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Why are there no bands in the mainstream anymore?


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Old 02-11-2015, 10:27
Foam
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Whether you think these bands are good or not, looking back ten years ago there were tons of them. Snow Patrol, Scissor Sisters, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs to name a few which were all massive sellers.

It seems today there is Mumford & Sons and Coldplay. That's it. Best British Group at the Brit Awards is pretty much a dead category. There may be more I haven't mentioned but compare the ratio of popular bands to previous decades it's severely lacking!
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Old 02-11-2015, 11:58
mgvsmith
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Whilst there is plenty of Rock music around, it just isn't quite as mainstream anymore.
Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Royal Blood, The Prodigy, Muse and Iron Maiden have all had no 1 albums in the last two years though. There's probably just not as much band music in the singles charts.

I've started listening to the Rock Show on R1 after many years and there's some decent stuff around.
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Old 03-11-2015, 14:02
IWantToBelieve
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What about Florence and the Machine?
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Old 03-11-2015, 18:59
dodger0703
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Whilst there is plenty of Rock music around, it just isn't quite as mainstream anymore.
Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Royal Blood, The Prodigy, Muse and Iron Maiden have all had no 1 albums in the last two years though. There's probably just not as much band music in the singles charts.

I've started listening to the Rock Show on R1 after many years and there's some decent stuff around.
Wanted to add Biffy Clyro to your list
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Old 03-11-2015, 21:45
Thorney
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due to the heavy influence of streaming and the way songs are promoted ie preorder single sales going towards album preorders. Rock and Indie struggle to go top 40. Indie rock fans dont play the same song ten times a day so will never been able to compete with the mainstream pop market anymore.

The loop hole that allowed preorder tracks to count for both the singles and album chart has been closed so no more David Bowie shock massive hits etc. IF half the tracks downloaded are preorders or grats the single will never chart.

Also there has been lots of successful bands this year in the album chart with top 3 album hits see Foals, Muse, Maccabees, Chvrches, Wolf Alice, Bring Me The Horizon,Mumford & Sons,New Order,Bullet For My Valentine,Florence, Vaccines, Blur ,All Time Low, Noel Gallagher ,Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy and many more.

Even Biffy Clyro who will have a new album very soon will no longer have a top 40 hit single, you heard it hear first. If you like rock or indie forget the top 40 until their is a massive shift in taste.
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Old 03-11-2015, 22:28
Neil_N
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I think the days of 2005-2008 where rock and indie dominated the singles chart have long gone. It's all media hypes like Beiber, woman-beaters like Chris Brown and faceless dance acts bought by junkies and impressionable kids.
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Old 03-11-2015, 23:20
gomezz
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Isn't it a good thing that the listener space isn't crowded out with constant plays of just a few megalithic bands dominating the airwaves but we have room for lots and lots of different bands to be heard?
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Old 04-11-2015, 03:01
RoseAnne
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Isn't it a good thing that the listener space isn't crowded out with constant plays of just a few megalithic bands dominating the airwaves but we have room for lots and lots of different bands to be heard?
But we don't get loads of different bands heard. We get Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne, Little Mix and Pharrell in a loop.
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Old 04-11-2015, 08:33
Glawster2002
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But we don't get loads of different bands heard. We get Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne, Little Mix and Pharrell in a loop.
I think that is the problem today, there is virtually no variation on any of the mainstream TV or radio stations, it is the same old thing every time.

Even ...Later with Jools Holland, which should be covering all genres of music, simply ignores anything the producers don't like. It is about time it was scrapped and something more like The Old Grey Whistle Test was brought back, a programme that really did cover a broad spectrum of music.
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Old 04-11-2015, 09:16
Thorney
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[quote=Neil_N;80233603]I think the days of 2005-2008 where rock and indie dominated the singles chart have long gone. It's all media hypes like Beiber, woman-beaters like Chris Brown and faceless dance acts bought by junkies and impressionable kids.[/QUOTE

2005-2007 sales were much lower and a thousand selling indie single could go top 40 and that helped break new bands. 1000 sales won't get you top 200 now
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Old 04-11-2015, 09:25
Jim_McIntosh
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Mainstream and what's popular tends to be very beige 90% of the time anyway. Always better on the fringes as that's where most new ideas come from.
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Old 04-11-2015, 09:47
Rocketpop
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But we don't get loads of different bands heard. We get Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne, Little Mix and Pharrell in a loop.
The other big problem is it's the same handful of hitmakers getting (co)-writing credits over and over again - Martin, Tedder, Kurstin, Schuster, Nowels etc.
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Old 04-11-2015, 12:48
Peter the Great
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I think that is the problem today, there is virtually no variation on any of the mainstream TV or radio stations, it is the same old thing every time.

Even ...Later with Jools Holland, which should be covering all genres of music, simply ignores anything the producers don't like. It is about time it was scrapped and something more like The Old Grey Whistle Test was brought back, a programme that really did cover a broad spectrum of music.
Later with Jools Holland is still much more diverse than the Old Grey Whistle test ever was.
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Old 04-11-2015, 12:52
RoseAnne
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The other big problem is it's the same handful of hitmakers getting (co)-writing credits over and over again - Martin, Tedder, Kurstin, Schuster, Nowels etc.
Yeah. They all sound the same. Not quite as bad as Stock, Aitken and Waterman though!

Personally I miss the time when we had a chart full of bands who wrote their own stuff, bands such as Queen, Depeche Mode, The Jam, Madness, The Police, The Cure, ELO, Blondie, Human League, OMD, XTC and loads more,
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Old 04-11-2015, 13:13
Glawster2002
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Later with Jools Holland is still much more diverse than the Old Grey Whistle test ever was.
Old Grey Whistle Test Episode Guide

That looks to be quite a diverse list to me.

