Discussion on NZ Top 40 music

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GeoffisPure

459 posts

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#240040 16-Aug-2018 21:10

I've been thinking recently about how for a long time I have disliked the majority of music that makes the top 40 charts.

This wasn't always the case. As a young teenager in the 90s I have a lot of fond memories of watching "Coca Cola Video Hits" on a Saturday morning, as the top 20 singles were counted down. Back then pop music was huge - boy bands - girl bands and as cringeworthy as that may be to some I was all over it. These days, rap music seems to be a bigger part of the charts.

Perhaps no longer liking top 40 music is a natural part of getting older, especially if your tastes don't move on from what you liked when you were younger. But I suspect there is more to it than that.

I wonder if the demographic of people that consume music and therefore affect the top 40 have changed. Back in the day, to affect the singles chart involved purchasing a song for about $5 on tape or CD. I imagine there was a large chunk of the lower socio-economic population that couldn't afford buying singles regularly. These days, all it takes to affect the charts is to stream a song on Spotify - and Spotify can be used for free. So would it follow that the average consumer impacting the music charts today is both younger and less privileged? Is the top 40 chart today representative of New Zealand music tastes as a whole? Is it perhaps time for an adult chart too if school kids are now the biggest demographic affecting our charts?

Would love to know your thoughts.

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#2074637 16-Aug-2018 21:12

The largest consumers of music have the biggest influence. That was you in the 90's. Now it's the next generation. Welcome to getting older. I'm sure the songs you considered 'top 40' back-in-the-day probably didn't resonate that well with your parents/grandparents either.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

vexxxboy

4239 posts

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#2074651 16-Aug-2018 22:27

you have to remember to get a song in the top 40 only a few thousand people have to like it, millions could hate it and it would still get to number one . i have never listened to anything on the top 40 and i never will. i have never missed it .

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Hammerer

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#2074657 16-Aug-2018 23:14

GeoffisPure:

I wonder if the demographic of people that consume music and therefore affect the top 40 have changed. Back in the day, to affect the singles chart involved purchasing a song for about $5 on tape or CD. I imagine there was a large chunk of the lower socio-economic population that couldn't afford buying singles regularly. These days, all it takes to affect the charts is to stream a song on Spotify - and Spotify can be used for free. So would it follow that the average consumer impacting the music charts today is both younger and less privileged? Is the top 40 chart today representative of New Zealand music tastes as a whole? Is it perhaps time for an adult chart too if school kids are now the biggest demographic affecting our charts?

When I was a teenager in the 70s the Top 40 was decided by singles sales and not album sales. I was well heeled so I exclusively purchased albums while most other teenagers I knew bought singles because that was what they could afford. The people I knew who bought the most singles would have been grouped in the demographic you describe. So it seems to me that not much has changed and that the same sort of demographic determines the most popular music: definitely younger and including many who don't have a lot of money. That's where the passion for novelty predominates.

Personally, I don't want an 'adult chart'. Most of the adults I know are committed to the music of their youth or coming of age. Many are highly sentimental about their music and much prefer an unchanging playlist of 60s-80s music. I like to listen to it but a few times each year is enough for me to listen to songs I can always replay in my head at any time.

I listen to what my children listen to because that is what the radio in the car is tuned to but also because listening to what interests younger people helps keep me younger in my outlook. We also share Spotify and YouTube music subscriptions.

jarledb

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#2074661 16-Aug-2018 23:44

Its perfectly normal to like the music you liked when you were a teen, and to get grumpier with new music as you get older (that last part is just my personal observation).

A couple of articles about the phenomenon:

New York Times - The Songs That Bind

Vice: We Asked an Expert Why We Stay Obsessed with Music From Our Teens

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Kiwifruta

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#2074664 17-Aug-2018 06:28

I was born in the early 70s and felt that by the time the mid to late 80s had come along most of the music was rubbish. I have none of the sentiment you have for 90s music. I’m not saying this to rubbish your opinion but just to concur with others that it’s just a sign of getting older. I’m stuck in a late 60s to early/mid 80s musical time warp. Although there is the odd contemporary artist I enjoy listening too.

minimoke

750 posts

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#2074665 17-Aug-2018 06:30

Ah, the good old days. Caey Kasem about to come on the radio, new cassette in and finger hovering over teh record button.

