Instrumentals

[vulcan]

On Pick of the Pops yesterday, Tony Blackburn played music from 1962. No 1 was Wonderful land by the Shadows and kept both Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison from that position. Fifty years later you hardly ever hear an instrumental in the top twenty, has anybody any thoughts why they have lost their popularity ?

[douglas9401]

Possibly because the top 20 is populated by mother***kin rappers and talentless karaoke singers from Cowell's money machines?

[saxy_jag]

I'm pretty much with Douglas. Singers are cheaper and just about anyone can squawk into a microphone these days and call themselves a singer, whereas you do actually need a modicum of ability/talent to be able to play an instrument.

I always think the test of a good band is if, when they're being interviewed on TV or radio, they can actually knock out a decent acapella number. I recall McFly were able to do this as were, recently, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis.

[bravejordy]

I agree with Douglas too. The kids today seem to be more into hate-filled and sh*t stirring rap than anything. I doubt very much if any budding Acker Bilks would get a look-in in today's music industry and let's face it, record producers aren't going to waste their money on something they feel isn't going to sell. I pity the kids of today because they really are missing out on what real music is all about.

[237SJ]

It depends on the type of music that is popular at the time though. In the 70s for example there were quite a few instumentals because soul music was popular. Soul instumentals were `do-able` but punk or new romantic instumentals were not. Popular music is vocal now but some genres such as jazz are still mainly instrumental.

[vulcan]

Thank you for your replies.
I agree, todays youngsters are missing out. In the "old days" the hit parade could have R & R,modern & traditional jazz, comedy, instrumentals etc.
Today the music is tuneless,repetative and goes on for ever. With the exception of a few, most of it is,dare I say, boring.

[237SJ]

I agree. There seem to be a lot of female singers who dominate the charts and the radio playlists and they all sound much the same. They say that music reflects the youth of the day. Maybe the youth of today are `bland` so the music is bland. They are very conformist and have nothing to rebel against and modern music reflects this.

[saxy_jag]

That's a fair point. We also have to remember that kids today are sold their music in a way that kids in the 60s, 70s and to some extent, the 80s never were. We chose what we wanted to listen to and paid to listen to it, either on vinyl or live, whether or not it made the BBC's playlists, and if you had to go underground to listen to it then that's what you did. But when kids don't go out and don't see the world beyond what they see on TV, then they have no idea of their choices. They just accept what Cowell and co. are feeding them.

[saxy_jag]

Butting in again to say that I know a fair number of kids through my musical activities who've grown up surrounded by a wide variety of music and are thereby never afraid to try anything new or different. They're not necessarily rebelling, but they are able to see and work outside whatever is the norm in their musical world. They seem to have some very eclectic tastes and rarely ridicule a piece of music just because it's what their mums and dads listen to.

[237SJ]

I`m not sure I paid to listen to music in the 1970s. Yes I paid when I bought a vinyl album but most of the time I listened to Radio 1, Radio Luxemburg, and if I could get a signal, Radio Caroline. Each played a different type of music. The music today is as you say "sold". These days most radio stations play the same music from their playlists. In the USA you can hear really good music from different stations. You get a soul station, a funk station, a rock station and so on. It`s a shame we don`t have that system here.

[kitchenfitter]

The instrumentals [in my opinion] have not lost their popularity. I would still prefer to listen to this WONDERFUL style of music. Surely as most styles of music rotate in & out of popularity then these gems will return. The out of tune noise that so called talented musicians push out today is not going to stand the test of time in quite the same way. I don't want to offend any genuine musicians who work hard at their craft but take a listen to early Shads, Ventures, Tornados, Fentones to name but a few.