They don't write pop songs like they used to

They did also give us Kylie and Rick Astley though. Who among us in the 80s could have predicted they’d end up on the main stage at Glastonbury?!!

There was a lot of dirge in the 80,s too
Look at all the Stock,Aitken, and Waterman " Hits"?

@suburburban Agree that was disappointing this week. 😂 There was definitely some shite in the 70s and 80s too. Have you noticed that there are some bands in the charts on the 70s episodes where you can almost guarantee they will be on! Darts for example.

Raye, Taylor Swift, Gaga, Chappell. The women are smashing it. Billie Eilish has two Oscars. One for her Bond theme. Which she worked on with Johnny Marr. Which leads me to The Smiths…
My teen went to a Johnny Marr gig. And pointed out he changes Morrissey’s lyric ‘Now I know how Joan of Arc felt’ to ‘Now I know how Johnny Marr felt’. 😂

Oh yes, plenty of performers did have huge charisma; but if anything, they stood out because of it, rather than it being the expected norm. Then again, I'm aware that this may be controversial, but I don't think Mick ever had the very best voice to start with, so the stage-presence must have helped.

Maybe there's also a difference between male and female artists nowadays, whereby male singers like Lewis or George can get away with being ordinary-looking and not being overly charismatic on stage; whereas female singers are expected to look beautiful and glamorous and dance and move as well, and often wear very skimpy outfits on-stage too. Artists like Raye, Lana Del Ray and Amy Winehouse are/were considered sultry and different because they don't do that.

Likewise but that double whammy of 1976 with the mainly same songs repeated was very disappointing

This ^ just shows that you're not really listening to very much. There are a lot of good music acts out there right now, and there have been some very good songs out over the past few years.

My 15 yr old listens to the be my be my baby .... Frank I did it my way lol

I think Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran all write good toe tapping & sing along songs. Good to see Blue making a comeback too.
We usee to live for Thursday night's Top of the Pops back in the day. I watch episodes that they're rerunning now & some of it is terrible shite! It wasn't all great back in the day

Hahaha my username and I disagree.

He has taste, the Smiths are one of the greatest British bands. They are about as far from basic as you could get.

So do we and with a few exceptions we forward most of the 90s episodes because it all got a bit shite by then. 😂

Probably because most of those you have listed don’t compare to older music! My DC and their friends mostly listen to 70s - 90s music because recent music is pretty shite so not a generational thing. I haven’t heard of half of the recent artists mentioned but DC have and they still choose to listen to older music.

the same could be said of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman who wrote most of the pop songs in the charts from mid 70s through early 80s. They were very catchy, formulaic and were definitely more concerned about keeping the hits churning out than musical brilliance.

But at the same time, there was Queen. Freddie wrote great songs, he (and the rest of the band) sang them brilliantly, and he had terrific stage presence.

That's a fair point. Although Lewis does come across as having charisma, personality and presence on social media and the like... which, granted, obviously wasn't a thing in the 60s.

This is very true; however, I think they were widely acknowledged as being a bit cheesy and not really 'cool' There were definitely some acts/songs that made an art to being unashamedly cheesy yet catchy - Black Lace, The Birdie Song etc.

Nowadays, there are quite a few 'cool' acts that use that same formula and seem to 'get away with it'.

I remember the days of Milli Vanilli being a huge scandal and a serious disgrace when it turned out that they were only dancers and didn't actually sing their own songs themselves. Now, we have so much technology that a lacklustre singer can be made to sound much, much better; and if Mariah Carey is to be believed, Jennifer Lopez never actually sang on her own songs at all... but people don't seem to care anymore.

@cobrakaieaglefang but there is loads of storytelling in modern music! I can't quite believe what I'm reading. What are you listening to? Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of dance music, I love synth too.... but songs are jampacked full of story telling.

Jade from Little Mix has done some interesting stuff lately. Her (extended) album is great.

I don’t drink very often anymore but my family can always tell when I’m pissed… I’m on YouTube listening to 30 seconds of a song that reminds me of another song and so on. Mostly 80’s metal 😂😂

He does but we haven’t managed to get “connected” to my new (to me) car yet! I must get it sorted because I’m getting sick of listening to the same 2 CD’s.

I recently chatted to a 12yo who didn't know what was meant by "pop music" or "rock music". When I asked if he (or his family) listened to the radio, they didn't.

Round about that age we were glued to Radio Luxembourg and the pirates (who did a lot for pop music). The new chart was eagerly awaited each week, the Beatles, the Stones and the Beach Boys all had their devoted followers (Cliff was a bit passé by then). Then there was Flower Power and the Summer of Love....

That time, from the summer of 63 to the summer of 67, was really a great time to be young. Off to YouTube now, having sparked off a lot of memories.

Cd’s in the car? Surely your son has Spotify?
Missing the point of the thread I know.

@HappyFace2025Go and listen to the debut album by Welly, ‘Big in the Suburbs’ and you won’t say that. Brighton band and the lead singer sounds like Damon Albarn. Very clever lyrics and I defy you not to end up dancing. Saw them live earlier in the year and the energy was off the scale. Music how it should be and how it was in the 70’s/80’s before the big acts only played arenas.

Yes we used to sing hymns and folk songs at school and my df played the piano so again songs like Oh my darling Clementine or Polly Wolly Doodle for me to sing along to as a child

it was a navy bound book of songs