I recently read an article where ...Later was described as execrable, a description I would agree with.
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Old 04-11-2015, 13:59
Peter the Great
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Old Grey Whistle Test Episode Guide

That looks to be quite a diverse list to me.

I recently read an article where ...Later was described as execrable, a description I would agree with.
How was it more diverse? Most of it was Rock orientated.
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Old 04-11-2015, 15:51
Jambo_c
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Surprised nobody has mentioned Arctic Monkeys either.

Why do the charts even matter though, it doesn't bother me at all whether a band I like are in the charts or not, as long as they're making music and I can listen to it and see them live then that's all that matters.

I can honestly say I never even glance at the charts, I couldn't tell you who is number one and I probably haven't heard of most of the acts in the charts. I still listen to loads of modern music though.


Personally I miss the time when we had a chart full of bands who wrote their own stuff, bands such as Queen, Depeche Mode, The Jam, Madness, The Police, The Cure, ELO, Blondie, Human League, OMD, XTC and loads more,
But why does it matter what's in the charts as long as there's plenty of good music about? I couldn't care less about the charts as long as there's lots of good bands to listen to, you just have to look a little bit harder to find them.
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Old 04-11-2015, 16:09
Glawster2002
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How was it more diverse? Most of it was Rock orientated.
Do you not think that might be more to do with the era it was broadcast?

However now, despite the continued popularity of Rock music outside of the mainstream, there is virtually no Rock music on ...Later apart from one or two rare exceptions, but then that is true of the BBC in general.
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Old 04-11-2015, 16:10
Glawster2002
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Surprised nobody has mentioned Arctic Monkeys either.

Why do the charts even matter though, it doesn't bother me at all whether a band I like are in the charts or not, as long as they're making music and I can listen to it and see them live then that's all that matters.

I can honestly say I never even glance at the charts, I couldn't tell you who is number one and I probably haven't heard of most of the acts in the charts. I still listen to loads of modern music though.



But why does it matter what's in the charts as long as there's plenty of good music about? I couldn't care less about the charts as long as there's lots of good bands to listen to, you just have to look a little bit harder to find them.
However a lot of people don't search out new music and unless they hear it on the radio it doesn't exist to them.
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Old 04-11-2015, 17:44
Peter the Great
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Do you not think that might be more to do with the era it was broadcast?

However now, despite the continued popularity of Rock music outside of the mainstream, there is virtually no Rock music on ...Later apart from one or two rare exceptions, but then that is true of the BBC in general.
There is plenty of rock orientated music on Later. The last few episodes have featured The Sleaford Mods, Everything Everything, Richard Hawley, Wolf Alice and Public Image Ltd, If the Old Grey Whistle Test had been more representative of the era it would have featured much more Soul, Reggae and Folk. And remember you said The Old Grey Whistle Test was much more diverse. It clearly wasn't.
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Old 04-11-2015, 17:48
Neil_N
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I think it's been summed up, there is little variation. The global release day and streaming has basically killed the singles chart and Beiber making it to #1 was the death knell. Record companies dictate the radio, TV and singles chart therefore any newcomer to "break" through has an uphill climb, add to that the stale singles chart or some of the mindless lemmings who buy a song because some t---t on X-Factor sang it.

You need a shift, and I think at the moment, we're too far gone to encourage a shift. The indie/rock acts have the album charts and having a #1 album carries a lot of prestige.
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Old 04-11-2015, 18:39
mgvsmith
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The other big problem is it's the same handful of hitmakers getting (co)-writing credits over and over again - Martin, Tedder, Kurstin, Schuster, Nowels etc.
I was thinking the same. In a way it's going right back to the early 20th Century when popular music was all about tin pan alley writers and publishers being in control. However, Rock n'Roll turned up and we thought that was all changed. It seems not.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Arctic Monkeys either.

But why does it matter what's in the charts as long as there's plenty of good music about? I couldn't care less about the charts as long as there's lots of good bands to listen to, you just have to look a little bit harder to find them.
I didn't mention the Arctic Monkeys because I didn't think they actually had a No 1 album in the time period mentioned but they are a great band.

Yes, there is a lots of good music around but it still needs some monitoring and curation by someone like John Peel to filter out the best stuff.
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Old 05-11-2015, 01:00
smilliekylie
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Killing Joke's 15th studio album, 'Pylon' entered the charts at Number 16 this week. The Band and us fans were pretty amazed at this.

Saw them in Brighton last week, Gig was sold out, and they put on an awesome show.

There's great music out there, you just have to make an effort to find it these days.

The Charts were ruined by Cowell and his like. Bands like Killing Joke just don't sell anymore, but on occasion can put a dent into the mainstream.

The Live scene still has a healthy appetite for Bands though, as trying to get tickets for anyone I like is always a nightmare
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Old 05-11-2015, 07:53
Jambo_c
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However a lot of people don't search out new music and unless they hear it on the radio it doesn't exist to them.
Then that's their problem and not one that bothers me. Put in the effort and you get the rewards, if you're interested in music you'll look.
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:22
Glawster2002
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There is plenty of rock orientated music on Later. The last few episodes have featured The Sleaford Mods, Everything Everything, Richard Hawley, Wolf Alice and Public Image Ltd, If the Old Grey Whistle Test had been more representative of the era it would have featured much more Soul, Reggae and Folk. And remember you said The Old Grey Whistle Test was much more diverse. It clearly wasn't.
Soul, Reggae, and Folk were covered on OGWT but there were other music programmes, such as Top Of The Pops, that were more suited to more "mainstream" music.

Even the bands you mentioned, PIL aside, are pretty standard generic indie bands, there is little diversity. Rock music covers a vast spectrum of styles, apart from Indie none of it gets a look it.
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