I Don't Care

The Official Charts, and why it doesn't really matter anymore. 

I'll start this post with a couple of questions. What is top of the UK's Single Charts this week and what is top of the UK Album's chart? For the vast majority of people reading this post, I bet the answer to both is I don't know. I wouldn't know either without looking it up. 

Why is the case? I've got a couple of theories as to why. 

It's All In Our Pocket

The way people receive, and listen to music has changed so much over the last 5 years so never mind the last 15 years, streaming has become the most popular method of listening to music. We now have millions of songs in our pocket, through the use of platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.  I can listen to virtually what I want on demand, I get notifications when new music is released by artists I love. The application makes me playlists, of what it thinks I will like, collabration between friends is possible. The functionality to search is present. If I want to find a mono mix of a Beatles song I can. If I want to listen to a live version of a song I can. 

The ability to have access to this on demand, has changed peoples listening habits. It's certainly changed mine. I can't remember the last time I sat and listened to the radio for a prolonged period of time. Certainly out of choice. Why would I? I like millions of others have got playlists of songs I love, that I can dip in and out off, with a few swipes and clicks. 

To hear the best new music I don't need to listen to the Top 40, I can find it in my own time. 30/40 years ago listening to both the radio and the Top 40 was peoples main way of collating and listening to music. My mum and dad used to sit and tape the Top 40, so they had the songs they liked to listen too. Back then that was a pivotal part of a young music fans life. On a Sunday Night, getting ready to listen to the chart rundown.

Something not many of us do now. 

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops was a British institution that ran from 1964 to 2006. A TV show that consisted of performances of some of the week's best-selling popular music records, usually excluding any tracks moving down the chart, including a rundown of that week's singles chart. This was originally the Top 20, though this varied throughout the show's history. The Top 30 was used from 1969, and the Top 40 from 1984.

This show propelled some of the worlds most famous musicians, into peoples living rooms. It was arguably the first music show on television and was seen for many years as a milestone in a musicians career. Look at what it did for certain musicians. Bowie showcased Ziggy Stardust to the nation on Top of the Pops with a magical version of Starman.

https://youtu.be/oOKWF3IHu0I?si=NbTdEi0Bh5gp0Rv8

The Smiths launched indie music to the masses with a brilliant renditon of This Charming Man, complete with Manchester’s most miserable man brings his gladioli and spectacular quiff to the party and Johnny Marr looking unbelievably cool

Top of the Pops had so many iconic moments. It seems that everything changed one day in November 1989 when Shaun Ryder and friends kicked down the door to 1990 with Hallelujah, accompanied by the late Kirsty McColl making the performance that little bit more special. 808 State and The Stone Roses also appeared on the show that night. Manchester or Madchester arrived to the masses, what had started in Warehouses and Illegal Raves, was propelled to peoples living rooms.

I could go on for ages about the iconic Top of the Pops performances but I wouldn't do it justice. There's a brilliant video by Trash Theory, which you can watch here that covers them off brilliantly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq2AUuI-eB8

This British institution, brought musical movements from Acid House, Grunge, Indie, Britpop, Ska etc to the forefront of public conciseness. It also made stars, take Kate Bush, Marc Bolan, Bowie, Happy Mondays. After performances on this show, they became household names. 

It's not something we have today. There is no music show, that grabs people like Top of The Pops did in it's heyday. People aren't exposed to new genres, like they once were. Mavericks who were once celebrated, are no longer given a platform. 

The charts no longer come to life on TV screens across the nation, we don't get to see the superstars, and the future superstars anymore. 

Even if Top of the Pops was to come back, would it work.  Television along with music has changed the wealth of content available means that even if it did come back. It is likely that the viewing figures would be vastly lower than what they were in the shows heyday.

However I do think this show coming off the air, in 2006 changed the charts in this country. I really do.

The Music was to Blame

Now I've got two points to make here. The first, there doesn't seem to be a variety of genres in the charts now, it's all Hip-Hop or generic pop music. Onto the generic pop music front, most of it is written by the same people. Professional songwriters have taken over the charts. These individuals are not writing songs for themselves, they write for the biggest artists in the world and do not want to take a risk. Therefore the song sound the same, formulaic because these songwriters have got reputations to keep.

There is no chance of Taylor Swift releasing a dance inspired track, or Lewis Capaldi collaborating with Sam Fender on an indie tune. It's not going to happen. Looking back at the 70s/80s/90s the charts were a melting pot of music from prog rock, punk, dance, disco, stadium rock, hip hop, britpop, big beat, need I go on. 

Not having this variety, makes the charts generic and for many boring. My age group, and even those younger than me, have turned our back on the charts. Instead using new methods, to find new music, social media, streaming platforms and sometimes even harking back to the old school methods, word of mouth, and seeing them live whether that be at a festival or a support slot. I've found a few brilliant bands this way. Red Rum Club, Gerry Cinnamon, and more recently The Royston Club. 

Now onto my second point, this one relates more to albums. The album chart in the UK is a weird place. ABBA Gold is in the Top 5, and will remain there probably for most of the year, Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, and Queens Greatest Hits, are in the Top 20. This trend leads me to come to a couple of conclusions, people are still delving back to old music and I think the reemergence of Vinyl is a big reason for this. People still want those classic records.

My second point harks back to my streaming point, younger people are streaming music through Spotify etc, and are likely in turn listening to albums a lot less. Playlists are a lot more common, so the demographic of people buying albums hasn't really changed, the same people buying them 10 years ago, still make up the majority today. Of course newer albums do still hit the top spot, especially new releases but these classic records are always there or there about. 

Summary:

I guess this post leaves me with one final question, after everything I have written. Do people care about the charts, and more importantly in today's day and age do they matter?

People will find what they like, however they buy music, they don't need a rundown telling them whats great, and let's face it. It's usually not that great anymore.

What do you think?

Thank you for reading x