Posted July 21, 201113 yr Perhaps Radio 1 should dump all the songs people *are* already buying off the playlist, on the basis they can stand on their own already (*), and concentrate on giving airtime to a wider range of genres. If listeners are given the chance to hear them, then by definition they're more likely to buy them. (*) It's not as if radio is the only place people can hear such songs nowadays, anyway. [Just to be clear, this is only a semi-serious suggestion]
July 21, 201113 yr Radio 1 is probably the best station at doing this, why are you 'targeting' them? Just about every other station is worse.
July 21, 201113 yr Author Radio 1 is probably the best station at doing this, why are you 'targeting' them? Just about every other station is worse. Because they have by far the biggest influence on the singles chart, of course.
July 21, 201113 yr Because they have by far the biggest influence on the singles chart, of course. But they're doing what you described perfectly well and it clearly isn't working. I think TV is more to blame for the lack of variety than radio.
July 21, 201113 yr Everybody who likes rock and indie should buy Pumped Up Kicks and the new RHCP song for starters. No way that something by Loick Essien is genuinely more popular than Pumped Up Kicks at the moment. People who like rock just don't buy individual downloads.
July 21, 201113 yr Everybody who likes rock and indie should buy Pumped Up Kicks and the new RHCP song for starters. No way that something by Loick Essien is genuinely more popular than Pumped Up Kicks at the moment. People who like rock just don't buy individual downloads. I like rock and indie. The RHCP are absolutley awful so would never buy that. Pumped Up Kicks is ok, just a little too MTV sounding so would not buy that either. To improve the charts I would... 1. Ban all commerical radio stations apart from R1 (Stations like Capital play the same shite to stupid people 24/7) 2. Ban kids under 14 from downloading ;-) (Maybe that is a little harsh) 3. Have quality control checks on music being played on radio/tv 4. Ban anything euro dance related from the US ;-)
July 21, 201113 yr I like rock and indie. The RHCP are absolutley awful so would never buy that. Pumped Up Kicks is ok, just a little too MTV sounding so would not buy that either. To improve the charts I would... 1. Ban all commerical radio stations apart from R1 (Stations like Capital play the same shite to stupid people 24/7) 2. Ban kids under 14 from downloading ;-) (Maybe that is a little harsh) 3. Have quality control checks on music being played on radio/tv 4. Ban anything euro dance related from the US ;-) Hah I didn't mean it literally obviously because nobody should buy songs they dislike. But you proved my (hidden) point: the taste of people who like indie is so much more diverse that they end up buying different songs but in addition buy chart hits as well. Two days ago I was watching Blur's phenomenal concert at Hyde Park.. Those songs they once wrote were just glorious pop songs and so genreless: Girls and Boys, Parklife, Coffee and TV, Beetlebum. And everyone knew the words - from 15 year-old teens to 40 yo housewives. We need pop/rock bands like that who are willing to bring some joy and big choruses to their music. I believe that the britpop revival of the 90s could happen again. Just a little push is needed because true talent is always recognized. Indie bands take themselves too seriously when they write only songs they think are cool. The possible 15 minutes of (Pitchfork) fame is nothing compared to the admiration of millions which can be achieved too. At least three of those 4 suggestions are already taken care of in Belarus I believe :P
July 21, 201113 yr But you proved my (hidden) point: the taste of people who like indie is so much more diverse that they end up buying different songs but in addition buy chart hits as well. Err... Are you sure? I know hell a lot of narrow-minded indie kids who don't buy music if it's not 'real' etc. etc. etc. and who listen to music more on the basis of cool vibe rather than the quality of song itself. I can't see any correspondences between people's music preferences and their diversity. Or did I not understand your point clearly?
July 21, 201113 yr Author Two days ago I was watching Blur's phenomenal concert at Hyde Park.. Those songs they once wrote were just glorious pop songs and so genreless: Girls and Boys, Parklife, Coffee and TV, Beetlebum. And everyone knew the words - from 15 year-old teens to 40 yo housewives. We need pop/rock bands like that who are willing to bring some joy and big choruses to their music. I believe that the britpop revival of the 90s could happen again. Just a little push is needed because true talent is always recognized. Indie bands take themselves too seriously when they write only songs they think are cool. The possible 15 minutes of (Pitchfork) fame is nothing compared to the admiration of millions which can be achieved too. ISTM those who start a trend are the only real talents - before long there are too many bandwagon jumpers who are only pale imitations.
July 21, 201113 yr Oh my gosh, there is SO much I want to argue with in this thread. :blink: I do agree that the chart needs more variety, but half of what I've read here is absolutely ridiculous! Ban kids under 14 from buying songs!? WTF! Yeah, lets ban gay people, and black people, and Christians too. Come on! That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. And I was actually saying in another thread actually, a lot of the people who are my age (19), and are loving Party Rock Anthem atm, they used to like rock music when they were under the age of 14. Also, Capital, and other top 40 stations play chart music. The reason there's no variety on those stations at the moment, is because there's no variety in the charts. If there was 30 guitar songs in the top 40, then Capital, etc. would be playing 75% guitar music. Also, I am almost certain Loick Essien is more popular than Pumped Up Kicks. Pumped Up Kicks may aswell not exist in real life. Apart from the radio, MTV and Buzzjack, I would not know of the song otherwize. Nobody has EVER talked about the song. Granted, Loick Essien isn't that popular either, but I've still had conversations about his song with people. Lots of girls talk about him on Facebook aswell. If you think his song is less popular, you're probably socializing with a group of people that have musical tastes diffferent to that of the general public.
July 21, 201113 yr Err... Are you sure? I know hell a lot of narrow-minded indie kids who don't buy music if it's not 'real' etc. etc. etc. and who listen to music more on the basis of cool vibe rather than the quality of song itself. I can't see any correspondences between people's music preferences and their diversity. Or did I not understand your point clearly? Yes you did. Perhaps that true. So it's indie kids to blame a bit then. I know people who mainly listen to rock and indie but also buy Beyonce and Lady Gaga so I guess it depends.. IMO Radio 1 has nothing to do with charts being dominated by certain style, they just play what's popular. They playlist rock songs and even if they murdered them by playing 70 times a week those songs wouldn't go top 5. Edited July 21, 201113 yr by SKOB
July 21, 201113 yr Yes you did. Perhaps that true. So it's indie kids to blame a bit then. I know people who mainly listen to rock and indie but also buy Beyonce and Lady Gaga so I guess it depends.. IMO Radio 1 has nothing to do with charts being dominated by certain style, they just play what's popular. They playlist rock songs and even if they murdered them by playing 70 times a week those songs wouldn't go top 5. If they play what's popular, why are they playing rock songs? I'm not saying Radio 1 shouldn't play rock songs btw, but if you play what's popular, you end up like Capital. I think Radio 1 make a concious effort to play a wide variety of genres, even if some aren't popular at the time. And also, just as there's rock and indie fans that like Beyonce and Lady Gaga, there's lots of Beyonce and Lady Gaga fans that like rock music. Also, imagine these two people. Who would you say has the most varied musical taste? Person A, who listens to pop, electronica, hip hop, dance and RnB music. Person B, who listens to rock and pop music.
July 21, 201113 yr If they play what's popular, why are they playing rock songs? I'm not saying Radio 1 shouldn't play rock songs btw, but if you play what's popular, you end up like Capital. I think Radio 1 make a concious effort to play a wide variety of genres, even if some aren't popular at the time. Umm... Rock is popular but it's just not doing well on charts. Which is one of the reasons why this topic is being created (again). Coldplay and RHCP are much much bigger acts than LMFAO, Example etc. Edited July 21, 201113 yr by SKOB
July 21, 201113 yr Umm... Rock is popular but it's just not doing well on charts. Which is one of the reasons why this topic is being created (again). Coldplay and RHCP are much much bigger acts than LMFAO, Example etc. That's like saying Britney Spears is a bigger act than The Saturdays.
