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

[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?