Groovy, fab and happening

Spectator, The, Jul 4, 1998 by Berkmann, Marcus

And for the first time in the music business, you can smell fear of the future. Pop is already a mature art form: what can be done mostly has been done, and all that's left is to do it over and over again and hope people don't lose interest. This year record sales are down again. The Britpop boom has ended, the Spice Girls have shot their bolt, and several big names have released 'difficult' (i.e. boring and unpopular) new albums. It's a blip, and no more. Someone will turn up from nowhere and sell huge numbers of albums as someone always does. But the music papers are full of gloom. They can't understand why no one has bought the new Portishead album (it's because no one actually needs more than one Portishead album). They fret at the number of outdoor festivals that have been cancelled, or are suffering slow sales (there were too many of them, and there still are). They fear the Internet (everyone over 25 does to some extent). Alan McGee, head of Creation Records and so the man ultimately responsible for Oasis (good luck on Judgment Day), believes that the whole record industry may be under threat. Bands may choose to download directly onto the Internet, and then where would we be?

Still listening to music, I imagine. Whether it's new music, old music or new music that sounds remarkably like old music (number three seems the best bet), there's no stopping it just yet. According to Music Week, 6,663 albums have been released so far this year, and 3,658 singles. As Radio One adds a maximum of ten singles a week to its play-list, this represents optimism of galactic proportions. While so many acts are still trying so hard to make an impression, perhaps it is a little premature to speak of pop's downfall. Now, if only that bastard over the road would turn his bloody music down . . .