Bus pass rock, over the hill hits, fogie funk, senile songbirds, senior citizen compositions; are some of the names a drunken Steve Lamacq would christen the new wave of elder artists infiltrating the press.
A flick through Kerrang, Rock Sound or the musical supplements of spreadsheets and you’ll find the same familiar faces that have been featured for the last twenty years. A look through the festival line up’s you’ll find Pulp, The Prodigy, Black Sabbath, Foo Fighters, Elbow; all of which are heading towards forty if not already there. Why when it’s harder for talented musicians to make it in the music industry without standing in front of Simon Cowell do we find less room in the media for them? The answer is the answer to most media-related questions: Media. Put Metallica on the front of Kerrang and you know there’s a fanbase to buy it, put Letlive on there and you’re less likely to get those numbers.
Looking at the charts if a different story; Youngesters Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Christina Perri and Professor Green all sit pretty with multiple entries in the UK chart without a talent show crown between them. Blogging is where we must turn to find the new artists, previously MySpace and now Youtube is where the likes of Rey and Perri are found, the web savvy are connoisseur’s of their sound before radio DJ’s have even loaded it to their systems. We’re heading towards a generation where the internet will be buzzing about someone while the media still write about PJ Harvey.
From an avid internet loiterer a fellow music fan search through the Mexican horn Lady Gaga covers and you find some hidden treasures that NME will love in six months time.
