Sometimes I get anxious when I feel like\nI\u2019ve totally lost track of pop music. But then I get on P3, the Swedish\nnational pop channel and conclude that frankly, my dear, I don\u2019t give a damn.\nSometimes the songs are good and sometimes they\u2019re rubbish, but they all sound\nthe same! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s take a quick look at 70 years of \u201cpopular\u201d music and some of the musical styles that have come along. To give a few examples and starting in the 1950s: crooning (Sinatra, Crosby), rock \u2018n\u2019 roll (Elvis, Chuck Berry), British invasion (Beatles, Kinks, Who, Stones), blues rock (Hendrix, Cream), soul (Tamla Motown, Stax, Atlantic artists), heavy rock (Led Zep, Black Sabbath), prog rock (Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis), glam rock (Bowie, Bolan, Roxy), punk rock (Clash, Pistols), new wave (Costello, Ian Dury), ska (Madness, Specials), new romantics (Duran Duran, Human League) etc. and we\u2019ve only reached the early 80s. The list goes on and on and I\u2019ve missed out loads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the above examples had hit singles,\nno matter how extreme some of them could sometimes be, but radio back then\nplayed everything and a pop song from a non-pop artist could cross over and get\nplayed. The UK top 20 included all current popular styles, not just one or two of\nthem. Taking a couple of dates at random: in June 1969 you had The Beatles, The\nBeach Boys, Smokey Robinson (Motown\/soul), Jethro Tull (blues, prog), Tom\nJones, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. February 1973 saw Focus (prog rock),\nThe Faces (rock), Thin Lizzy (rock), Dave Edmunds (r\u2019n\u2019r), Elton John (pop),\nThe Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder (Motown\/soul), Alice Cooper (rock), Slade (rock),\nOlivia Newton-John (country) in the top 20, plus a lot of other pop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today Swedish radio station P3 aims mainly\nat 20 to 35-year-olds (their words, not mine) and at least on paper includes\nrock, hip-hop, R\u2019n\u2019B, pop, EDM, indie etc. But when I listen to P3, I hear pop and\nhip-hop and the same soundscape on everything. When was the last time Arcade\nFire or The Shins were played on P3? Or Five Finger Death Punch? A great new\nsong from Arcade Fire has no chance to cross over and be a hit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the lyrics? Check out Kanye West\u2019s\nlatest hit, \u201cI Love It\u201d, at Genius.com. Genius lyrics? Shome mishtake I think. \n\nOf course, the whole dynamic has changed and we can\u2019t put the clock back, but\nit\u2019s sad and boring and so is the music on P3. It\u2019s not about good music at\nall, it\u2019s about what fits their extremely narrow policy. So, what\u2019s the\nalternative? P4? Of course not. Mix Megapol? Highly unlikely.\nNo, if you\u2019re interested in music and you\u2019re not 25 and into Kanye or Hov1,\nit\u2019s streaming that matters. And where does that leave P3? For most of the\npopulation, completely irrelevant, which includes all the young rockers too\n(and the old ones, of course). \n\n\n\nyse\u001c\u00046\tS\u001cB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes I get anxious when I feel like I\u2019ve totally lost track of pop music. But then I get on P3, the Swedish national pop channel and conclude that frankly, my dear, I don\u2019t give a damn. Sometimes the songs are good and sometimes they\u2019re rubbish, but they all sound the same! Let\u2019s take a … <\/p>\n