20 June 2006

Top of The Pops in the dumps

The end of an era.
BBC AXES TOP OF THE POPS
The British Broadcasting Corp. has announced it will cancel the long-running pop music program Top of the Pops.

The show began in 1964 with a broadcast that featured The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
It will end July 30 after riveting two generations of music fans and helping the careers of hundreds of pop groups.
"The time has come to bring the show to its natural conclusion," said the BBC's director of television Jana Bennett.
In a statement released Tuesday, the BBC said "ever-increasing competition" from multimedia outlets makes it impossible for the show to continue in its current weekly form.
At its peak in the 1970s, Top of the Pops had a weekly audience of 15 million viewers, but viewing figures fell below three million two years ago. In 2005, the show was moved from its weekday slot on BBC1 to Sunday night on BBC2, but failed to improve its ratings
.

Increased use of iPods, the rise of 24-hour music TV channels and the splintering of music markets into different genres has diminished interest in the show.
Only six episodes of Top of the Pops were commissioned in 1964, but the show proved so popular it became a Thursday night fixture on British TV. The 2,000th show ran in 2002.
Over the years, the program went through many makeovers, but always featured a countdown of the top 10 pop songs, culminating in the announcement of the No. 1 single of the week.

The current edition features Canadian singer Nelly Furtado at No. 1 with her hit, Maneater.
Before music videos, dancers would perform as background while the hit singles played. Many artists played their hits live. A hosting gig on Top of the Pops was often a ticket to celebrity status.
Top of the Pops featured most of music's biggest names from Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s, The Jackson Five and David Bowie in the 1970s, Madonna and Kate Bush in the 1980s to Oasis and The Spice Girls in the 1990s.

The mix of live TV and rock stars sometimes provided unwelcome surprises. In 1991, Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain sang "load up on drugs, kill your friends" during a live performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
TOTP2, a spinoff show, will continue to be seen irregularly on BBC.
Earlier this year, a U.S. music producer said he was planning to launch a version of Top of the Pops, based on the Billboard Top 20, in the U.S. (of course THIS will be what Canadians get to see. Good god we're pathetic.)

19 June 2006

An Aloud in Toronto!

Nadine from Girls Aloud was in Toronto on Sunday for the Much Music Video Awards. She wasn't here representing Girls Aloud here though; she was here as (are you ready for this?) Jesse Metcalf's girlfriend! Huh? When did this happen, and WHY? She can do so much better.
I couldn't believe she was here! Nobody knew who she was. Christ! I missed it to.
She looked great.

15 June 2006

Madonna - Get Together Video

I'm not crazy about the song (or the album); but, the video is cool. It makes the song seem better than it really is.


07 June 2006

Avril quits music biz: HURRAH!

Avril Latrine has announced that she is 'bored' with singing and wants to start acting.
"I like more serious roles. I can see myself in something like 'Girl Interrupted'. I would enjoy doing a film on the darker side, something serious with depth. I'm good at expressing myself and getting all my emotions out."
Whatever; just as long as she doesn't put out anymore music I'm happy.
Serious with depth: oh please.

03 June 2006

A Paris Summer

Paris Hilton's new single has leaked. It is called 'Stars Are Blind'. It's not bad. Think Gwen Stefani doing a 'The Tide is High' knock-off. Paris's voice is not going to win a Grammy (or a Juno for that matter) but it goes along well enough with the song. It's nice to hear some cheesey pop again on the radio instead of faux-rock and r&b tripe.