How low can it go??

The British music industry reached a new low this week, when a mobile phone ringtone, masquerading as a "song", went to the top of the UK singles charts. This has to be an all-time low. Where are the classic songs sung by professional music artists, in the UK? I know that sales of singles there have collapsed in the last 10-15 years, and not many songs last longer than a week at No. 1 these days, but I just can't understand how a respected UK music group, namely Oasis, could have a song that is outsold by a mobile ringtone.

The quality of music in the UK seems to have gone down the plughole, in the last 2/3 years. There appears to be no variety in the charts at all these days. Where is Britpop? Where are the club songs? Where are the rock songs? Where are their famous, talented, respected, artists/groups? Where are their professional songwriters?? :confused:

These days, American male/female R'n'B artists, and manufactured groups created from talent shows singing covers, dominate the charts there. I have bought about 5 singles in the past 18 months or so, because the quality of music available at the moment being released is so bad, that you couldn't possibly buy anymore.

No wonder the UK fails so disasterously at Eurovision. They send the same crap there every year, and nobody likes it. Now, a ringtone gets to No. 1. If that's the best they can come up with, it's no wonder that the UK music industry is in serious decline. :mad:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mypost

it's no wonder that the UK music industry is in serious decline. :mad:

---

ahh but we are ok it only got to number 2 here :)

Who cares if the charts are sh!t? I don't think i've ever seen them as in any way influencing my choice of music. OK you don't like the music in the charts but they represent what 'the kids' are listening to at the moment. Just do what everyone else does and listen to your own stuff, ignoring the tat on TOTP.

I think the last time I bought a single was about 10 years ago. Probably more to be honest.

Not a suprise really and its more of a brand or an idea than a tune....Really hate the ****er... :mad:

There should be a chart for under 16's and another for over.. Same as radio stations.. theres nothing worse than listening to a good song fade out into a westlife or in this case a frog bleedin singing!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mypost

The British music industry reached a new low this week, when a mobile phone ringtone, masquerading as a "song", went to the top of the UK singles charts. This has to be an all-time low. Where are the classic songs sung by professional music artists, in the UK? I know that sales of singles there have collapsed in the last 10-15 years, and not many songs last longer than a week at No. 1 these days, but I just can't understand how a respected UK music group, namely Oasis, could have a song that is outsold by a mobile ringtone.

The quality of music in the UK seems to have gone down the plughole, in the last 2/3 years. There appears to be no variety in the charts at all these days. Where is Britpop? Where are the club songs? Where are the rock songs? Where are their famous, talented, respected, artists/groups? Where are their professional songwriters?? :confused:

These days, American male/female R'n'B artists, and manufactured groups created from talent shows singing covers, dominate the charts there. I have bought about 5 singles in the past 18 months or so, because the quality of music available at the moment being released is so bad, that you couldn't possibly buy anymore.

No wonder the UK fails so disasterously at Eurovision. They send the same crap there every year, and nobody likes it. Now, a ringtone gets to No. 1. If that's the best they can come up with, it's no wonder that the UK music industry is in serious decline. :mad:

---

My Post, couldn't agree with you more.

I remember, in the late 70s and early 80s there was a pile of hits caled Stars on 45 which was basically a karoke type thingy set to a backing beat. I remember thinking this was the pits at the time. Then there was Jive Bunny. :eek:

It's keeps getting worse though - is there any hope when the charts are more fully based on downloads we might get a more representative top 40?? Doubt it but maybe more rock/quality pop songs will be represented. Here's hoping.

Another thing that annoys me is the way the big stores like Tesco are influencing the charts - album and singles. Someone like Celine Dion breaks through and the record companies go crazy getting soundalikes - eg Delta Goodrem etc. The circle goes on and on. Record companies don't seem to give up and coming artists time to develop either - if the first record doesn't break, then they're dumped.
Choice and veriety go out the window as the smaller stores, who can't compete with the Tescos etc pricewise and who are more likely to have a more eclectic mix for sale are squeezed out of business. Downloading, of course, doesn't help them either. Then you know all this anyway.

To contradict myself a little, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I spoke to a number of folk artists at the Cambridge Folk Festival and they told me they make a good living gigging and selling albums at gigs and via the net etc so there's kind of an underground of music in all genres going on - not huge sellers but relatively healthy. The folk scene has a huge number of clubs and smaller concert halls in the UK where a massive number of artists perform. I get magazines called Froots (originally Folk Roots) and the Living Tradition who have lists of where the artists are playing etc. These mags also cover Robert Plant, Steve Earl and many artitst one wouldn't think come under the folk label so it's not all diddley eye stuff. There's a lot of World Music - from literally everywhere and Froots often has great free CDS attached with stuff from Algeria to Taipei.

