And If You Should See Dave.....

[aldinblack]

It's hard for me to get stressed out about the latest Stranglers single not getting any airplay or playlisted on any radio stations when I quite literally wasn't expecting any of that stuff to happen in the first place for various reasons. It's not the sort of track that has "hit single" written all over it, and it really doesn't matter how long The Stranglers have been around, they're as far away from the mainstream as it's possible to get in 2021. They're not a "current act" and haven't been for a very long time, and they don't have the fanbase or status or clout as the likes of The Rolling Stones who in spite of being around for longer would be more likely to get playlisted by certain radio stations. I don't even have great hopes for it faring well on the official chart, and nor do I actually care. There's been a lot of records I've liked over the last 10 years or so and I couldn't tell you anything about how they fared on the chart. Chart positions just don't strike me as being anything particularly relevant.

all of this is very true, even so it's still disappointing that radio 2 or 6 haven't playlisted it. I never expected this to be a hit, but as a mark of respect / recognition for Dave and the band it wouldn't do any harm for them to have included it.

[jason]

It's hard for me to get stressed out about the latest Stranglers single not getting any airplay or playlisted on any radio stations when I quite literally wasn't expecting any of that stuff to happen in the first place for various reasons. It's not the sort of track that has "hit single" written all over it, and it really doesn't matter how long The Stranglers have been around, they're as far away from the mainstream as it's possible to get in 2021. They're not a "current act" and haven't been for a very long time, and they don't have the fanbase or status or clout as the likes of The Rolling Stones who in spite of being around for longer would be more likely to get playlisted by certain radio stations. I don't even have great hopes for it faring well on the official chart, and nor do I actually care. There's been a lot of records I've liked over the last 10 years or so and I couldn't tell you anything about how they fared on the chart. Chart positions just don't strike me as being anything particularly relevant.

all of this is very true, even so it's still disappointing that radio 2 or 6 haven't playlisted it. I never expected this to be a hit, but as a mark of respect / recognition for Dave and the band it wouldn't do any harm for them to have included it.

I totally agree.

[StanInBlack]

as a mark of respect / recognition for Dave and the band it wouldn't do any harm for them to have included it.

Unfortunately, things like this aren't a factor or a consideration when it comes to playlisting music on radio stations. Unless you're world-shaggingly famous to the level where your music would have been playlisted anyway - like Bowie or Jagger or McCartney level famous.

[StanInBlack]

Just had another listen to it today and I still really love that series of chord changes in the verses, and Baz has come up with some neat guitar work on this one. Still think the lyrics could have been a little better, and it's certainly NOT single-worthy, but I'd be willing to bet this makes far more sense in the context of the forthcoming album than as a standalone track.

[jason]

After seeing some of the Brit Awards I'm pleased to say the Stranglers are a million miles from the current music scene. I mean older white heterosexual men with a name like the Stranglers don't really fit the bill these days do they!

[StanInBlack]

After seeing some of the Brit Awards I'm pleased to say the Stranglers are a million miles from the current music scene. I mean older white heterosexual men with a name like the Stranglers don't really fit the bill these days do they!

You do realise that the BRIT Awards are run by the British Phonographic Industry, right? So naturally, it's going to be dominated by whoever is shifting the most units/garnering the most streams, and whoever the BPI wants to promote that year - and yes, it has always been this way, even during the '90s. It represents but a tiny fraction of the "current music scene", not the whole. It's very much its own universe. The BPI currently aren't pushing any guitar bands at the moment, because guitar bands currently aren't mainstream. The market being oversaturated with acres upon acres of shit, lower-tier guitar acts at the back end of the '00s may have something to do with this downturn in popularity. With that in mind, if a newer guitar act have no chance of receiving a BRIT Award at the moment - and there are shitloads out there, which ARE getting airplay on TV and radio - then The Stranglers have absolutely no hope in hell. I wouldn't even expect it.

As for the BRIT's this year - to go off topic slightly - I'm utterly delighted that it managed to wind up the type of people that read the Daily Express or the Daily Mail (I'll refrain from using the word "idiots", even though that's exactly what I mean), so I couldn't find fault with that. The music industry has long been dominated by white heterosexual men, so I'm happy to see that people who fall outside of that category are getting their voices/their art/their experiences heard. If that winds up the bigots and the gammons, then even better. I do wish that they'd been able to do it with better music, though, and there's far better out there than what featured on the BRIT Awards, which is actually quite easy to ignore when it comes down to it. I've listened to more new music in the last 10 years than I can ever remember in any other decade, and I've successfully managed to avoid hearing anything by Harry Styles (as an example of someone who won a BRIT this year) once. I couldn't even tell you the name of any of the singles he's released, and proudly so - and I've been keeping up with what's been going on. I don't think any serious music fans invest any sort of meaning into the BRIT's in 2021, that's if they ever did. It's a bit like what the Official UK Chart is these days, completely redundant.

