Top of the Slops

The British people love nothing more than to carp about the state of the music in the charts, but seriously does anyone care anymore?

Now this may just be tyger’s unavoidable decent into maturity [shudder], or yet another of his prescient visions into our cultural significance – but I haven’t taken so much as glance at the charts for at least 18 months. 

I have MTV and the others channels, who between ring tone advertisements show the odd music video, and I also have a huge music collection, thank you student loan; but I buy very little new British music.

I will undoubtedly buy the Arctic Monkeys album and I await with baited breath anything new by Razorlight, but where is the rest of the British music worth the investment of time and money.  My best friend, Matt, is my usual source of new sounds, but everything he has thrown my way in the last year – save the aforementioned Razorlight – has been American.  System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, The Killers, all excellent yet all American.

The record companies had it too good for too long, and I have little sympathy for these corporations as their profits are eaten by piracy and lethargy.  Charging the best part of £16 for a CD (as they were doing prior to the present Internet-induced slump) with a dozen substandard tracks was always day-light robbery and people are no-longer prepared to be shafted every time they walk into HMV.

This is why Arctic Monkeys are so important.  They have energised a music industry that considers Franz Ferdinand [Hiss, Spit] alternative, and they arrived  - via their success on the internet community myspace.com - in spite of our risk-shy, over commercial, piss-poor record industry.