Misery Wednesday

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

A couple of weeks ago we did a thread on what's exciting you about music at the moment.

Here's its inverse: what's annoying you about music at the moment, and why? I'm tempted to ban discussion of Kate Nash upfront - anyway I'm not really after specific acts, more the trends and ideas that make those acts' popularities a bad thing.

And - what do you think could be done about it (if anything)?

(Orgafun update: the missing Pop Open player has been located and a track is hopefully on its way)

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of posting something on poptimists which might count - I was talking to Aly & AJ's PR yesterday about their success, which I assumed would get them easily into the top 10 next week (I keep seeing their name pop up everywhere, the critical consensus is positive etc) - but apparently 'Potential Breakup Song' is only top 20 in the midweeks! ie my litmus test has FAILED - if that song isn't a hit, I hold out no hope for any new pop act of this type succeeding. And apparently it's all down to radio, which completely rejected PBS. I can't believe they'd reject it on the basis of the song itself, which is about as catchy a pop song as I've heard this year, and I think it's clear that it's a kneejerk response to who Aly & AJ are - ie blonde American Disney sisters.

I also read something recently about how Jo Whiley, when premiering the new Sugababes single, was all sneery and tried to distance herself from it.

So I guess my beef right now is the stifling conservatism of radio programmers, and the frustration that such an archaic/annoying medium is still apparently so important.

I also looked up the lyrics to the Specials song covered on the Stylus jukebox as the comments piqued my interest - those are some really vile, snobbish, sexist sentiments there!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

What I want to know about the Kasabian cover is which member of the band - if any - is doing the backing vocals and keeping the very strong West Indian patois?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

omg delete kasabian now (AND the specials)

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Careful there Alex. Keep the Specials.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think radio has been conservative for a very long time really - there's always been a sense of "who our listeners will/won't want to hear", and some people have fallen outside that. Back in the late 90s I remember there being a lot of grumbling because Crowded House were getting ignored by Radio 1 - now if a young band came along with Crowded House style songwriting they'd be right on there. I don't think you can say "hurrah pop is all about image" and then complain about judgements being made on that basis.

The big shift though happened when the gatekeeper criteria at Radio 1 shifted from "we can't play this, it's too weird or horrible or rude" to "we can't play this, it's too unhip" - but I guess the gatekeeper criteria I remember from my youth had themselves shifted several times.

[avv.livejournal.com]

wasn't 'chewing gum' rejected by r1 on the basis that it wasn't exactly pop and wasn't exactly dance?

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

lex, i think the stylus comments on the lyrics miss the point. they're MEANT to be unpleasant. the narrator is being a prick. well that's always been my take.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'm not so sure about that alang -- the specials (and two-tone generally) walked a really odd line between parochial coventry council-estate laddishness (oi except militantly multiracial) and "progressive" opinions (cf esp. the special aka, and the third LP); some of the complexity and tension of ditto also evident in "this is england"

also of course terry hall's deadpan (which still always makes me grin) ironises EVERYTHING, in any direction you want -- get-out clause ahoy

it's what made them so exciting and fascinating at the time, but it also pulled them apart fast

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

well i agree with that too. it's not clear, but at the same time it IS clear that the narrator is being a shit. i've always read it (beyond what is given) that he's been turned down, and is being deliberately hurtful in reaction to ego bruising.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

one of many super-grebt projects i never completed -- or indeed got beyond the OMG I MUST DO THIS moment -- wz a big essay on politics as it manifests overly (and covertly) in GRACELAND and SPECIAL AKA IN THE STUDIO

maybe i can pitch this to THE WIRE now i am back on board!

sidling up alongside this project is a similar essay-comparison -- proposed on popular and pursued a little bit at home this weekend -- between PiL Paris au Printemps and Slade Alive!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

(off topic but Alan - I can't read Facebook messages at work! Sorry!)