[toilerinblack]

It's hard for me to get stressed out about the latest Stranglers single not getting any airplay or playlisted on any radio stations when I quite literally wasn't expecting any of that stuff to happen in the first place for various reasons. It's not the sort of track that has "hit single" written all over it, and it really doesn't matter how long The Stranglers have been around, they're as far away from the mainstream as it's possible to get in 2021. They're not a "current act" and haven't been for a very long time, and they don't have the fanbase or status or clout as the likes of The Rolling Stones who in spite of being around for longer would be more likely to get playlisted by certain radio stations. I don't even have great hopes for it faring well on the official chart, and nor do I actually care. There's been a lot of records I've liked over the last 10 years or so and I couldn't tell you anything about how they fared on the chart. Chart positions just don't strike me as being anything particularly relevant.

all of this is very true, even so it's still disappointing that radio 2 or 6 haven't playlisted it. I never expected this to be a hit, but as a mark of respect / recognition for Dave and the band it wouldn't do any harm for them to have included it.

Yes i agree with all thats being said here,i too never was going to hold out on airplay or high chart positions either.The charts are not like the old days of the '70 & '80s that meant so much,i could'nt give a flying fig what other people think of this band and its music i never have done,its all about for me what i like at the end of the day,its me thats going to listen to their music that i enjoy at the end of the day and not someone else.But saying that i did think what with dave and the history of the bands past success with GB etc that the radio staions might of got behind them with a little support and respect,but hey there you go it doesnt surprise me in the slightest.We will all continue to support them but on the bigger scale of things we are not enough to push this band back into the limelight,they are now too far down the line with todays bands and style of music too,but hey who gives a f**K, for as success goes they've had their time with huge success that went with it for decades,so this band has NOTHING TO PROVE to anybody they've done it all with the all the t shirts and DMs that went with it too,its for todays bands to look back on and learn from these musicians thats still such a great band that can still give a blinding full set of a gig,which i think is outstanding and amazing after 46 years...Hats off and respect to this band.

[StanInBlack]

One last thing about the BRIT Awards - all you've got to look at is who has won the most awards in the history of the BRITs and it tells you the entire story. Robbie Williams has the record for the most BRIT Awards with 18. Coldplay has the record for the most BRIT Awards for a band with 9. Now, given that we're talking about artists that pretty much had their heyday in the '90s-'00s, if these things were based off artistic merit rather than how many units were being shifted (or streams in 2021 money), then these figures would look a hell of a lot different. We're talking about two artists who have released a grand total of 0 classic albums, whereas there were plenty of bands in the '90s and '00s that did - and I'm not talking about veteran old fart bands here, I'm talking about bands that were new, young and current. If it were MUSIC CRITICS that were deciding the outcome of the awards, then Radiohead would probably have taken the gold, silver and bronze in every year they put out an album from 1995 onwards. It's worth pointing out that Radiohead have NEVER won a BRIT Award.

But ultimately it doesn't matter because the best of the music from any given year or decade makes its mark regardless of what back-slapping goes on in the industry, and people forget about bland music no matter how many industry awards its won. Like chart positions, it's really not worth stressing oneself over.

[vikingedgar]

Heard the track last week but only just seen the video. I've not cried for many years as I'm a grumpy old Dodger but that was beautiful. There will have to be a contest to spot the references.

[Cricklewood]

Totally agree with you Stan. I think these days the sort of music that gets talked about by the general public are the ones that go viral on the internet or get pushed relentlessly by major corporations. I've also been discovering alot more music through the automated recommendations of Spotify/Youtube + various other means and I think most music lovers would rely on them nowadays without giving a single care about the charts

[Greatkudu]

Thank fuck for the stranglers and a few other bands, I won't waste my time talking about the brits, like a spec of dust in the Serengetti, a place very special to me, life and near death, I still love the single and its for people who actually love music,something that is meaningful, it would have been great for memory of Dave to do better, but The stranglers have a hardcore following, the fans love the song and grizzled ex Punks or not grizzled ex Punks love the song, because it's a beautiful touching tribute to a much loved man, who gave 45 odd years of sonic pleasure to us, and was a genuinely lovely eccentric character, it's shows its no weakness to show e motion and we all find the song and the video very touching, I may be a hard nut? Joking but I can't watch the video without a tear in my eye, the band have a huge hit in my eyes, because they have written a beautiful touching song that effects people emotionally, that's what the best music does to people and it does to me. Lt Kudu.

[toilerinblack]

Thank fuck for the stranglers and a few other bands, I won't waste my time talking about the brits, like a spec of dust in the Serengetti, a place very special to me, life and near death, I still love the single and its for people who actually love music,something that is meaningful, it would have been great for memory of Dave to do better, but The stranglers have a hardcore following, the fans love the song and grizzled ex Punks or not grizzled ex Punks love the song, because it's a beautiful touching tribute to a much loved man, who gave 45 odd years of sonic pleasure to us, and was a genuinely lovely eccentric character, it's shows its no weakness to show e motion and we all find the song and the video very touching, I may be a hard nut? Joking but I can't watch the video without a tear in my eye, the band have a huge hit in my eyes, because they have written a beautiful touching song that effects people emotionally, that's what the best music does to people and it does to me. Lt Kudu.

I second that,well said.