The charts are literally nothing more than 'charts' now, if that doesn't seem too reductive. Whereas the era you refer to, the 90's and possibly a bit in the 00's, the charts were widely held to be a barometer of culture and national sentiment, this is clearly no longer the case.
Where before you could point to outliers storming the charts (like 'Common People' by Pulp as representing some popular sentiment, or even Chumbafuckingwamba) radio and television then were much more crystallized in the culture than they are now. That goes along with the zeitgeist of the time, Christ, even 'Paranoid Android' got to number 3 in '97. (That double-edged sword though does give us Cast, Space and Catatonia having national headspace at that time too. [Everyone seems to go to Menswear in this example, I thought they were alright, like a poppier Ride. Fuck Gay Dad though, they were shit.])
Now it's just whatever you want to listen to, go right ahead, given the granular nature of entertainment now. If these charts represent anything, they represent how many people like their music beige and unchallenging. Your average purchaser* of music these days doesn't WANT to listen to 'music'. They don't want their attention engaged in any meaningful way. They want one of two things: to dance (in which case there's plenty of algorhithmically-generated 4/4 'doomf' shit out there) or to serve as wallpaper. Enter: Ed of the Sheared-Balls. Enter: the stage school brats whom the mercantile record (for-want-of-a-better-term) 'labels' spit out as a loss-leader hoping that one or two of those bland schmucks will earn enough of that dreary coin to justify their tawdry and pathetic existence.
Enter: fucking ADELE, the musical equivalent of ceramic flying ducks on a Brexiter's wallpaper, and she's hailed as some sort of saviour of music as we know it! Our decade's answer to Alison fucking Moyet. With this sort of attitude, it's no wonder the music business is in decline, especially the British music business. And it's going, if not already effectively gone, not with a bang but with the most pathetic of whimpers.
* active term. Those who are unlikely or unable to use streaming sites or obtain music free from warez or torrentz or whatever bullshit, ie: old or inexperienced, ie: not exactly finger-on-the-bleeding-edge trend-setters.
(, Fri 10 Mar 2017, 19:20, Reply)
Yeah yeah, TL;DR: music is wallpaper now, no surprises about Ed Shearedsheep up there.
(, Fri 10 Mar 2017, 19:40, Reply)
Music was always wallpaper to some
There still plenty of good stuff about if one cares to look, and therein lies the rub.
(, Fri 10 Mar 2017, 22:07, Reply)
I seem to remember that in the 90s singles
were released on about 10 formats in order to game the system.
They've always been a pretty dodgy reflection of taste.
The Ed Sheeran thing just looks the equivalent of a Yellow Pages where all the companies are called things like Aaaaaaaaaa Plumbers.
(
monkeon schmonkeon, Fri 10 Mar 2017, 19:47,
Reply)
Was Cast the band
with the comedy accents that sang about 'put your hands on my hole'?
(
The Ann Coulter Fan Club Babylon is burning at, Fri 10 Mar 2017, 20:38,
Reply)
Dimstar was a great song
So was Black Ghost.
(
evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Fri 10 Mar 2017, 22:47,
Reply)
ENRON HUBBARD FOR PREZ
(
Fadgebadger Sweaty sumo wanks for everyone!, Sat 11 Mar 2017, 10:11,
Reply)