Maybe that's the way things are going???? Maybe the charts are becoming irrelevant???

What do you think??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sirhamish

To contradict myself a little, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I spoke to a number of folk artists at the Cambridge Folk Festival and they told me they make a good living gigging and selling albums at gigs and via the net etc so there's kind of an underground of music in all genres going on - not huge sellers but relatively healthy.

---

Wow! Someone else goes to the Cambridge Folk Festival. I have a friend into folk, and it's such an obscure genre-fair play! I'd agree with the above. Even the more mainstream of my bands, eg/Bloc Party or Kaiser Chiefs, have very little singles chart success. I base my selections on reccomendations, be it from here, Q magazine, amazon,etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sirhamish

Maybe that's the way things are going???? Maybe the charts are becoming irrelevant???

What do you think??

---

Certainly. I bought yesterday one of the best albums I've heard in ages, yet i doubt it would get near a chart (Rufus Wainwright-Want Two) as it does not fit into any single bracket of music. AFAIK, the only people who buy singles are "little girls"-you know what i mean. I haven't bought a single for 3 years, aside from the DVD Version of The Thrills last song. As I've got older, I've bought many more albums, as i am now uch more receptive to other kinds of music.

To be quite honest, I think the charts influence very few people. The only time I read about the charts is when I am on boards like this or I read a Quirky news story, akin to the Ring tone Number 1.

Most of the albums I think have been brilliant over the last few years never made it into any chart places and the singles failed to have commercial radio success. I wouldn't get too upset about the ringtone. The music is still being produced, its just not a singles market any more for quality bands.

It's long been the case that the charts have been rigged to a certain degree, tracks delayed, massive airplay, some bookies won't take bets on who's going to be number 1 because of this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gustavo

ahh but we are ok it only got to number 2 here :)

---

not any more................. :o

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Conor74

That whole Frog thing is a novelty. 15 years ago Bombalurina got 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' to the top of the charts. 10 years before that, what about the Joe Dolce Music Theatre with 'Shaddap Ya Face'? Or The Tweets with 'The Birdy Song'.

Not defending the Frog song, but there will always be the odd novelty number that sells well and annoys everyone at the same time. Tbh, I think that chart music is better than it has been since the early 90s, as bands like the Killers, Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs, while they may be derivative and unoriginal, aren't the worst. Certainly prefer them to the days of Blur -v- Oasis -v- Pulp.

---

Don't remind me anout that Joe Dolce drivel :eek: That came out out during my...er....disco days and how I hated/hate that fcuking record. VH1 classic resurects it every now and again unfortunately.

Yeah, Jofyisgod, went every year from 96 to 99 and the range of music was amazing - from Strummer, Chumbawumba to every type of music you can imagine and people, as they say, from 9 to 90 there. And much more comfortable for auld gits like me than Glastonbury. Hate it when late July and early August comes round. Maybe next year DV.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Conor74

Most often repeated piece of useless music trivia - Joe Dolce kept the classic 'Vienna' by Ultravox off the UK No. 1 spot.

---

Will you stop going on about Joe Dolce - It means nothing to me....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Conor74

Most often repeated piece of useless music trivia - Joe Dolce kept the classic 'Vienna' by Ultravox off the UK No. 1 spot.

And speaking of New Romantics, anyone know whatever happened to Steve Strange of Visage?

---

Just googled it.
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/dance_feat_stevestrange.asp

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Conor74

What's the matta you
gotta no respect?

Okay, this must stop now...

---

How low can it go?? We're trying our best to find out :D

Did anyone notice how Kelly Osbourne's latest is a direct rip-off of Visage's hit?? Even the video is very simlar, y'know moody black and white and French spoken in the background.

My favourite Ultravox song is "The Voice" from Rage in Eden album- thumping bass and kinda creepy chorus - like something you'd hear in a monastery. :D

Love Talk Talk's "In my life" - used to play it in Mel's - used to echo right round the ground but a few didn't like it - "stop playing that heavy stuff" - can't win sometimes!!! :D :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mypost

The British music industry reached a new low this week, when a mobile phone ringtone, masquerading as a "song", went to the top of the UK singles charts. This has to be an all-time low. I just can't understand how a respected UK music group, namely Oasis, could have a song that is outsold by a mobile ringtone. If that's the best they can come up with, it's no wonder that the UK music industry is in serious decline.