July 21, 201113 yr More music tv shows where they have artists from every genre would help, all the tv shows I know about are simply pop and still it's a handful of artists over and over again (and there isnt many shows anyway) so you don't really get a big variety in that either. I'm not a massive fan of rock so wouldn't actively seek it out, but it is odd that you never hear it on the radio or on tv. Whereas theres plently of pop artists I wish I didn't know about but they are hard to avoid as they're played everywhere. It's a vicious circle though, why would tv and radio play something that people aren't buying... but then how can people buy something they haven't heard?
July 21, 201113 yr It will change when people get bored of the sound, like it always does. I certainly don't think that indie/rock is any less popular than it was in its heyday of 2005/6, it just doesn't get anywhere near the exposure it did back then and fell off massively because there was 1) a load of crap new bands and 2) the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Hard-Fi, Razorlight followed decent material with awful material. It will always be a cycle, but for some reason there does seem to be a distinct lack of variety at the moment because everyone from all genres is making music aimed at the same artists, because urban/dance/pop have now become so intertwined, collaborations seem more common than they've ever been, especially between two acts from different genres. But ultimately there's a dearth of many genres in the charts, pure pop, rock, proper urban/rap, many forms of dance music.... Also I don't see how you can blame MTV that much. MTV has five main channels, Viva, Bass, Hits, Dance, Rocks so it's not like it will go out of its way to only promote one thing. The problem is that there are so many. I'm sure 99% of people when watching music channels, when a song comes on the don't like and when it goes to an advert break, switches channel to find something they'd want to listen to.
July 21, 201113 yr Perhaps one reason why rock artists aren't in the charts very much now is because they don't mix with other genres enough. As someone else said, the other genres mix together all the time, but rock artists seem to have largely excluded themselves from all of this. Although, this is yet another vicious circle really. I don't think rock fans would be very tolerant towards all this. It seems to me if you get a rock/pop hybrid, it gets considered a pop song, whilst a hip hop/pop hybrid gets considered both a hip hop and a pop song. So even if the rock artists DID start combining with other genres, they'd just get dismissed as pop artists from then on, so it's almost like rock artists can't work with other genres by definition, because they become pop artists when they do. I hope I'm making sense.
July 21, 201113 yr Perhaps one reason why rock artists aren't in the charts very much now is because they don't mix with other genres enough. As someone else said, the other genres mix together all the time, but rock artists seem to have largely excluded themselves from all of this. Although, this is yet another vicious circle really. I don't think rock fans would be very tolerant towards all this. It seems to me if you get a rock/pop hybrid, it gets considered a pop song, whilst a hip hop/pop hybrid gets considered both a hip hop and a pop song. So even if the rock artists DID start combining with other genres, they'd just get dismissed as pop artists from then on, so it's almost like rock artists can't work with other genres by definition, because they become pop artists when they do. I hope I'm making sense. I would argue that what attracts me more to rock and indie music is that the artists stay true to music they like and the music their fans like. Mixing with genres imo is like collaborations these days-it used to be exciting/interesting but now it is done too often and become incredibly boring. The last album I bought was Suck It and See by Arctic Monkeys. I love it and its exactly what I hoped it would be. I'd have hated it if it was mixed with electronic/dance music. Most of the genres you speak of, to me, are only subgenres because they sound so similar to each other and if I'm not concentrating whilst listening to the chart I could easily miss 3 or 4 songs. Whatever needs to be done, taking away what makes rock/indie music so unique is the last thing I'd want.
July 21, 201113 yr I think we just have to realise that the Top 40 Singles chart doesn't represent what music lovers want to listen to. It reflects what the downloading population like and purchase.
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