Entertainment For Lively Minds
Who drives pop culture?
Posted by Fridge on 18 March 2009 - 10:32am.
My starter for ten: Pop culture is driven by people aged 35.
Why? By the time those in the 'media' get to 35, they are beginning to have the dominant say in what we get to see, hear and read. Generally, people tend to have a huge soft spot for the music and TV they liked when they were between 15 and 18. Whatever those 35 year olds liked then gets pushed back into the mainstream.
Which is why we had the 50s rival in the 70s (Grease, Sha-na-na et al), the 60s fest in the 80s and why Electropop and all things 80s are being shoved at us now. It probably means the Britpop revival is only a few years away, followed by a return to Loungecore/Chill out...
What does the Massive think?
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Maybe
but equally, does it not map pretty well to what the current generation's parents were likely to have been listening to?
I agree
Only today I commented on supermarket music being aimed at their prime demographic, the 35-45 age group who may be buying lots of food for a family every week. Hence, in between announcement about special deals etc we get Tears For Fears, ABC, Human League, Split Enz and (strangely) Joy Division. Once we get to 2015, I agree that the music will have changed to Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Ocean Colour Scene and all that lot.
I am a 34 year old media pillock...
... I feel I have no influence at all. I am at the mercy of elderly commissioning editors.
As someone who was present
As someone who was present at the birth of nu-gaze, I couldn't possibly comment except to say that this theory carries an enormous amount of weight.
However, I'd argue that the Britpop revival came and went around 2006 when the success of the Kaiser Chiefs led to the signing of numerous landfill indie acts like Pigeon Detectives, Kooks and Scouting For Girls.