Why Has The UK Album Char Gone So Old Fart Middle Of The Road?

11 ( ) Ultimate Manilow Barry Manilow Arista
12 (6) Elephunk Black Eyed Peas A&M
13 (7) The Singles 1992-2003 No Doubt Interscope
14 (14) The Best Of Leann Rimes Curb/London
15 (8) Speakerboxxx/The Love Below Outkast Arista
16 (13) Final Straw Snow Patrol Fiction/Polydor
17 (12) The Soul Sessions Joss Stone Relentless/Virgin
18 (18) In The Zone Britney Spears Jive
19 (11) Permission To Land Darkness Must Destroy
20 (15) Come Away With Me Norah Jones Parlophone
21 (17) Life For Rent Dido Cheeky
22 (22) Blink 182 Blink 182 Geffen
23 (16) Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand Domino Recordings
24 (9) Greatest Duran Duran Emi
25 (19) Dedicated Lemar Sony Music
26 ( ) Satisfaction Guaranteed - The Very Best Teddy Pendergrass Wsm
27 (25) The Look Of Love Dusty Springfield Umtv
28 (41) Body Language Kylie Minogue Parlophone
29 (23) Start Something Lostprophets Visible Noise
30 (28) O Damien Rice Drm/14th Floor
31 (26) Fallen Evanescence Epic/Wind-Up
32 (21) The Meaning Of Love Michelle S
33 (45) Afterglow Sarah Mclachlan Arista
34 (30) Three Sugababes Island
35 ( ) The Platinum Collection Barbara Dickson Sony Music Tv
36 (27) A Present For Everyone Busted Universal
37 (34) Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters Polydor
38 (24) Free Me Emma 19
39 (29) Get Rich Or Die Tryin' 50 Cent Interscope
40 (35) Greatest Hits Red Hot Chili Peppers Warner Bros

What's gone wrong with this country?

1 FEELS LIKE HOME
NORAH JONES
( EMI )
2 FALLEN
EVANESCENCE
( EPIC )
3 CLOSER
JOSH GROBAN
( WBR )
4 ELEPHUNK
BLACK EYED PEAS
( INTERSCOPE )
5 VERY BEST OF SHERYL CROW
SHERYL CROW
( A&M )
6 2004 GRAMMY NOMINEES
VARIOUS
( BMGH )
7 SPEAKERBOXX-LOVE
OUTKAST
( ARISTA )
8 SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL
GREAT BIG SEA
( WEA )
9 JUNO AWARDS 2004
VARIOUS
( UNI )
10 LONG ROAD
NICKELBACK
( EMI )

10 (6) Under The Pink - Tori Amos (East West)
9 (9) Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales (A&M)
8 (-) Saint Etienne - Tiger Bay (Heavenly)
7 (7) M People - Elegant Slumming (deConstruction)
6 (5) Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell 2: Back Into Hell (Virgin)
5 (2) Dina Carroll - So Close (A&M)
4 (-) The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (Island)
3 (4) Bjork - Debut (One Little Indian)
2 (2) Enigma - The Cross Of Changes (Virgin)
1 (1) Mariah Carey - Music Box (Columbia)

http://archive.salvationarmy.org.uk/zpix/Picstore/ParkinsonS.jpg

i must admit i have a ridiculous soft spot for "The Closest Thing To Crazy", but only because the Mike Batt connection reminds me of a time when these things weren't so controlled by a tiny clique ... there seemed to be more quirks, more individuality around. Jamie Cullum is a cultural nadir of humanity, and symbolises everything that is wrong with Britain in 2004. don't waste your time worrying about Engelbert Humperdinck compilations (such things have always charted from time to time); fight the real enemy within, and turn the screw on Cullum and the anti-culture which created him.

(edit, re. "Bunged Up"'s post ... oh god, i know, i know, i know ...)

http://base58.com/ilx/uk40album90b.gif

interesting stat - where did you get it from?

as for Keane, they're merely another example of the ongoing tendency - in the 60s, the vast bulk of British pop music came from the south-east and the West Coast Main Line corridor, whereas now it's become so central to the culture, and the Americosceptic heartlands of wariness of its influence (both Old Tory and Old Labour) have been so systematically eroded, that you get people like Keane, who in the post-war years would have been Young Conservative bank clerks, choosing pop music as just another career (the idea of a band from Battle, Sussex getting to number three in 1966 would have been completely unthinkable, Troggs and Dave Dee notwithstanding). pop music is just *there* now, so they don't think what they're doing is in any way *significant* (compare to, say, Reg Presley's "this kind of feeling could move a nation"; *he knew*) - the sound of "Somewhere Only We Know" is the sound of a cultural form completely immersed in the fabric in a way unthinkable even ten years ago, saying nothing and being nothing.

the tedium of bands like that i would call "Wienerisation", after the man who did most to encourage ideological loathing of the conservative middle classes' wariness of pop culture and thus allow pop music to slip further and further into the background and have less and less *drama* and *impact* to it. Keane are merely a sociological aftereffect; they mean nothing in themselves, and they wouldn't pretend to, but their existence and doubtless massive future success says a lot. born in the Thatcher years, they can't remember a time when conservatism - even in Sussex market towns - wasn't merely another flavour of the Coca-Cola culture / McCulture (whatever you want to say), and therefore they see it as perfectly natural for the most conservative dullards to make a career out of pop music. what Lostprophets are to the miners' strike, they are to the sackings of Lord Carrington, Francis Pym et al. can you imagine the sort of people who like "Somewhere Only We Know" thinking much for themselves? i can't. at least Chris Martin is politically dead right in most of his beliefs. Keane are *nothing*.

