Jump to content

Things you often Wonder


mjmooney

Recommended Posts

9 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

My gut reaction is no, but then in the mid seventies was it obvious that ABBA would still be spoken about half a century later? I know you and some of the others who were around then will be able to answer. My mum gives me the impression that ABBA were considered fairly naff at the time.

Hmmm. It was debatable. Yes, they certainly were considered a lot more naff than they are now, especially by rock fans of my generation. But I think even we reluctantly admitted that they were several notches above the likes of Donny Osmond or the Bay City Rollers, etc. I think I feared that I'd still be hearing them in the 21st Century.  :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I’ve just looked up the chart for year end, 2020, to see what that looked like. Of the instantly recognisable, I got:

Dua Lipa

Ariana Grande

Lady Gaga

Ed Sheeran

Little Mix

Lewis Capaldi

Stormzy

Harry Styles

Drake

Billie Eilish

Eminem

Justin Bieber

George Ezra

Now, I don’t listen to chart music, I don’t listen to local radio, commercial radio, Radio 1, or Radio 2. I don’t watch pop music TV channels, I don’t have Spotify or amazon or any of that. But I instantly recognise those names. If I played the songs, I’d probably recognise a lot more from 2020.

It might not be my taste, but then it wasn’t in 1961, or 1970, or 1989. I have no fond memories of Cliff Richards singing ‘Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha’. I’m sure it was an absolute smash in the underground trans venues, but somehow it passed me by. As did the collected works of Backstreet Boyz, Boyz 2 Men, Bryan **** Adams, Big Audio Dynamite, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Brotherhood of Man, and Mariah Carey.

I would put it to you, your honour, that it turns out after a few years, Lady Gaga is an immense talent as good as any pop diva that has gone before.

I’d also suggest Stormzy might be speaking for more kids than Alvin Stardust ever did. Coo Ca Choo.

The nice thing is, it doesn’t matter one jot. If all the promoters and publishers and hangers on and actual talent all switch to gaming or virtual musicals, and pop music becomes a 65 year flash in the pan, you can still pick up your own bass and try and replicate some Tina Weymouth bangers from the past.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, useless said:

I know there's still some good pop music but it's less prevalent these days, and I'm not really talking in relation to my own personal taste but that of music listeners in general. If you were to go over all the number one records from the eighties and nineties I bet most of the songs that you would come across would be songs that almost everyone knows of, and it wasn't just typical boy bands or girl bands making this type of 'pop music' but also MOR bands like Simply Red, UB40, Texas, The Beautiful South and so on producing pop hits, you don't really get those type of groups anymore and if you do they're aren't producing music that is as well liked by the public.

I choose a random 'Now That's What I call Music' compilation and came up with Volume 36, and this was the tracklist...

Mama Spice Girls

Say What You Want Texas

Alone The Bee Gees

Don't Marry Her The Beautiful South

Don't Speak No Doubt

Your Woman White Town

Remember Me The Blueboy

Virtual Insanity Jamiroquai

One And One Robert Miles featuring Maria Nayler

Spinning The Wheel George Michael

Horny Mark Morrison

Natural Peter Andre

Love Guaranteed Damage

Don't You Love Me Eternal

Walk On By Gabrielle

I Can Make You Feel Good Kavana

Hey Child East 17

A Different Beat Boyzone

Anywhere For You Backstreet Boys

The Day We Find Love 911

Discotheque U2

Breathe The Prodigy

Block Rockin' Beats The Chemical Brothers

Nancy Boy Placebo

What Do You Want From Me Monaco

Everyday Is A Winding Road Sheryl Crow

Beetlebum Blur

She's A Star James

Wide Open Space Mansun

Free Me Cast

Dark Clouds Space

Waterloo Sunset Cathy Dennis

Everybody Knows (Except You) The Divine Comedy

Indestructible Alishas Attic

Shout Ant & Dec

You Got The Love The Source featuring Candi Staton

Encore Une Fois Sash!

