dpb

I know I'm middle aged, so basically dead, but

Good grief has there been any original artistic contribution this year. Sickly sickly manufactured dross as far as I can tell, the remixes from dj's from god knows when eclipse what's on offer

Lydia72

I'm watching it now on BBC1 and just commented that they don't seem to have the originality or individuality like music from the past. I could listen to most of that and not have the faintest idea who it was - partly because I'm an old gimmer - but a lot of them (especially the young female singers) just blend into one.
Must be an age thing

scotty boy 80

iTrader: (5)

New Arctic monkeys album was probably the only good contribution to proper music that I can think of over the year

dpb

I'll have a look, cheers

They were pretty awesome go start with so difficult to follow up I should think

neil-h

But it's all very samey from what I've heard on the radio.

RA Dunk

It's the Xfactors fault, we haven't produced a decent band since that sh1te started, but since most of you are glued to that jumped up karaoke contest every time it's on you have all contributed to the demise of the once great British rock/pop/chart industry.

albob

Jesse J was good

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

I had a bit of time on my hands on Sunday with the house to myself, so watched an old recording of Queen playing their Hungarian Rhapsody gig in Budapest from around 1986 / 87.

The stage production wasn't what would be typical of a stadium gig now, however the talent and enthuasism of the four players on the stage and what they were turning out in a gig which was indisputably live, still sounds fantastic.

Best music of today will not be heard on mainstream radio, or released by the main recording labels. It can be enjoyed for a few pounds a time, in small venues in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland.

Turbohot

I quite liked Lilly Alan doing justice to Keane's poem last year, although I much prefer people singing their own poetry.

DYK

Quite right.

So all you naughty SN X factor viewers give yourself a slap on the face,and say i never watch it again...

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

I hear Louis Walsh is launching a new fabricated boy band in 2014.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Don't entirely agree with that to be honest as it's not like the chart is littered with X Factor winners, yes a few bands, artists make it big for a while, but not many.

I think it has a lot more to do with the way the singles chart is now calculated. Singles are predominantly digital downloads (when was the last time you saw a physical CD single for sale anywhere) and digital downloading is in the main the domain of the youth generation and is also very transient and instant... you hear a song you like on an advert for instance, you find it on iTunes or wherever and you buy it... no need for marketing of a physical release.

Albums on the other hand are still selling more physcally than electronicaly although the gap is closing and I think this market is still more about multi generational music and proper bands as opposed to one hit wonders and dance music.

The trouble is Radio 1 and therefore TOTP is still very singles chart led so it seems like the UK has lost its musical variety, but I don't think it has. Look more to albums than singles and things are still pretty healthy!

RA Dunk

Pink Floyd
The Who
The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
U2 (ok I know they are actually Irish, but the UK made them big)
Simple Minds

When was the last time the UK produced a decent Rock Band or super group?

I would say simple Minds were the last big group to come out of the UK and that was eighties/nineties.

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

The Fall brought out 'Re-Mit' in May 2013. Perhaps not their best, but still great, if you like them of course.

'Change Becomes Us' by Wire was released in March 2013.

And 'Machineries of Joy' by British Sea Power came out in April 2013.

The originality and greatness of UK bands is still there, but only if you're prepared to take a risk.

RA Dunk

Never heard of one of these bands, yet according to you they are on a level with The Beatles etc?

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

All have achieved their own level of 'fame' through writing and performing their own songs. BSP are current, The Fall and Wire both began around 1976. Have a Google and you'll find them easily.

No pop group is on the level of The Beatles. The only comparable names are far older (Schutz, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and just possibly one or two others), and I'd never suggest otherwise.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Well there have been a few since Simple Minds.... The Smiths, Oasis, Blur, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and Radiohead for starters!

I also think music has changed though. We will probably never see global supergroups like the ones in your list again as the music industry is different now, but there are plenty of good British bands around.

Muse, Elbow, Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons, British Sea Power, Kasabian... to name a few!

Start digging on YouTube and Spotify and go to Internet radio and there is all sorts out there. You don't have to listen to Radio 1 and 2 .... in fact there is probably more good music accessible now than ever before.

If you want a really good mix of music try Radio Paradise Internet radio, I have bought well over 50 CDs of new music just by listening to that station. Without them I would never have got into the likes of Arcade Fire, Hooverphonic, The Zookeepers and The National.... it's a great station playing a mix of old and new, but no X factor artists in sight

RA Dunk

I'm not being funny, but they aren't famous, I wouldent even mention them in the same breath as

Pink Floyd
The Who
The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
U2
Simple Minds

They ^^^ are bands that actually made it big the world over, which is the point i'm making, we haven't produced a band the caliber of the above for decades.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Ahem, Coldplay!

RA Dunk

We can't compare The Smiths to Pink Floyd or Franz Ferdinand to The Who or Oasis to The Beatles or Coldplay to The Rolling Stones can we, it's a no contest, real bands to Mickey Mouse bands in reality.

I don't even have a album from any of the bands you mentioned, but have at least one of every band I mentioned even though they were on the go before I was born.

RA Dunk

Coldplay don't even come close to greatness when it comes to Super bands Chris.

Would you equal them to The Stones or The Beatles? I certainly woulden't.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

As I said music has changed, there are thousands more artists recording now than in the 60s/70s because with the digital age its easy as is distribution and of course there are many more distractions now, but all of those bands I mentioned have had success across most of the world.

Oasis have sold at least twice as many records as Simple Minds for instance.

I forgot Depeche Mode.... massively successful everywhere except here really!

It is true you will never get record sales or popularity of the bands you mention, but it isn't all hopeless... far from it. It's actually a really exciting time in music and if, at the age of 48 (so not exactly a spring chicken), I can say that then that is a good thing! There is something for everyone out there, you just need to dig a bit!

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

No, but they have sold a sh1tload of records and sell out tours the world over!

The Beatles are untouchable for me, but different times and all that!

PS You left out David Bowie... also untouchable IMO

RA Dunk

Yup, DB is up there with the best of the best TBH.

The bands/artists we produced during the Sixties/seventies and even the Eighties are light years ahead of anything today I'm afraid.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

I agree with you to a point, but I do wonder if it's also partly an age, location, memories thing.

For instance living around Manchester as I have for most of the last 33 years there is one band that is up there close to those bands you mention for me and that is Joy Division. I know they were nowhere near as successful as the supergroups or probably anywhere near as talented, but they were there at a time that coincided with me leaving hom and setting off to Manchester and for that reason they are still rght up there in my psyche if you like.

I wonder if because of the time we grew up in before the Internet and digitial music, games etc. we hold a lot of those supergroups in higher esteem than we would if we were growing up today!

RA Dunk

Hmm I don't know, alot of the bands I mentioned the likes of Led Zep, Pink Floyd, The Stones had already been in their prime by the time I was growing up in the Eighties, so I don't have any memories of them.

Maybe some of the ones that were in their prime in the Eighties like Simple Minds and U2 could relate to what you said above though?

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Dark Side of The Moon still cracks about 250k sales per year. Add those who have just discovered real music and it's a top pension fund.

Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Supertramp, Foreigner, Yes, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Queen, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Fleetwood Mac, Marillion, Genesis all oozed charisma, talent and down right good showmanship and not a vocoda insight! Oh and they wrote most of their own stuff.

Muse (whilst throwing a huge nod to Queen and a few other groups) are creeping into my play list.

RA Dunk

Proper band with proper music.

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

One problem chaps. Punk came along to kill off all the old dinosaurs (as listed in various posts above) in 1976, but has now itself become mainstream, with Johnny Rotten a national treasure.

Clearly, we're mainly too ancient on here to appreciate today's music, so we'll just have to face it, we're has-been old farts.

Now, time to put on Radio 2....

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Glastonbury headline acts would be one gauge as to the current state of the music industry.

This year we had, the Stones (an admission that there's no bands this big in recent times anymore), Arctic Monkeys (meh, can see the appeal but their songs are all a bit samey), and closing the festival on the main stage, Mumford and Suns, a band so bland even Cameron likes them, possibly the most over-hyped band right now, and their album was the third-most-unwanted present according to Music Magpie, lol!