Curse of the 6

One thing I learned when watching the Top of the Pops documentary before they started the reruns was that 1976 was widely considered to be a low point for music.

Watching the reruns starting in 1976 I could understand why. Brotherhood of Man were number one week after week with the god awful "Save Your Kisses For Me" and there were some long forgotten songs on the show that were laughably bad.

It was a time when early 70s movements such as glam rock were fizzling out but punk was yet to come along and bring music into a new era. It wasn't all doom and gloom though, bands like ELO were releasing great records but there were a number of Top of the Pops episodes where the only decent song was the ELO one.

Thinking about it though it wasn't just 1976 where music took a downturn. In fact it started a trend of music taking a downturn in years ending with 6.

1986

Many consider the big four of 80s pop to be Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club and Wham! but by 1986 all four had their best days behind them.

Wham! went their separate ways in 1986 and whether you liked them or not this left a gap in the pop world. Culture Club and Spandau Ballet meanwhile had seen their popularity dwindle. Both had been absent from the charts in 1985 and the longevity of their 1986 hits suggests they were yesterdays news by 1986. Duran Duran did manage to make the Top 10 with their only 1986 hit "Notorious" but this was a turning point of making the Top 10 most of the time to failing to reach the Top 10 most of the time.

In the synth pop world you had the likes of OMD and Ultravox having their final hits of the 80s which had nowhere near the impact their early 80s hits had.

Whilst the music that was big in the early 80s was no more it was also a time before the Stock Aitken & Waterman dominance of the late 80s had kicked in.

Topping the charts were novelty records such as "The Chicken Song" by Spitting Image and "Every Loser Wins" by Eastenders actor Nick Berry. There were also universally hated songs such as "Lady In Red" by Chris De Burgh and "I Want To Wake Up With You" by Boris Gardner.

1996

Admittedly this is more a personally view than a universal one. Don't get me wrong there were a lot of good things about 1996 but it was nowhere near as good as 1995 which was the best year I lived through.

Historically it had been the norm for a record to enter the lower reaches of the charts and then climb its way to number one. By the end of 1994 just 38 records had gone straight to number one. In 1996 alone 19 of the 24 number ones that year went straight in. In fact simply going up in the charts had become a bit of a rarity.

The ultimate low for me in 1996 was one of the records that did climb to number one, the Spice Girls debut. It's not just the Spicemania that came with it. There's the long lasting damage it did to pop music. They proved you could sell any old rubbish with the right marketing so that's exactly what people did thereafter.

2006

One of the positives of records entering the charts at their peak before quickly exiting the charts was the increase in quantity of Top 40 hits giving you more to choose from.

By 2006 though the landscape had changed. People were downloading records instead of buying CD singles and this got factored into the charts, something the charts have arguably never recovered from.

As a consequence we went from 598 new entries in the Top 40 in 2005 to 465 in 2006. Still a decent number but was the beginning of a downward trend and only leaving room in the Top 40 for the commercial fodder and not the good stuff.

The most significant event of 2006 though was the end of Top of the Pops. Viewership had already been in decline but the move to Sunday nights was the final nail in the coffin. For me personally I'd gone from always knowing what was number one to rarely knowing.

2016

By 2016 downloading was old hat, streaming was the way people were consuming music. The inclusion of streaming in the charts lowered the quantity of Top 40 hits even further.

In 2016 there were just 168 new entries in the Top 40 which at the time of writing is the lowest there's been in a single year in the Top 40 era.

It wasn't just the small quantity of new entries overall, it was also the large quantity of new entries from individual artists. Historically 4 new entries in a year from a single artist was considered a lot. In 2016 Drake had 8 and Beyonce and The Weeknd had 7 meaning even less variety.

One of Drakes records spend 15 weeks at number one but barely anyone noticed. Many people don't even know the song in question and whilst I have heard it I couldn't hum it.

2026

There's still time for music to turn the corner this year but I wouldn't hold my breath.

We're comfortably over halfway through the year and it's still not clear exactly what 2026 music is. A big factor here is that for 23 weeks this year a song that first charted in mid-2025 has been number one and it's a song I've never knowingly heard.

It's still possible that this year will have the fewest new entries in the Top 40 era. The highest new entry (not re-entry) this week is "9-5" by Dolly Parton, a song that's 46 years old that didn't chart the first time round.

We've also had "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson charting for the first time. Not only does this not put new music in a good light but it's also ruining chart history because the well known songs that never charted are now charting.