Bellissima DJ Quicksilver

Flash BBE

Passion Amen UK

Most of those songs most people know, regardless of whether they like them or not, and the same would true for most volumes in the series around that era in the 90s and going back into the 80s.

I’ve got the very first one, moonlight shadow by Mike Oldfield was on it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Dua Lipa

Ariana Grande

Lady Gaga

Ed Sheeran

Little Mix

Lewis Capaldi

Stormzy

Harry Styles

Drake

Billie Eilish

Eminem

Justin Bieber

George Ezra

Only one act on that list is a pop group (little mix), my comment was that groups seem to have died out. Little Mix themselves formed a decade ago. 
Sign of the times I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suspect in a few years my awareness of what’s going on in the charts will increase significantly as my daughter grows up. 

The singers who she’ll end up liking during her early teens are probably 10 - 15 years old as of now.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

Only one act on that list is a pop group (little mix), my comment was that groups seem to have died out. Little Mix themselves formed a decade ago. 
Sign of the times I guess.

Groups struggle in the pop market. You are however incorrect. Kpop is hugely significant at the moment, not niche, stadium fillers. BTS and Blackpink are the two largest examples but in no way limited to them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NOW used to be once a year back then didn't it?  More likely to get more classics on one edition that way.  I think you're less likely to get crossover hits these days, I sense people end up just listening to what they like and don't get exposed to other stuff.  Watching Top Of The Pops when I was younger I would see all the pop acts and then suddenly the new indie bands would get the same exposure on the show, which is how I got into guitar music when I was 11 or 12.  I have to endure Heart radio at work and to be fair the current pop stuff isn't too bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Seat68 said:

Groups struggle in the pop market. You are however incorrect. Kpop is hugely significant at the moment, not niche, stadium fillers. BTS and Blackpink are the two largest examples but in no way limited to them. 

Yeah but that Kpop stuff is surely a fad isn’t it? It’s total and utter crap

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Moonlight **** Shadow by Mike **** Oldfield.

 

I like the guitar sound. But I hate the lyric "four a.m. in the morning", for obvious reasons. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, bannedfromHandV said:

Yeah but that Kpop stuff is surely a fad isn’t it? It’s total and utter crap

It maybe a fad but cut the head off one group another 7 piece springs up in its place. I do like this though. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

I think you’d know “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt (that was a huge, huge hit) and “She’s a star” by James (one of their best, IMO). 

Just checked 'em out on YouTube, and... nope.

I was aware of both bands' existence - my daughter had a No Doubt album, but I never heard it. Only thing I know by James is "Sit Down". 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Just checked 'em out on YouTube, and... nope.

I was aware of both bands' existence - my daughter had a No Doubt album, but I never heard it. Only thing I know by James is "Sit Down". 

Fair enough. I shan’t beat the drum for No Doubt too much, but if you have a spare 165 seconds, “Laid” by James might be worth a listen.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, sharkyvilla said:

NOW used to be once a year back then didn't it?  More likely to get more classics on one edition that way.  I think you're less likely to get crossover hits these days, I sense people end up just listening to what they like and don't get exposed to other stuff.  Watching Top Of The Pops when I was younger I would see all the pop acts and then suddenly the new indie bands would get the same exposure on the show, which is how I got into guitar music when I was 11 or 12.  I have to endure Heart radio at work and to be fair the current pop stuff isn't too bad.

I don't know about *way back when*, but when I was buying Now CDs - about twenty years ago, bit more - they were 4 times a year at that point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Fair enough. I shan’t beat the drum for No Doubt too much, but if you have a spare 165 seconds, “Laid” by James might be worth a listen.

I really like James, Laid is a brilliant track as is Getting Away With It and Say Something. Lyrically they’re excellent and I find a lot meaning in them that I can relate to. Good uplifting tunes too.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, useless said:

I choose a random 'Now That's What I call Music' compilation and came up with Volume 36, and this was the tracklist...

Encore Une Fois Sash!

Bellissima DJ Quicksilver

Flash BBE

Absolutely whopper run of tunes, there.

dancingatclub 126bpm GIF

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â