Ok so there's no denying that guitar based music is at an all time low as far as the charts are concerned. I was trying to think of the last time there was a rock or indie track in the Top 10 and I was a bit shocked that I couldn't think of any this year!! I think the last one might have been Brandon Flowers with 'Crossfire' which was Number 8 last September. Surely that can't have been the last time?!

 

When do you think the next rock/indie Top 10 single will come? Will it be Coldplay next week? Or will we have to wait longer? Do you think guitar based music will make a comeback at some point?

Edited June 1, 201114 yr by mango7

Ok so there's no denying that guitar based music is at an all time low as far as the charts are concerned. I was trying to think of the last time there was a rock or indie track in the Top 10 and I was a bit shocked that I couldn't think of any this year!! I think the last one might have been Brandon Flowers with 'Crossfire' which was Number 8 last September. Surely that can't have been the last time?!

 

When do you think the next rock/indie Top 10 single will come? Will it be Coldplay next week? Or will we have to wait longer? Do you think guitar based music will make a comeback at some point?

 

Though she obviously isn't Rock, technically Adele is on an indie label, so she meets the criteria in your title... ;)

This really depends on what you mean by 'indie' - the term is often used to describe 'independent' music; music released on artists own labels. If in this sense, then Adele has been at #1 on the UK indie chart for 17 non-consecutive weeks, with Wretch 32, Yasmin and Nero also claiming the top spot.

 

As for 'indie' genre of music, I wouldn't even go as far as to class Brandon Flowers as 'indie'. I think we've seen the end of this genre doing well, significantly so now that Arctic Monkeys, Beady Eye and Friendly Fires have all released their respective lead singles.

Ok I know I use the term 'indie' as incorrectly as everyone else does - but yeah I mean guitar based music rather than music released on independent labels.

Are Hurts indie? They're popular with the indie press, they have a un-pop aesthetic, and yet they are on a major label and their music is largely synth-based. Not that they have come within sniffing distance of a top 10 hit, I'm just thinking aloud really :lol:

 

Anyway it seems like the singles chart is for dance tracks and popsters these days, whereas the "real music" (hate that phrase, but you know what I mean) is in the album charts...

Guitar based.... did 'Radioactive' go top 10?

Muse - Uprising in 2009? :lol:

Brandon Flowers' record was 100% pop so, no, you can't count it. What has happened here is that the post-Britpop bubble has finally burst for good and we're back to a situation like that we were in before Oasis came along. That is that it takes real generation-defining indie tunes to break into the top 10 - or for one to do so and a few copycats to follow in the slipstream before the top 10 portal is closed once again.

 

Look at some of the biggest indie / guitar bands of all time...

 

The Smiths - one top 10 hit (not including the 1992 re-release)

Stone Roses - four top 10 hits

New Order - seven top 10 hits (including Blue Monday and True Faith twice and two during the indie-friendly 00s)

Echo & The Bunnymen - three top 10 hits (including one at the height of post-Oasis dad-rock)

Happy Mondays - two top 10 hits

The Cure - four top 10 hits

 

R.E.M. had only two top 10 hits before Oasis' first release - then eight afterwards with songs which have not stood the test of time. It's ironic that when guitar music is 'not popular' that's when some of the best records are made though. The time is absolutely right for the next Factory or Creation to pop up and rescue the genre from fake indie labels such as 679, B-Unique etc. who are just subsidiaries of the majors and stifle creativity of bands in order to have them chase what is selling.

 

If this happens then it may lead to a point where guitar rock becomes 'mainstream cool' again but, again, it will ironically becoming incredibly uncool at the same time. Because so many great records were made from The Velvet Underground, The Sonics etc. onwards (and didn't necessarily sell well) there will always be kids who want to make good guitar music...and top 10 hits shouldn't be their yardstick.

Guitar based.... did 'Radioactive' go top 10?

 

Yes it did. I was thinking that one too but then I remembered that Biffy Clyro entered the top 10 at Christmas with Many Of Horror due to X Factor.

There's certainly a market for indie amongst young people - I was at Suede last week twice and the place was crawling with early-20 somethings who must have been about 4 years old when Suede became successful.

If this happens then it may lead to a point where guitar rock becomes 'mainstream cool' again but, again, it will ironically becoming incredibly uncool at the same time. Because so many great records were made from The Velvet Underground, The Sonics etc. onwards (and didn't necessarily sell well) there will always be kids who want to make good guitar music...and top 10 hits shouldn't be their yardstick.

 

Yeah I think music genres go in cycles, so as unbelievable as it sounds now, I think there'll come a point in a couple of years where pop/dance music will tail off a bit and guitar music will start selling again. Although I still don't get why guitar bands don't sell a few more singles than they do at the moment. Beady Eye's 'The Roller' was the biggest shock for me, I really thought that would go Top 10.

 

Yes it did. I was thinking that one too but then I remembered that Biffy Clyro entered the top 10 at Christmas with Many Of Horror due to X Factor.

 

Yeah Biffy Clyro must be the last guitar based single to go Top 10 then!

 

There's certainly a market for indie amongst young people - I was at Suede last week twice and the place was crawling with early-20 somethings who must have been about 4 years old when Suede became successful.