---

I don't believe it!!! :eek: It's No.1 for 3 weeks now. Wtf is going on?? :mad:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sirhamish

Did anyone notice how Kelly Osbourne's latest is a direct rip-off of Visage's hit?? Even the video is very simlar, y'know moody black and white and French spoken in the background.

---

This amuses me with the Osbornes. Thanks to MTV's exposure and the pushy mother, they think they can crack the charts by being formulaic and following the latest fashion trend in music. Kelly Osborne the rock chick is now doing synth music :rolleyes:
Other guilty persons of following trends: Gwen Sefani, Madonna........

The only band to have sucessfully pulled off the synth/80s style so far are the Killers. The Bravery are awful - just 1 decent track on that album.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mypost

I don't believe it!!! :eek: It's No.1 for 3 weeks now. Wtf is going on?? :mad:

---

They are off the top spot after 4 weeks. ;) Who replaced it? Elton John!!! :rolleyes:

It's gone lower!! :mad:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Conor74

Well, I certainly noticed that it is pure **** anyway. She should be strung up, along with Gwen Stefani for what she did to Talk Talk's 'It's My Life'...

---

They did a great p i sstake of this silly cow a few weeks back on Dead Ringers. It was a spoof of one of her videos.
I'd love to get my hands on a copy of it. The jist of it was

"the songs a load o' b0llix -just keep looking at the pictures"

As Fat Tony says "It's funny because it's true"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frank Blue

The only band to have sucessfully pulled off the synth/80s style so far are the Killers.

---

Uhm, Ladytron?

There has always been novelty songs topping the charts in Britain. Always. People who complain about Crazy Frog/Mr.Blobby/Wurzels or the likes of Take That Bros or Westlife topping the charts are too concerned with letting their music tastes making them look "cool" to their peers. Who cares if a single like that tops the charts? It means nothing. It's not as if the 8-14 year olds who buy it are going to stroll casually into a music store and pick up the latest offering from a struggling singer/songwriter. It's irrelevant.

Belgian punkrock band Janez Detd covered A-Ha's "Take on me" and interrupted just after the second chorus for a sample of "Will I be famous", then to go with Take On Me... It sounds mad, but somehow it was catchy. The cover was more a fun thing than a quality cover though.

Seems punk bands know how to cover without making it too irritant. I adore The Damned's version of "Eloise" :cool: (www.onewaylove.com --> media section, live video's)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

There has always been novelty songs topping the charts in Britain. Always. People who complain about Crazy Frog/Mr.Blobby/Wurzels or the likes of Take That Bros or Westlife topping the charts are too concerned with letting their music tastes making them look "cool" to their peers. Who cares if a single like that tops the charts? It means nothing. It's not as if the 8-14 year olds who buy it are going to stroll casually into a music store and pick up the latest offering from a struggling singer/songwriter. It's irrelevant.

---

There is a distinct distance between a song, and a phone ringtone. If you reach the top of the charts, it means that you are the best around at the time. How a phone ringtone, can reach the top of the charts, when it has competition from the likes of Oasis, Coldplay, and U2, I will never know. It topped the charts for 4 weeks, so it says an awful lot about the crap that masquerades as music in the UK now, and shows how much the industry, once one of the best in the world, has declined. :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mypost

There is a distinct distance between a song, and a phone ringtone. If you reach the top of the charts, it means that you are the best around at the time. How a phone ringtone, can reach the top of the charts, when it has competition from the likes of Oasis, Coldplay, and U2, I will never know. It topped the charts for 4 weeks, so it says an awful lot about the crap that masquerades as music in the UK now, and shows how much the industry, once one of the best in the world, has declined. :(

---

In Belgium the frog got a golden disk for +25000 sold singles as well :eek: It seems to be a hit all around Western Europe...

BTW, why is that frog not hiding his genitals in that video ?? Kids are watching those charts as well :eek:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Conor74

Great version alright. Suitably dramatic.

---

You heard it ??


Janez Detd are a weird thing. No one (or hardly anyone) seems to take them seriously, yet they sell well and play for respectful crowds every time. Their singer is a devote Christian and tried to sell themselves as "Christian punk rock", but so far none of the youngsters seems to pick up the message...


Ack, only one top punk act for me, and it's The Damned :cool: