Modern Life Is Rubbish?

[John Mc]

Is it just me or is the British music scene in a bad way at present. There don’t seem to have been any decent groups who’ve come through in the past couple of years, off the top of my head I can think of The Coral, The Libertines and…. do The Streets count as a group?

Listening to Wake Up! last weekend I got nostalgic about the heady days of Britpop where there seemed to be an exciting new band appearing every couple of months. Even though most of them ran out of steam after the first couple of singles it at least felt although there was some sort of exciting musical scene in this country.

Here are some things which I think contribute to the problem:

Hype

When Suede appeared on the front of Melody Maker with the tag line “The Best New Band in Britain” they stood out as the music press hadn’t hyped a band like that before so early in their career. Nowadays every new group is “The best new band since Oasis/The Strokes/Franz Ferdinand” and this much hype so early in band's life means the rest of a bands career can seem like an anticlimax.

I realise that new bands are the life blood of the music press but by over stating the brilliance of every new group the writers lose credibility and fuel a cycle where bands are disguarded every few months in favour of the next big thing. Many decent bands have taken a couple of albums to hit their stride (The Boo Radleys, Pulp, Primal Scream, The Charlatans, The Manics) and I fear that there are lots of bands out there who get dropped before reaching their true potential.

Money

Today unemployment is at its lowest level for decades, anyone who wants a job should be able to get one (whether its worth doing is another matter). So people either 1) have money and so don’t feel the urge to shoot for the stars and try to become famous or 2) don’t have the spare time to learn to play an instrument/form a band/play gigs etc. because they’re working 70 hours a week cooking Chicken McNuggets. It’s inevitable that there fewer good bands around.

Or maybe people are just lazy today. Noel Gallagher is meant to have written a lot of the early Oasis tunes in the cabin on a building site. The next time you’re being served at McDonalds demand that the person serving you plays you at least 3 chords on a guitar before they take your order.

Homogenization

The number of radio/TV music stations has increased massively over the past few years with the introduction of digital radio and TV. However most of these new stations are owned by a small number of people and even if they are not they use to the same computers to pick their play lists. It’s possible to tune to 3 or 4 different local radio stations and hear the same songs being played at exactly the same time on each of them. This homogenization means bands either gets played on every radio station (for example The Thrills) or none at all (British Sea Power).

Obviously radio stations are businesses and want to play the songs which will get them the biggest audience so I’m not sure what the solution to this is. Radio One should offer hope, it should be offering an alternative to the commercial station but these days it seems to view the fact that its plays The Darkness and The White Stripes before 7pm as a show of its commitment to new music.

Perhaps the Internet will make it easier for people to set up their own radio station but this will inevitably mean small audiences.

Press

NME is Britain only indie/rock music weekly and so this is another case of the power to reach a wide audience being concentrate in the hands of a small number of people. This means that if a band isn't liked by NME then it is unlikely to get exposure. Franz Ferdinand were on the cover last week and this is part of the reason why they are currently at number 2 on the midweek chart.

Again, perhaps the Internet is the answer here. Websites such as Pitchforkmedia get over half a million hits a week and infinitely cheaper to set up than regular magazine. However I think it takes a long period of time for any publication to build up a good reputation. You're only going to buy a CD on the recommendation of someone if they've recommended something you've liked in the past.

And another problem is that with the Internet you're never quite sure if you're dealing with a music enthusiast who only wants to share his passion with the world or a PR person in a multinational organization. Indeed I could be a marketing expert from Sony, trying to put a downer on the British music industry. However if I was then I’m sure I'd have a better grasp of basic punctuation and would use better phrases than "put a downer on".


Rock Is Dead

Its possible that everything that can be said by rock music, has been said. There are only so many chord changes, only so many ways of saying "I love/hate you", only so many pairs of cool sunglasses out there and we may have reached the point where rock music is just going around in circles chasing its own tale.

However, its possible that the British music scene is as exciting and vibrant as its ever been. Maybe if I were 10 years younger then I'd be as excited about the new music around now as I was in 1994. Its weird to think that most people who buy singles now will see Blur, The Boo Radleys, Oasis etc. as being old bands from another age.

If anyone thinks that 2004 could be the most exciting year for music ever then feel free to rip my arguments to shreds…

[Tommy BOO]

Absolutely brilliant John.
You and Oliv are joint winners of this week's PotW (Post of the Week)
Congratulations!
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"Tommy Boo has played a pivotal role in my life. I've looked up to him since I was a kid and he has inspired every note of music I have ever written. The man is a fucking genius" -BC