Where did all the rock bands go
Where did all the rock bands go
A while back, British broadcaster Rick Osman pointed to a weird statistic: the number of weeks that bands had dominated the UK charts. If you look at the figures you have to ask: Where did all the rock bands go?
- In the first half of the 1980s, there were 146 weeks with bands in the charts
- In the first half of the 90s, it was slightly down to 141 weeks.
- In the first quarter of the 2000’s (now), we’ve had three weeks with bands at n° 1 (one of which was a Beatles re-release).
This ends several decades when bands were omnipresent in the charts from the fifties onwards.
And it’s not just the UK and US. One of the major music events in France is the NRJ Music Awards. In addition to celebrating local talent, the glitzy show has always acted as a major showcase for international artists. They have just announced the nominees for this year’s show. There are no bands at all, unless you include the Kpop Demon Hunters, which is an interesting exception.
The day the music changed…
Music producer and commentator Rick Beato has an interesting theory. He points to the nineties as the moment where popular music changed. Labels became more insistent about providing hits for their artists. So bands such as Aerosmith brought in writers and/or writer/producers. For example, Diane Warren gave Aerosmith their biggest hit, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” – a great song, it must be said.
It became clear to the labels that the producers were the ones creating the hits. Following the runaway success of Eurodance acts (including 2 Unlimited), a new generation of uber-producers emerged. People such as Max Martin wrote and produced hits for the cream of American pop – Britney Spears, Pink, Ariana Grande, Justin Timberlake and many more.
So where are the U2s, Dire Straits and even Radioheads? Most are still there, and the legacy bands such as Oasis can even run highly-popular tours. But they are not denting the charts the way that solo artists such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga or Ed Sheeran can.
Does this mean that rock music is dead as a chart genre?
(ML: Photo: Cartist / Pexels)