When Britain refused to listen

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Not heard it' is one of the more common comments read when the Top 40 polls are posted. Which is perhaps the most unsatisfying answer that can be given. Lots of people can say they've heard every single in the Top 40, provided they'd listened to JK & Joel that particular week. Although they may not necessarily remember all of them the next day...

But, if you 'haven't heard it', bloody why not?! I personally stopped listening to the Top 40 countdown in full around the same time as I started University - some ten years ago now. As you grow up it seems life gets more and more in the way, preventing you from having the same ease of control you may have previously enjoyed when it comes to making choices as a young viewer or listener. So far so obvious, and it seems this is the real reason why the Poptimists electorate are often at a loss to decide whether a recent Top 40 hit is good or bad based on how it sounds. There are other factors too such as the nature in which media has changed since then - dedicated music video channels, t'internet (esp. portals/filters/resources such as youtube and itunes) and downloading facilities...all things intended to make the pursuit of hearing music easier. But, it's not really working that well is it? At least, not for 'people old enough to know better' who seem to be ageing faster than the technology is progressing, and that's pretty terrifyingly fast. It's all too much. But, really, aren't these just excuses? Is this sort of reasoning good enough? Should we take it as a given that the charts are reasonably constant in terms of quality (regardless of the ebb and flow of sales figures)? Should a Poptimist be putting more effort in? It's not meant to be a chore after all.

I'm interested in any serious views people may have about the whole thing, so the question(s) be as follows:

What is your current attitude to pop (however you define it) and new music? Are you keen to hear as much of it as you can or do you prefer to revel in nostalgia (or perhaps some healthy balance of both)? Where do you turn to, specifically, now to find out about new music anyway? If you DO know every song in the top 40 any given week does this just make you a Chart Geek rather than a Pop Lover now? Do you even care about music or are you just one of those disgusting poll-fetishists I've heard about?

EH?

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My answer to this is twofold really:

- since working in an office where we have the radio on my urge to chase down and hear new chartpop has dwindled, because I hear a lot anyway but (as I keep saying) the fvcking DJs never tell you what anything is nowadays.

- WRT video channels, youtube etc, I am a very non-visual person I think, for whatever reason I just don't pay much attention to videos. I don't think I've ever followed a link to a video, I just wait for the MP3 instead. This makes me a very non-typical pop consumer, even more so than age/gender/buying habits might.

[thenipper.livejournal.com]

re: DJs not identifying tracks - perhaps they are all in cahoots with Shazam (http://www.shazam.com/music/portal/)?

[thenipper.livejournal.com]

Actually the different nation's charts on that site are weirdly fascinating.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

you can always just listen to the audio from the video whilst looking at something else tho ;)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I dont know, it's still really distracting.

[thenipper.livejournal.com]

Haha, years ago I said something on ILM about FT popism being "text"-obsessed to the detriment of the any visual element to pop and you told me I was talking bollox!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Rumbled! In terms of "FT popism" tho I was probably hoping that my collaborators wd make up for my own shortcomings.

Actually it's just moving video that distracts me - sleeves, photos, fonts, logos etc. all add to the buzz. Though not so much as for a lot of people - I'm very comfortable with the disembodied MP3.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Rumbled! In terms of "FT popism" tho I was probably hoping that my collaborators wd make up for my own shortcomings.

(And they kind of do - Anthony E for instance is always great on video and stage performance when he writes about country.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the last time I saw a proper album sleeve! But I think videos are often integral to how I feel about a song - they won't make a good song bad or vice versa, but they can make a bad song even worse or a good song great.

My two favourite videos of the past couple of years have been 'Everytime' and 'All About Us' - the former I even downloaded and watched on loop all night when I had an essay crisis

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Thinking more about it my problem with videos is that my repeat-tolerance of them is really low. With a pop record I can happily hear it 20-30-40 times a week, if I'm into it - and tolerate it if I'm not. Video I get impatient with on second play. So I don't watch video channels despite thinking they're a Good Thing In Principle.