 

That's quite surprising actually!

Beady Eye's 'The Roller' was the biggest shock for me, I really thought that would go Top 10.

 

Beady Eye's problems are, firstly, that they play unoriginal music in an unoriginal way but also that a large portion of the Oasis market would buy anything by Oasis but don't realise Beady Eye are essentially the same line-up. I can guarantee that if the album had been released under the Oasis moniker it would have sold at least twice as many.

That's quite surprising actually!

 

 

It was to me too. I expected everyone to be in their 30s and 40s.

 

But then again, I like Joy Division and The Cure and I was about 4 when they became successful.

The thing is, guitar music doesn't really sell any less than it has done in the past decade. I'm pretty sure I remember Yeah Yeah Yeahs scoring their highest weekly sale with 'Zero', which reached number 49. Earlier in the decade they had two top 20 hits. The songs probably sell similar amounts that they've always done, there is however less of it and it's not a genre that has moved with sales increases as much as pop, dance, r&b....

There is definitely a market for indie amongst young people - All my mates are into Foo Fighters, Oasis, Biffy Clyro, Killers, Green Day, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Kings Of Leon and Muse and they're only 14.

Edited June 1, 201114 yr by Griffo

On an unrelated (and completely useless) note, since indie/rock went out of fashion the number of acts beginning with 'The' getting top 10 hits has plummetted. This year so far we've only had The Black Eyed Peas, The Saturdays and The Wanted (and The Cataracs as a feature). And 2010 only had those 4 plus The Lightning Seeds' WC-related return, The Trashmen via a Facebook campaign, The Business Intl which is debatable as even being an 'act', The X Factor Finalists 2010 which was a one off project... and The Script.

 

Compared to, say, 2006, when all of the following had top 10 hits:

The Automatic

The Black Eyed Peas

The Darkness

The Egg

The Feeling

The Fratellis

The Killers

The Kooks

The Lightning Seeds

The Notorious B.I.G.

The Ordinary Boys

The Pogues

The Pussycat Dolls

The Raconteurs

The Source

The Special Assembly

The Streets

The Zutons

 

Alriught, I'll shut up now :kink:

There is definitely a market for indie amongst young people - All my mates are into Foo Fighters, Oasis, Biffy Clyro, Killers, Green Day, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Kings Of Leon and Muse and they're only 14.

 

But then why aren't these bands having big hits like the Black Eyed Peas, Tinie Tempah, Rihanna etc? OK the Kings of Leon did get a Top 10 hit last year, as did Biffy Clyro (although only due to the X Factor), but traditionally the Foo Fighters and Arctic Monkeys would have had a bigger hit with the lead single off an album. I guess we'll wait and see how Coldplay, the Killers and Muse do with their next singles... on a related topic has anyone heard the Coldplay song yet? Is it any good?

But then why aren't these bands having big hits like the Black Eyed Peas, Tinie Tempah, Rihanna etc? OK the Kings of Leon did get a Top 10 hit last year, as did Biffy Clyro (although only due to the X Factor), but traditionally the Foo Fighters and Arctic Monkeys would have had a bigger hit with the lead single off an album. I guess we'll wait and see how Coldplay, the Killers and Muse do with their next singles... on a related topic has anyone heard the Coldplay song yet? Is it any good?

 

Foo Fighters have never been as flat-out huge as those last three, not to the British press at least. I reckon at leas two of them will get top 10s.

But then why aren't these bands having big hits like the Black Eyed Peas, Tinie Tempah, Rihanna etc? OK the Kings of Leon did get a Top 10 hit last year, as did Biffy Clyro (although only due to the X Factor), but traditionally the Foo Fighters and Arctic Monkeys would have had a bigger hit with the lead single off an album. I guess we'll wait and see how Coldplay, the Killers and Muse do with their next singles... on a related topic has anyone heard the Coldplay song yet? Is it any good?

 

Because rock acts sell albums, not singles. Come Around Sundown, Wasting Light, Only Revolutions etc. have been big selling albums without having any big hit singles (the latter does have 3 top 10 hits on it to be fair but as you say MOH only got there due to XF and its original peak was #20, while the other two fell really quickly, especially TGR which only spent 3 weeks top 40).

 

And Coldplay, The Killers and Muse are also much bigger album sellers than single sellers (although the first two of those both got a genuinely huge single off their last albums as well). I'd be very surprised if their comeback singles fail to go top 10. Coldplay next week I could see going top 5 on hype alone although I don't see it having a great chart run regardless of how good it is :(

Edited June 1, 201114 yr by Bray

I think the last one was Biffy Clyro- Many of Horror thanks to X Factor, on merit alone, it was Kings of Leon- Radioactive

 

I don't think rock's out of fashion as such, but only a rock band's core fanbase is attracted to their single, hence making it very front-loaded, as an example, Arctic Monkeys and Foo Fighters fail singles chart wise, but I still think some 'big' rock acts will still get top 10 hits as they have wider appeal (eg. Coldplay, The Killers, Muse), but of course rock acts do, and probably always will, sell far more on albums