Slowly, softly and apparently unstoppably, easy listening and jazz have come to dominate the UK album chart.
In this week's Top 10, Katie Melua, Jamie Cullum and Norah Jones have charmed CD buyers while middle-of-the-road giants Daniel O'Donnell, Engelbert Humperdinck and Harry Connick Jr have lumbered back into view.

Of the few pop acts that remain in the Top 10, the mellow Zero 7 and newly-soulful Will Young sound distinctly adult. So how did every day come to sound like a dinner party?

"People like melody and quality in music, and there are a lot of good songs around right now," says Colin Martin, executive music producer for BBC Radio 2.

"During the 90s, the chart was dominated by high-energy tracks with little to appeal to a broad range of album buyers.

It's been like a bolt from the blue

Stephen Graham
Jazzwise magazine
"Now there is hardly anybody who will not enjoy the current albums by Katie Melua, Jamie Cullum or Lionel Richie."

Jazzwise magazine co-editor Stephen Graham traces the current jazz and middle-of-the-road (MOR) revival to pianist Diana Krall, whose album When I Look in Your Eyes was a global hit in 1999.

"Diana Krall tapped into the lucrative adult market and paved the way for Norah Jones," he says. "People liked the fact that Norah Jones was a young singer-songwriter and she had phenomenal success."

Norah Jones sold 19 million copies of her debut album Come Away With Me, including two million in the UK.

This is all about lengthy careers, rather than just making music for today

Colin Martin
BBC Radio 2
"That success has continued with her new album, by which time she had in turn paved the way for Jamie Cullum's £1m record deal," Mr Graham says.

Industry magazine Music Week attributes the rise in easy listening to "Des and Mel, [Michael] Parkinson and beer adverts".

Exposure on TV and radio has dramatically boosted sales, but Radio 2's Colin Martin believes the new accessibility of albums is another vital factor.

"In the past, some people may not have wanted to go to record shops to search out these artists, but now they can just pop them in their basket at a supermarket," he says.

Jamie Cullum has won a place in both the album and singles charts
Whatever the reason, people aged between 40 and 49 have been inspired to buy more albums - accounting for 19.1% of total album sales in 2002 compared with 16.5% in 2000, according to British Phonographic Industry figures.

The popularity of MOR and jazz has led to a sharp contrast between music formats, with the albums chart topped by artists who find it difficult to conquer the youth-dominated singles chart and vice versa.

The fact that Katie Melua and Jamie Cullum have already enjoyed top 20 hits may bridge that divide, however.

"Even a widely-respected jazz artist such as Courtney Pine never made it into the singles chart," says Stephen Graham. "It's been like a bolt from the blue."

Everything in music is cyclical - I can already detect a backlash

Stephen Graham
Jazzwise magazine
Will the appeal of mellow jazz and MOR artists continue to broaden? Colin Martin believes so.

"We continue to champion artists such as Amy Winehouse, Damien Rice and Sarah McLachlan because we believe strongly in artistic development," he says.

"They have the potential to keep getting better and better. This is all about lengthy careers, rather than just making music for today."

Stephen Graham is not so sure. "It's the flavour of the month right now, but everything in music is cyclical," he says. "I can already detect a backlash."

"People like melody and quality in music, and there are a lot of good songs around right now," says Colin Martin, executive music producer for BBC Radio 2.
"During the 90s, the chart was dominated by high-energy tracks with little to appeal to a broad range of album buyers.

"Now there is hardly anybody who will not enjoy the current albums by Katie Melua, Jamie Cullum or Lionel Richie."

Yeah right...

Still haven't played it.

Geir is right - fuck the album chart, I don't give a monkeys, let it rot.

Teardrops era? Fried? Jehovahkill???!!?

isn't the american chart based on radio play, though?

"Trampoline" at 78 rpm?

It was not all good news as compilation album sales fell by nearly 20 per cent on last year

Ross fulfilling the BBC public service commitment by not forcing us to listen to Ms Dynamite or next big things Louis XIV.

How does anyone say anything like this with a straight face?

I was talking about the U.S. album chart

They are forced to watch 24 hours of Jim Davidson & Jimmy Carr as training.

(Sade is not particularly melodic btw, her music is repetitive in a very "jazzy" way)

The American demographic is of course more likely than the European one to buy archetypical American music, even into their 30s and 40s. Hip-hop, R&B, hard rock and country are all archetypical American music genres, and it is more natural for Americans to like them than it is for Europeans.

I'd rather fuck the single charts. Not a lot of value there at the time (although somewhat more of value in the UK singles chart than in the US one it must be added)

But on a more general point, it means the generation gap that used to be reflected by music is fast disappearing and it is the 40- and 50-somethings who are now pop's biggest fans.

I suppose it was only a matter of time until mum rock came along to replace dad rock.

The survey was carried out by an Age Concern research panel, which surveys a sample of up to 10,000 over-50s on lifestyle issues.

Maybe theres a museum somewhere accusing 18th century music critics of rockism.