenyboppers and hardly anyone over mid 20's being fans.
never before or since has there been generational fights over music (mods n rockers), alot of 60's pop was disliked by the previous generation. (and that has gone on ever since but not to such extreme levels).
... and of course you dont know whether or not there will be a similar thread in 50 years time dedicated to the early 00's.
What I'm trying to contest is this. There is a tendency to say that there has always been people who critique the charts and people who say there has always always been good and bad music there but that doesn't mean that all these periods are the same. That glosses over the rich texture of the pop music culture that has developed over the last 50 years and more.
For example, as you say there was a greater dichotomy between the tastes of the young and old in earlier generations. There was also significant major genres appearing in the charts of the 60s and 70s. it isn't surprising that was reflected in the diversity of music in the charts of the times.
Those generational difference aren't as great now, youth culture is less rebellious, there is a longer history of pop now and a greater interest in retro sounds, technology has changed sound reproduction and distribution. You might expect the charts to be more homogeneous in those circumstances. And I think it is.
A bit later for me. Chart music was still a topic of discussion when I was in the sixth form in the late '80s. I'd definitely ceased to care about/take notice of it by about 1990, though, and consequently know next to nothing about stuff released after that.
The song itself is pretty good, but why is it still in the charts? The song entered the charts around Christmas time and now we're in the last part of summer and it's STILL there.
Adding to that, radio has a very narrow playlist in terms of songs, artists and genre. There was a link a few months back about how Radio 1 compile their playlist, by using Twitter followers ffs! For anyone wanting to make it big, their chances are practically non-existent as record labels dictate who to play.
I do agree about mainstream music being homogenous - not the best example, but look at these boybands around. 1D, 5 Seconds of Summer, Union J and The Vamps. ALL are the same in styles of music, even image! Back in the 1990s/2000s you had the likes of East 17 (who had an edge), Take That (ballads), Boyzone (cover versions) and some lesser examples who were a bit of a both. Now a **** packet seperates the four examples. The endless house crap is annoying, as all of it sounds the same too.