tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post7568970840008395416..comments2024-02-13T10:20:04.888+00:00Comments on David Hepworth's blog: I didn't hear a single at the Mercury Music PrizeDavid Hepworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05973053694541321308noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-89459205862256326762014-11-18T23:01:01.693+00:002014-11-18T23:01:01.693+00:00The thing about the Mercury Music Prize is that it...The thing about the Mercury Music Prize is that it doesn't really represent the best music released. In recent years it seems to be its own genre of "Mercury Prize music", a sort of middlebrow thing that's neither neither too populist nor too challenging. It seems to exist largely to sell records to people who don't actually listen to much new music but want to give the impression they're in touch with the contemporary music scene. <br /><br />Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the media promotes the Mercurys as something far more culturally significant than it really is.<br /><br />There is no shortage of thrilling and exciting stuff out there, but much of it comes from genres that are deliberately excluded (for example, hard rock and metal), or is from acts that aren't in their radar screen.Tim (Kalyr)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00960811565368970485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-49149962192230602582014-11-03T12:23:11.432+00:002014-11-03T12:23:11.432+00:00Hang on a minute.
David's saying he can remem...Hang on a minute.<br /><br />David's saying he can remember virtually nothing from the Mercurys because nothing's memorable enough to be a bona fide single. That's followed by comments agreeing, yet bemoaning - to the general effect - that labels and bands are calibrating all their material to have the instant appeal of a single.<br /><br />Both propositions can be true, but surely the latter doesn't follow from the former?johnlyons121https://www.blogger.com/profile/17110181598031626919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-1774493540669018172014-11-02T15:40:45.304+00:002014-11-02T15:40:45.304+00:00I’ve just been conducting a scientific study of th...I’ve just been conducting a scientific study of the scientific study that decided the Spice Girls “Wannabe” is the Catchiest Song Of All Time, or something equally scholarly. And with that in mind may I respectfully suggest that anyone thinking of writing and recording a song with a view to getting a hit should take note of Ashley Burgoyne.<br /><br />He is, apparently, a “computational musicologist from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands” and seems to have had some involvement in the study.<br />Anyway, he’s reported as saying (among other things) that “very strong melodic hooks seem to be the most memorable for people”.<br />I’m merely a layman, but I think he may have hit on something here.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16493567800389632669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-66668909049238994012014-10-31T13:09:09.010+00:002014-10-31T13:09:09.010+00:00The facetious answer is "when it's writte...The facetious answer is "when it's written". The publisher's answer is autumn 2015.David Hepworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05973053694541321308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-10933564578374762852014-10-30T23:49:42.159+00:002014-10-30T23:49:42.159+00:00When is your book about 1971 coming out, David?When is your book about 1971 coming out, David?Huwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14743262251212584449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-68833552606381459382014-10-30T13:46:04.015+00:002014-10-30T13:46:04.015+00:00Agree with all of the above. It also seems the shi...Agree with all of the above. It also seems the shift in the way record buyers listen to and connect with music - seems to have shaped the way songs are being written by newer artists, which I guess it always has - from music hall to radio-friendly punch-through hits.<br /><br />But, now indie and breakthrough acts, if they're not borrowing from vintage riffs and records - are writing, ready-made stompers and crowd rousing choruses for festival goers - where you can picture sweeping camera pans across a rammed mass of sweating heads and bouncing bodies...<br /><br />To these ears though, the songs come across as plastic (as they used to say in the seventies) anthems. Generic and interchangeable - from Young Fathers to Mumford and SonsMondohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11199468951602465556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38548109.post-64059605443811415202014-10-30T13:43:27.882+00:002014-10-30T13:43:27.882+00:00Amen. The record companies would like everything t...Amen. The record companies would like everything to be a single - and these days that boils down to Radio 2 singles or 6 Music singles. We, on the other hand, will vote with our feet and tell them if they're looking at an A-Side, a B-Side or a 'Ringo track'. And all too many new albums are riddled with the latter.John Meddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10547777949324509522noreply@blogger.com