I’m always known British commercial radio was direly banal; now we have official statistics on just how bad things are (I won’t say ‘Has become’, because I don’t think there was ever a day when it wasn’t)
1. George Michael
2. Elton John
3. Robbie Williams
4. Kylie Minogue
5. Bryan Adams
6. Madonna
7. Phil Collins
8. Cliff Richard
9. Mick Hucknall
10. Paul McCartney
I blame the legion of people that change channel the second a radio station plays a song they don’t like. Commercial radio stations live in fear of such people. This fear forces them to keep their playlists ‘safe’, and they won’t threaten their advertising revenue by playing anything edgy or innovative.
John Bradford, director of the Radio Academy (whose collected royalties form the basis of this chart, had this to say:
“This chart is an interesting snapshot of which artists have most shaped popular culture, as the number of radio stations both competing for our attention and playing their material has spiralled”
If all commercial radio stations end up competing for the same lowest common denominator, then perhaps those glorious free markets aren’t what they’re cracked up to be.
Or maybe it’s just that too many people have no taste. Bah! Force them to all to listen to Mötorhead!
One could add Radio 1 is equally awful and you have to pay a licence fee for it. The station is staffed by idiots like Chris Moyles and Sara Cox, who think they’re funny, and clapped out rave DJs like Pete Tong, who make weekend Radio 1 unbearable. It does nothing for music except propogate the myth that dance music is forward looking, when in reality it’s stale junk that stopped being controversial 10 years ago, and should be replaced with a rock station.