Beyonce

Back in my student days the biggest arguments I used to have were about music. I was mainly into dance and rap but knew a lot of people who were into indie music who were of the opinion it wasn't proper music if it didn't have a guitar. Even with fellow dance and rap fans there were arguments about whether hardcore was better than drum & bass, or which rappers side were we taking in the latest beef.

2 of the only things we could all agree on was that Destiny's Child made terrible music and that country music was shit. I don't think any of us would have thought the lead singer of Destiny's Child, whose name we did not know at the time, would be topping the singles and albums chart around a quarter of a century later making country music but that's exactly what happened.

We are no longer the youth of today, they are people who weren't even born when Destiny's Child first came about. It was almost inevitable I would be out of touch with youngsters by this stage in my life the same way 40 somethings were out of touch with us when we were young. The baffling thing is why do they seem to be fans of someone who's as old as me?

It was 1998 when Destiny's Child first had a Top 40 hit so this is like someone who was around in 1972 still being relevant in the charts in 1998. I've looked at who was having original hits in both 1972 and 1998 and I count 4: Elton John, Rolling Stones, Bee Gees and Cliff Richard. I'm not including Rod Stewart because his 1998 hit "Ooh La La" was originally by his band The Faces in the 70s so doesn't really count.

Whilst Cliff Richard continued to have hits for years to come the DJ had to inform the listener they were listening to Radio 1 on the Top 40 countdown because it was clearly not music for youngsters. Rolling Stones and the Bee Gees glory years in the charts we well and truly gone by this point if we're honest. Elton John is a funny one as he's had a few chart toppers since but they're essentially rehashing's of his older songs in collaboration with more modern artists. None of them were what you would describe as music for the youth.

Looking more specifically at the longevity of artists who were around in 1972 there is one artist who does stick out, Michael Jackson. The more I think about it, the more parallels I see between the music careers of Michael Jackson and Beyonce.

Michael Jackson made his Top 40 debut as part of the Jackson 5 in 1970 and then 27 years later in 1997 he had his final number one to date with "Blood on the Dancefloor". 

There is no doubt that Michael Jackson was still relevant with the youth in the 90s and I knew a few people my age who were massive fans. I do like some of his records and there's no doubt he was talented but at the same time I never got what the fuss was about and why some of his fans were so obsessed.

Like Michael Jackson, Beyonce started out young in a group, had a bit of an overlap between group and solo career and then having bigger success as a solo artist than as part of a group. I've met a number of people over the years who see her as some sort of demi god and again I ask the question why?

Unlike Michael Jackson though I don't see any music talent in Beyonce. Her voice is irritating and any record she has a songwriting credit on is alongside a bunch of other songwriters which implies to me she had little to do with the songwriting, if at all. I don't like any of her records that I've heard.

Fortunately at the time of writing I'm still yet to hear her new country song "Texas Hold Em" which currently sits top of the singles chart. On paper it sounds my idea of hell.

Going back to Michael Jackson and beyond 1997 he never really had much impact on the music world with anything new again. His final album "Invincible" was largely considered a flop and that was that.

Maybe we've now reached the final stage of the glory days for Beyonce. We can at least hope.