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'and I think it's clear that it's a kneejerk response to who Aly & AJ are - ie blonde American Disney sisters.'

it's too "fast/weird" maybe - and i still think it could use a better vocal treatment. i do like it tho, and it may well be that these aren't the reasons it's being ignored but i think the fact that it's 'American teenpop' by an act not established for 5 years or more may be the biggest factor. maybe it's not quite 'rock' enough like 'Girlfriend' or 'Since U Bene Gone'.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It doesn't seem weird at all to me! It seems like fairly straightforward electro-rock, the kind of thing Girls Aloud are way weirder than even when they're in a rut.

To be honest I don't think you could even launch a Girls Aloud right now.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

You could if you had the right combination of reality TV success plus killer tunes plus gimmick that GA had. In this case gimmick = The Rivals obv.

Aly & AJ

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It's not just radio - I haven't seen them on Hits!TV much at all, and they're usually very receptive to non-guitar pop. It's all been Timbaland, Timberlake and Rihanna on repeat (fine, but not exactly inspiring).

Re: Aly & AJ

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

Not so, otherwise I couldn't have heard this enough times to very slowly come to like it.

Re: Aly & AJ

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Really? Perhaps I've been watching at the wrong times. They were playing it reasonably regularly around 3 weeks ago but I've only seen it once since then.

Re: Aly & AJ

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

Most likely mid-morning or quite late at night (I think The Hits goes on later now that those awful phone-in 'quizzes' have been consigned to the dustbin of history).

You're right, they play that Timbaland one with the moody looking video endlessly, and I have absolutely no memory of how it goes.

Re: Aly & AJ

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Only heard that Aly & AJ on TMF, on a section called 'hot trax' between 6-7pm.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

"I also looked up the lyrics to the Specials song covered on the Stylus jukebox as the comments piqued my interest - those are some really vile, snobbish, sexist sentiments there!"

This is very amusing coming from Mr 'I have no moral compass and will forgive anything for a hot beat especially homophobic dancehall' though.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This is v true, but I am working on the not-unreasonable assumption that the Specials do not have any hot beats to offer!

[koganbot]

Lex, in the U.S. the "Potential Breakup Song" jumped in at 17 almost entirely on the basis of downloads but then slipped and got very poor radio play outside of Disney, iirc barely reaching the 50s on mainstream Top 40 and doing way worse overall. Meanwhile it was boffo on Radio Disney, of course, and it does very well on online video views (#5 this week on Launch Yahoo, even though it's been around for a couple of months). But then it's done better than any other Disney song not by Hilary Duff as far as crossing to the mainstream. My guess is that in its attempts to go mainstream it's actually stronger in Britain than in the U.S. And my bet is that your analysis is on the money: if a track is associated with teenpop, radio will decide that it will drive away teen male and adult listeners, so spins will be few. If downloads and airplay build or even stay steady in Britain over the next few weeks that'll be better than I expect.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/playlist/) is the Radio 1 playlist (probably the most impt station wrt stuff getting in the singles chart)...not tremendously promising for Aly & AJ really, about the only comparable acts are Kylie (national institution), Britney (everyone wants to hear it, global institution) and Avril (which is slightly odd! has she...gained credibility or something in the past few years? or maybe it's the guitars, but then Aly & AJ have guitars) - though all of those are established adult pop stars now.

I dunno, I think 'Potential Breakup Song' should have been the song to have re-established teenpop as the massive commercial and cultural force it should be, and used to be. It's done very well but nowhere near that well, and if it can't then nothing can, really.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Well, you've got brighter hopes for teenpop than I do! I understand a little better why Frank surprisingly (to me anyway) picked R&B over teenpop in that year-end poll. But I'd do the same thing this year if given the choice, and partly because I'm counting in 2007 stuff I'd glossed over (but Frank hadn't) in 2006, particularly Cassie. And there's also Keke Palmer and the Rihanna/Amerie war and even R. Kelly off the top of my head. Still think teenpop was stronger last year (if we include acts like Paris and Marit Larsen) than R&B is this year, but I'm skeptical of a new massive commercial/cultural force in teenpop when the big story of the past few years is how effectively certain companies have niche-marketed teenpop without really needing "massive commercial/cultural force" outside of that niche itself.