And in truth it was ever thus.
Old music is far more valuable to what was the mega labels. I think we’ve seen a fair few entire music libraries snapped up over the past 12 months because they know music from the likes of Bowie will forever be played by people and put in playlists guaranteeing them an income.
Once they get a following the big money is in concerts and touring. It kind of really always was.
I learned that lesson young. I went through a period of several years when I smoked weed. Never bought singles anymore. Still listened to radio at work but mostly listened to albums from the personal collections of friends I was getting stoned with, most of it never in the singles charts, and much of it spanning previous decades too. 70s David Bowie was popular back then in my crowd, as was 60s Rolling Stones. And it was at this time that I became a lifelong Pink Floyd fan. And the Floyd very rarely released singles and were mainly an album and concert band.
I used to when a teenager. It was all about wanting to see your favourite songs ackowledged as being popular more widely as well as guaranteeing it got played a lot on the radio, which it did for as long as it was climbing in the charts or was at number 1. As soon as it started dropping down the charts it virtually stopped being played.
Yeah my most intense period of adherence to the charts was probably around 79-82, from which I guess I am probably 5 or 6 years older than you. Such an age gap is nothing now of course but tends to be massive when you are young, lol.
Except with streaming increasingly dominated by heritage acts and industry cash following, it's less and less easy for acts to build the kind of following that makes concerts pay.
True but that is also a mixed curse/blessing.
I remember it happening several times during the 80s. Reet Petite got to number one after 30 years because it had been in a claymation on BBC2; Heard it Through the Grapefruit after that hot guy wore pants in an advert: songs off Dirty Dancing, and so on.
Exactly. I find this very weird. I have to be very careful when my daughter tells me about early Madonna, like I have never heard of it before because I didn't watch stranger things series 3 and I don't currently go to school. . . I don't want to discourage her finding stuff out herself. . . I could so easily just say "yeah I bought the single the first time around" and make it an old man thing.
I bought that at the time. It didn’t work.
I usually play at least one Kate Bush song in my DJ set but it was a real pleasure seeing the actual excitement when I played Running Up That Hill last night
On Friday my teen arrived home with some friends to have their inaugural band practice - the only recognisable song they managed was a cover of it - my cassette copy of Hounds of Love was still in the stereo from when I'd had it on that morningI usually play at least one Kate Bush song in my DJ set but it was a real pleasure seeing the actual excitement when I played Running Up That Hill last night
Which was the last band that 'shone through' enough to the point where they might, say, headline Glastonbury?
Not really best equipped to answer that since I don't really follow the charts anymore and am not up to speed with who or what is popular now. I rarely pay much heed to who is who. I probably don't know many of the artists currently in the charts. I grew beyond the charts decades ago.
Wet Leg are aren't quite there yet but if they can produce another decent album they could be there. Fat White Family are getting close too although they're not so new. Maybe Shame too.
It was Florence & The Machine - formed 2007, Friday night headliners in 2015. Since then its been heritage acts or solo artists, which seem to be the only kinds of acts able to shine through to the point of megastardom in the new musical economy (suspect this is because the new ways they shine through is via mediums like Instagram & tiktok, which are much more attuned to solo artists than bands).
Fat White Family are currently touring 300-600 capacity venues, they aren't headlining Glastonbury any time soon. Wet Leg do seem to have a head of steam behind them (although after a traditional record company publicity blitz rather than purely on viral success).
