RIP Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops logo used from 1998 to 2003

Thank God, punk lives! This is due to more people expressing themselves musically while the music industry continues to churn out bland crap to catch as many people as possible in its net.

Girl and Boy Bands

Well there are several of them and the emphasis tends to be on their good looks rather than quality music. These are bands that the corporate music industry puts together or promotes using a formula and conditions the masses to accept as musical acts even though they’re mostly shit (I wouldn’t include Boyz II Men because they resemble older singing groups like The Platters).

 One Direction

 These bands represent the demise of pop music. We also had Brit Pop during the 90s, much of which was also shit. While, at the same time, the most amazing electronic dance music erupted like a sky lit by fireworks. Pop couldn’t keep up and the charts became a thing of the past.

 

I don’t have much more to say about them. But the following is a text sent to a free newspaper in London:

Spice Has Gone

“I read that the Spice Girls are planning a reunion. Could that have been inspired by the megabucks earned by Take That recently, by any chance? I’m not surprised by the rumours that they might employ computer technology to enhance their voices. They couldn’t sing first time around, so there’s not much hope for them now. Won’t it all seem a bit sad – them on stage pretending they are still wiggling, Union Jack and tracksuit-wearing girls next door? Even sadder – I bet they sell out Wembley Stadium for their comeback gig.” – Steve, London N20. (The London Paper, 28 June 2007, p.28). 

The Spice Girls were an English girl pop band that sold a lot of records during the 90s on the back of a promotional gimmick. The group consists of “five lively girls”: Melanie Brown (‘Scary Spice’), Melanie Chisholm (‘Sporty Spice’), Emma Bunton (‘Baby Spice’), Geri Halliwell (‘Ginger Spice’) and Victoria Beckham, née Adams (‘Posh Spice’). The Spice Girls were popular because people were interested in them as five people with different lives and personalities. Or, rather, women were attracted both to their ordinariness. They represented the potential of ordinary women, however bland. They presented an independent attitude: “Post-riot grrrl alternative rock feminism and a co-opting of the good-times-all-the-time stance of England's new lad culture,” as their biography on MTV’s website describes them. 

They’re blog ‘n’ roll stars

By James Ellis for Metro (free newspaper), 28 September 2006, p.21.

Not long ago, the charts seemed dominated by manufactured bands and reality show cast-offs. To borrow a phrase, it was as though punk never happened. But the digital revolution has changed all that.

New technology has given ‘real’ bands the chance to both record music in their bedrooms in their bedrooms and push it to punters through online sites such as MySpace and YouTube.

This also signals the end of the bland music PR press release as artists choose to communicate directly with fans through blogs on their own websites.

Top of the Pops has been replaced by Top of the Blogs.