Celebrity Popmaster TV

After it seeming Popmaster TV was ending it's now back for a new series and kicked off with a celebrity special. All 5 celebrities who took part were in the music business so you'd assume they'd have good knowledge but I think it's fair to say none of them covered themselves in glory.

The first contestant to be eliminated was Carol Decker from T'Pau. Although she only got 1 question correct in the first round (none got more than 2) I had her down as one to make it to the final round after the first round. However her weakness seemed to be not being quick enough on the buzzer in the second round.

Next was Shaun Ryder who came across as someone who knows what they know and doesn't care about anything else. A question I was surprised he got wrong though was naming the guest vocalist on "Getting Away With It" by Electronic. They were label mates of the Happy Mondays and this came out when the Happy Mondays were breaking through into the mainstream.

Next was Patsy Kensit who I thought was lucky to get as far as she did. She came across as someone who didn't really have much interest in music and seemed the least knowledgeable of them. However the tiebreak question that eliminated her seemed a little unfair.

The contestant who correctly answered the tiebreak question was Kelle Bryan from Eternal. The question was which member of Boyzone has the surname Duffy. Eternal and Boyzone no doubt crossed paths many times in the 90s, in fact a Boyzone member was married to an Eternal member at the time so this would have been a really easy question for Kelle.

Kelle didn't score a single point in the final round. Normally on the radio version at least Ken would give the contestant help on the final question so they don't score zero. This time he couldn't do that though because the winning contestant, Dougie Vipond from Deacon Blue only scored 3 points.

Then I thought should any of this be a surprise?

In the early 90s on the TV show "Don't Forget Your Toothbrush" a musician guest would go head to head with their biggest fan to answer questions about themselves. If I remember correctly it would often be the fan who'd win.

I guess being knowledgeable about music doesn't mean you're any good at making music and being good at the drums doesn't require knowing a bit of pop trivia. 

Blue Dot Fever

I've heard the term "Blue Dot Fever" been mentioned a few times recently. I thought it was either some sort of illness or a term youngsters use these days which I won't understand.

Turns out it's neither. It's actually musicians cancelling tours or concerts because they've not sold enough tickets. The blue dots refer to the available seats on the venue maps on the ticketing websites.

I'm possibly contributing to this because I don't go to concerts nearly as much as I used to. I've not suddenly stopped liking it but the reality is it ain't what it used to be.

25 years ago the experience was something along these lines. You'd go to a box office with a £20 note to hand over. In return you were given a ticket to a concert of your choice and maybe a bit of change. On the day itself you'd take your ticket and a £20 note and arrive at opening time. At this point you showed your ticket to get inside and then use your £20 note to buy a few beers and soak up the atmosphere before watching whoever you chose to see. You'd leave the venue with some change in your pocket and if you had a good enough time you'd buy some merchandise, a poster perhaps with your change.

Somewhere along the way the drinks prices went up and the quality of the beer went down. As far as I remember the beer prices at concert venues 25 years ago were similar to those in the pub. If they were more expensive it wasn't by enough to make me notice. I do remember the first place I spent more than £5 for a pint was at a gig.

As a result the experience changed to have several beers from the shop first then arriving at the gig later. The ticket was no longer for the whole evening, it was for the time the act you wanted to see was on stage.

OK there came a point when I decided to no longer drink at a concert, the price of a beer at The O2 (currently £9.50 if the internet is to be believed) reached the point of me vowing to never buy a drink there again.

The wider issue that affects everyone though is the price of the tickets themselves and the fact that in some cases they're not actually tickets. Any venue that requires me to download an app rather than send me and actual ticket (e-tickets acceptable) doesn't deserve my custom.

You hear about dynamic pricing which is only ever going to put people off. Set a price and I'll decide whether it's worth paying or not. 

The fact of the matter is that bands like Oasis are so popular they can get away with expensive tickets, dynamic pricing etc. but very few music acts are that popular.

A quick scan of the listings at London venues tells me that there's no must see concerts happening in the near future but there are a few in the would be nice category and the prices here actually aren't too bad for the most part.

I did however stumble across Saint Etienne at Shepherds Bush Empire. This venue is at the smaller end of the major London venues and a ticket here will set you back around £75.

I've seen Saint Etienne in concert a few times and for the most part enjoyed them. When I heard they were calling it a day I thought it would be nice to see them one last time but I've seen them enough times for it to be fine if I don't. At £75 I'm certainly not going.

