Joe Blogs #5: You WILL Listen To Guitar Music

“We’re probably waiting for guitars to come back” – Andy Roberts, Program Director of KISS FM

“Guitar music is definitely on the way back” – George Ergatoudis, Program Director of BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra

The above statements attracted a fair amount of attention towards the back-end of last year. A lot of it seemed to focus on the fact that these seemed to be entirely baseless predictions. The music that sells, particularly in the UK singles chart, has long since shifted from the traditional groups-with-instruments template to the kind of hedonistic, maximalist R&B/dance fusion churned out with alarming regularity by David Guetta, Calvin Harris and the like. Listening to the radio, it sometimes seems the whole world is constantly getting ‘crunk’ with a load of ‘hotties’ in the ‘VIP area’ of the ubiquitous ‘club’.

In the past twelve months, the only bands (in the usual sense) that have had British chart-topping singles are fun., Maroon 5 and The Script – hardly a selection to rock your socks, and unlikely to be what Ergatoudis and Roberts mean by “guitar music.” What’s even more telling is that all of these acts roped in a more sales-friendly, very much not-guitar-music name to guest on these songs: Janelle Monáe, Wiz Khalifa and will.i.am respectively.

Supporters of the program directors’ statements may point to the fact that Mumford & Sons, Muse, Biffy Clyro and none-more-authentic Jake Bugg have had #1 albums in the past four months (Bugg has even said that he plans to “keep all that X Factor shit off the top of the charts.” You may like to note that much of his debut album was co-written and produced by Iain Archer, who has also written for acts such as Example and Gabrielle Aplin. But I digress). However, the album sales market has been dwindling for years, and in that same time period, Taylor Swift, One Direction, Calvin Harris, Rihanna, Emeli Sandé, Olly Murs and Bruno Mars have all hit the top spot. Perhaps guitar music defenders would like to point to some up and coming acts, but Haim aside, the ones to watch lists for 2013 mainly focussed on R&B and hip-hop flavoured artists, such as AlunaGeorge, Laura Mvula and Angel Haze. Sure, groups like Palma Violets have been hyped beyond measure by the indie press, but it’s felt more like a desperate attempt to recapture the cultural zeitgeist rather than a genuine belief in the quality of the music.

This isn’t to say there’s no good guitar music out there. Of course there is, there always has been and it will always have plenty of fans. For example, just witness the hysteria when My Bloody Valentine finally released m b v last week. However, this isn’t a question of quality, and it seems the days of guitar music troubling the upper echelons of singles countdowns could well and truly be gone.

Not if Ergatoudis has anything to do with it though. Since Christmas, there’s been a noticeable shift in the mood on the Radio 1 daytime playlist, and it’s almost as if he’s decided he’s going to make his prediction become a reality. At the time of writing, the Radio 1 A list contains new tracks by Bullet From My Valentine (last single reached #134, no Top 40 hits for six years), Foals (nothing troubling the Top 75 singles list for five years), Two Door Cinema Club (despite a #1 album, have never had a Top 40 single) and We Are The Ocean (who have had three Top 75 singles… in Slovakia).

Of course, diversity is good, and as a public service broadcaster, you could almost argue that Radio 1 has a remit to play music that isn’t selling to their listeners. But to make such a noticeable shift away from what the station’s core audience are listening to and purchasing seems an odd move.

Then the question arises: do we want guitar music back? Most of the time, I’d personally argue against it returning into the chart, assuming the pop that’s being played on the national radio stations is catchy and fun. However, this week the Top 3 positions in the UK singles run-down are taken by Bingo Players, Macklemore and will.i.am, which must stake a claim as the worst triumvirate of tracks in the history of the chart.

So, perhaps guitar music should be top of the pops again. The dominance of Guetta and his disciples has made pop somewhat stale and perhaps a little competition would do the charts the world of good (Popjustice has argued this point before here). I grew up with guitar music in the charts thinking it was the norm and – to employ an over-used example – it’s impossible to imagine a chart battle with bands like Blur and Oasis occurring today. But whether guitar music does come back or not, it’s the will of the people that gets to decide, and Radio 1 attempting to force it onto their listeners isn’t going to help anyone.