Still a large consumer of music but have no idea what is on teh Top 40. Into albums now and most will be found in RateYourMusic top 100 for each year

Coil

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#2074671 17-Aug-2018 07:40

As a younger one than most here, I used to like chart music back in school. Like everyone generally listened to it and then I started to find my own likings, for me it was Drum and Bass with some older rock and reggae.
Heck, I have mates who still like that new popular Rap and so fourth.

Like nothing wrong with Drake but you can see how his latest song is catchy like all his others. We may not like it but can see how it captures people.

But then the A$AP crew I can enjoy every song they have put out and its just what I like.

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Coil

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#2074674 17-Aug-2018 08:05

Here are some playlists I have if anyone is intrigued haha.
https://soundcloud.com/user-467154230/sets/liquid-flowdown
https://soundcloud.com/user-467154230/sets/churnup

alasta

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#2074678 17-Aug-2018 08:19

There was probably a lot of rubbish on the charts when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, but noone remembers it because only the good material has endured.

I personally dislike the vast majority of what's on the charts now, but I force myself to listen to the Charting Now radio feed on Apple Music every now and again so that I don't miss out on the occasional new release that I really like.

bmt

574 posts

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#2074721 17-Aug-2018 09:27

The Top 40 is the top 40 because the generation currently growing up is hearing and buying the music of their generation. Older generations like music that was released in their own generation, not music that is being released now.

People like what music they grew up with, it's been that way for generations and will probably always be that way.

Fred99

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#2074723 17-Aug-2018 09:33

GeoffisPure:

rap music

Would love to know your thoughts.

Seriously funny

- like a jumbo shrimp.

SJB

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#2074738 17-Aug-2018 10:49

Recently my wife an I spent several weeks traveling for 5-6 hours every day by car. We started by listening to the radio (The Edge etc) but soon got bored because the playlist was so restricted that you would hear the same tracks pretty much every hour.

We then started selecting 3 or 4 different CD's every day from our collection of around 500, mostly from the 80's through to the early 2000's. It was interesting to find which albums worked and which didn't. REM, for example, that I would have though would be brilliant was just plain boring with only one or two standout tracks.

On the other hand Rod Stewart and the Faces was just great as was M & M and, I can't believe I'm saying this, so was Simon and Garfunkels Greatest Hits.

My feeling is that there were more standout acts from times gone past who built their careers and honed their craft relatively slowly and therefore lasted. For a while now acts, even the most popular, seem to appear and disappear in a relatively short time and their music disappears with them.

Coil

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#2074755 17-Aug-2018 11:15

Fred99:

GeoffisPure:

rap music

Would love to know your thoughts.

Seriously funny

- like a jumbo shrimp.

I can see what you mean.

Fred99

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#2074830 17-Aug-2018 13:01

Oh my god. That first video put me right off my lunch - and it wasn't a bucket of KFC and a marlboro.

Was that released before or after the artist made the big time? 2 million views - I was one and I can't undo that, forever.

Aredwood

3885 posts

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#2074951 17-Aug-2018 17:42

I used to listen to top 40 type music in my early days (intermediate and early high school). Then along came Napster.

Finally a way to discover new music independently of the radio and music shops. As you could use Napster to browse other people's music libraries. This also kicked off a sneaker net among my friends, where we would take hard drives to eachovers houses to copy music.

My tastes in music are now extremely varied. And I have attended concerts and bought albums. Where pirated MP3s were the sole means of how I discovered those bands.

Now, I just have a paid Google music subscription. Meaning it is in Google's interest to provide me with new music that I like. So I will keep renewing my subscription.

It has also been ages since I last downloaded any MP3s. Despite now having gigabit UFB. Compared to Jetstart ADSL (speed capped to 128K).

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