It looks like the last time I saw them in concert was in 2017 which cost £27.50. I would expect the price to go up a little bit in 9 years but not almost 3 times as much. Even the price of a pint in The O2 hasn't gone up by that much.

Lets say the people who spend £20 to go to a gig years ago are now willing to pay £100 a ticket. Back then if you had £100 to spend on tickets you could go to 5 gigs. Put the price up to £100 that person isn't suddenly going to have £500 to spend. They have to pick 1 gig and the other 4 music acts miss out on their custom.

Do all songs have a shelf life?

If I never hear "Bohemian Rhapsody" again then I'll be happy with that. It's not a bad song but after hearing it so many times in my life it does nothing for me. I can sing the whole song word for word and hum all the instrumental bits in between. I can even picture what happens in the video every moment in the song. I never set out to learn it in so much detail, it's just hours upon hours of exposure and I've been completely sick of it for years.

Yet it wasn't always like that. There was a time when I'd listen to it through choice, more specifically when listening to Queens Greatest Hits. I always thought Queen had better songs and perhaps always considered it over-hyped but somewhere along the way it became overplayed.

Similarly with "Don't Stop Me Now" which I'd often hear out in town. I can't stand that song yet I don't think I minded it in the beginning.

These are 2 examples of songs that have been played constantly for decades and I'm certainly not alone in being sick of them. I can thing of several more songs that I may have had a higher opinion of had they stayed in the past.

That's not the only way for a song to pass it's used by date though. I've spoken on here before about my Alisha's Attic phase where I was doing the overplaying of their songs myself. After listening to them in my car on my way to see them do a gig the last thing I wanted to listen to on the journey home was Alisha's Attic. 25 years later I've still not really been able to get back into them.

The question though is does every song have a shelf life or are there songs I'd still like to hear regularly for the rest of my life?

I won't truly be able to answer until I'm on my death bed. Obviously if you listen to the same song on repeat you'll eventually get sick of it. The true test though is whether you can return to it after a break.

For example when I was younger I'd go to clubs and pubs with loud music every week. One song you'd often hear was "Jump Around" by House Of Pain. Quite logical, a good tune, pretty catchy but above all people could dance to it by jumping around.

It did reach the point of not this again. Those days are long behind me though so my frequency of hearing "Jump Around" is much less. As such I'll happily listen to it, in fact I did earlier today when listening to the House Of Pain album with it on.

Will I happily keep on listening or does it have a use by date it hasn't reached yet?

Honeyz - Butterflies

Few would argue that the Honeyz were the biggest UK female R&B group from 1998-2000 and Mis-Teeq were the biggest from 2001-2003. 

Both groups are reunited but the difference I struggle to get my head round is that Mis-Teeq are playing at Wembley Arena for £100+ a ticket whereas the Honeyz played at a pub in Clapham a couple of weeks ago which was free to enter before 9pm.

In 1998 I was a teenager with my whole life ahead of me and music aspirations of my own. Now I'm a 40 something who never fulfilled those ambitions, a lot more skeptical and hate all things modern. The Honeyz themselves are only a few years older than me and whilst they did make it in music they've spent the last 25 years knowing they're unlikely to be able to make a living from being the Honeyz anymore.

When I listen to the Honeyz it takes me back to a time when I was young and optimistic and the world seemed a much better place. This is the sort of reason why lots of groups reunite, the see the demand from fans to be taken back.

Then they do something there's often no demand for, they release new music. When I heard that the Honeyz had a new song I can't say I was excited. Neither were too many people by the looks of things. It was released this week and currently has 73 views on YouTube, 3 of which are me and 2 are a friend who I told about it. To put that into perspective, the last post I made on this little blog got more views

The silver lining is this was written 20 years ago, probably longer than that because it was from when Naima was still around but it's the current line up who recorded the vocals for this recently. On that basis it could be said this is a sign of what was to come had they still been around for the 3rd album in the early 00s.

The guitar intro almost sounds like it could be a Queen song but this all changes once we get to the singing. It's an odd combination but it's a catchy number, I could still hum the chorus after a first listen. 

The jury was out after a first listen but it sounded better after a second one. Then the third listen just before writing this post has got me thinking this is actually quite good. 

Why the lack of interest particularly given the hype about the Mis-Teeq reunion?

I would say lack of awareness of it's existence is the main factor. Another is the question of who exactly are the Honeyz in terms of members? 

The line ups have changed a lot and the only constant member is Celena. In terms of the current line up we have Heavenli who left before the 3rd single and first returned when their popularity was in decline. Then there's Candace who was never in the group in their heyday. 

