Originally Posted by Servalan:
“I don't think anybody is suggesting that the music industry was a haven of total, unfettered artistic freedom before the 1980s. Of course it wasn't, and of course record companies did everything they could to package and control artists. The difference was, the options they had open to them were more limited then: songwriting/production teams such as Chinnichap, Coulter/Martin or Bickerton/Waddington could assemble groups aimed at a teen market and not even have the performers seen on TOTP play on the records. But, prolific as they may have been, those 'hit makers' were not so successful that they were seen as the only option … plus investing time and money in growing long term talent was seen as a viable business plan. Kate Bush is a prime example of this, signed to EMI two years before she even released anything (and given an advance she spent on working with Lindsay Kemp).
SAW presented the music industry with a new model at a time when it was failing to generate major new talent. With promo videos now cheap enough to use extensively (in contrast to the 60s and 70s), they had an apparently never-ending stream of songs that quickly dominated the singles chart. And, thanks to the TV tie-in with Neighbours, acts that could also sell albums, too. Acts who were compliant and did as they were told. Plus they didn't even have to pay any musicians - it could all be played/programmed electronically by the producers. As well as their own label, SAW were guns for hire to the majors. And, for every act they managed to sustain some sort of career for, there were multiple others that came and went as soon as they'd arrived. It was a new short-term profit model … in an era where money was deemed as more important than anything else by the government of the day.
And the legacy of that bled into the 90s, and so to today.
I'm not saying - and have never said - that this is all down to one person. Obviously there are a number of factors that have contributed to where we are now. But the mention of Thatcher came from a FM who seemed to be claiming that she was responsible for acts like ABC in some kind of positive way … when I'd argue the influence of her government had nothing to do with promoting British music and more to do with the money men taking control behind the scenes. They turned their backs on the business models of the 60s and 70s, which may have looked wasteful on a balance sheet, but actually reaped much more long term than the kind of short-termism now the hallmark of Simon Cowell and his wannabes.”
Great post Servalan.
I often wonder what the pop music world would now be like without Cowell and SAW and also without videos ever having been made with singles in the way they were after about 1980. Not so sure Mrs Thatcher had much impact on the direction of music other than defining the culture of the 80's itself.
in terms of videos, I believe that the current 15 week long No1 by nonentity Drake
(I still have not heard it and don't want to) does not have a video, as I've read some people on other threads complaining about that fact and that it cannot be viewed on You Tube either. I actually think it's a positive that songs are now becoming massive hits without videos. I hope the trend continues to grow. The power of videos in the early 80's was never proved better than with Say Say Say in late 1983 by McCartney & Jacko when it peaked at No10 and then fell for a couple of weeks before an appearance with the video on Noel's Late Late Breakfast Show which made the song do an immediate reverse and rocket up to No2 for a couple of weeks.
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