Then again should that matter? when the much hyped Oasis reunion was announced all we knew was the Gallagher brothers were returning, nobody knew or probably even cared who else was joining them. 

Would the return of Naima be the difference between playing pubs in Clapham and playing arenas? I can't see it myself but then again I didn't thing Mis-Teeq had a hope in hell of selling enough tickets for Wembley Arena so you never know. 

18 Week Number 1

In September 1953 the UK Singles Chart wasn't even a year old when Frankie Laine clocked up his 18th week at number one with "I Believe". It was knocked off the top spot twice along the way so whilst it's longest stint of 9 consecutive weeks was a joint record with first number one "Here In My Heart" by Al Martino that would get broken, his 18 collective weeks at number one did not get broken until now.

The current number one has now been there for a total of 18 non-consecutive weeks. This is arguably as significant as when Bryan Adams set a record of 16 consecutive weeks at number 1 in 1991.

You had to be living under a rock in 1991 to not know about Bryan Adams record breaking stint at number 1. This time though many of you will be thinking what it the song at number 1?

The song in question is "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean. That song probably rings no bells and you're now thinking who's Sam Fender? and who's Olivia Dean?

Well Sam Fender made a name for himself when he finished runner up for England in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest with "Spaceman". Olivia Dean is one of the latest in a long line of Disney child actresses who made the transition to pop music, a sort of Britney Spears for the 2020s.

Oh hang on I was thinking of Sam Ryder and Olivia Rodrigo. OK I don't really know who Sam Ryder and Olivia Dean are either. Nor have I ever knowingly heard their song that's been top of the charts for 18 weeks.

The fact of the matter is had I not started this blog which in turn made me feel the need to keep a vague eye on the Top 40 then I probably wouldn't know what's at number 1 myself. 

My interest in the charts stems from a childhood of watching Top of the Pops and listening to the Top 40 countdown. It stepped up a gear when I got my first British Hit Singles book and to this very day I still find the history of the charts fascinating.

These days all that interests me are the chart stats, the days of me being interested in the actually music in the current charts are long gone. Many other 40 somethings feel the same except they were never interested in the chart stats, just the music. Therefore the charts are irrelevant to them.

The youngsters I speak to these days don't even know there's such a thing as the charts. They may listen to what's in the charts without knowing it.

Are the charts relevant to anyone these days but a small niche of music nerds? Probably not.

What remains is the question of whether Sam Ryder and Olivia Rodrigo can go on to beat Frankie Laines record......

Remembering 1996: December

December is a bit of a strange month when it comes to music. You have Christmas and inevitably the Christmas music that comes with it. There's also novelty tunes and music from people who don't normally make music and the 2 aren't mutually exclusive. Then there's the build up to New Years Eve which spills over into New Years Day. Aside from that not much really happens.

One of my memories of 1996 was that by December in music terms we were already into 1997. Compilations with 1997 or 97 in their name were already in the shops. The January 1997 editions of music magazines were already on the shelves.

There were also songs that were setting themselves in the future. "Cosmic Girl" by Jamiroquai charted in Dec 1996 and opens with a line about something than happened on a Saturday in 1999. That sounded so far into the future at the time. Now I see this year and 2029 merging into the same thing when I look back in the future.

There was the Top 40 debut from Chicane with "Offshore" and he would go on to be the most prolific trance artist chart wise in terms of number of hits. 

My memory has this down as being earlier on in the year but clearly wasn't, it was the month the World Dance compilation mixed by DJ Hype and Ellis Dee was released and I bought it.

In the inlay was an interview with both DJs and the real eye opener for me was finding out DJ Hype started DJing in 1982 and Ellis Dee in 1987. In my mind the music hadn't existed long enough for them to be DJing that early and I always imagined the DJs to be around 18 once they made a name for themselves.

I had the theory they must have been only 14 when they started DJing and it turns out that was the case with DJ Hype. Not with Ellis Dee though, he was comfortably in his 30s at the time of this compilation.

World Dance themselves held their new year event at Wembley Conference Centre. Despite the separation of hardcore and drum & bass with World Dance going down the latter route there would still be some hardcore DJs on the line up such as Force & Styles.

Meanwhile Helter Skelter held their first new year event at The Sanctuary. It had previously been Dreamscape holding events there at new year but they didn't put one on this time around. The Helter Skelter event became the first of theirs where the hardcore and drum & bass tape packs were all separate.