Music sucks

[Josquius]

This year's Brit awards will be a melancholy experience for indie fans. The genre's big performers on the evening will be Blur and Noel Gallagher, a pairing that will evoke memories of the 1995 ceremony, when Britpop swept the old guard away, and thus highlight the contrast with the current state of play. The latest issue of Q magazine opens its review of the new Maccabees album with the rhetorical question: "Has there ever been a worse musical climate to be a guitar band in Britain?" The past is another country. The British public buys guitar music there.

Just before Christmas US music writer Eric Harvey compiled a list of sales figures for the top 50 albums in Pitchfork's end-of-year poll, inspiring the Guardian to conduct a similar exercise (see below). Each list prompts much the same conclusion. Of the five albums in Pitchfork's list that sold more than 100,000 copies in the US in 2011 only two (Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes) are indie artists. In the Guardian's top 40 the only alternative acts to pass 100,000 (the benchmark for a gold record) are Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Noah and the Whale, PJ Harvey, Radiohead and Laura Marling.

Of course critics' polls are not an authoritative measure and other indie artists exceeded 100,000 sales in the US (including Wilco, Feist, the Black Keys, the Decemberists, My Morning Jacket), the UK (Elbow, Kasabian, the Vaccines, Snow Patrol, two Gallagher brothers) or both (the Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead). If you really stretch the category then Coldplay, Foo Fighters and Florence + the Machine also did the double, and if you count 2010 releases you can add Mumford & Sons and Kings of Leon. And let's note that, because of Spotify and YouTube, sales figures aren't the only measure of success. That said, it's still an unforgiving climate for the kind of crossover alternative rock act that not so long ago was taken for granted, especially when so many of the bands mentioned have been around for a decade or so and selling to loyalists rather than new fans. This sobering data invites two questions: how long will indie's big slump last? And does it matter?

To an extent pop trends are cyclical. To borrow the language of economics, after each speculative bubble bursts (grunge, Britpop, mid-00s indie) there's a market correction that leaves many casualties. In 1999 and 2000 there were many brilliant records but they were disparate and rarely suited to magazine covers, throwing both Select and Melody Maker into first panic and then closure, when just five years earlier it had seemed like the stream of charismatic, platinum-selling, magazine-shifting rock bands would never end. Of course just a few months later the Strokes and the White Stripes heralded a vibrant new phase, which led to the Libertines and Franz Ferdinand and then another bubble: landfill indie. By the time radio and magazines were pushing dreck such as the Automatic and the Pigeon Detectives the writing was on the wall.

The backlash has been annihilating. Post-landfill, the traditional music-press whoop that a band is "ready for arenas" (translation: they suddenly sound a bit like U2) is often just wishful thinking – Razorlight and Glasvegas went for the big time and saw their sales collapse. Bands that only recently enjoyed platinum sales (Kaiser Chiefs, Klaxons, the View) have fallen on hard times. And then there's the unfortunately named Viva Brother, who went from hype to oblivion in a matter of months last year.

If it's all cyclical then a Strokes-like shot in the arm should be imminent but three years after Guardian writer Peter Robinson accurately declared the death of landfill indie there's no sign of one. The Vaccines were 2011's only indie breakthroughs but they haven't kickstarted any movement. So what if it's a long-term trend? The Radio 1 playlist, and hence the top 40, is more deadeningly conservative than anybody can remember, dominated by an oligarchy of collaboration-happy artists (Rihanna, Bruno Mars, David Guetta, Pitbull, Jessie J), most of whom converge on the same R&B-goes-to-Ibiza template. Go hunting for guitars in 2011's top 100 biggest-selling singles and you'll find only Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Noah and the Whale. Until Radio 1 gets over its post-landfill revulsion, that's how it will stay, as it still takes a hit single to push an album above a certain level.

And so to the second question: if there are still plenty of great records to hear in many genres, does it matter if most indie bands hit a glass ceiling? Well it does for the music press, which can't go back to that innocent pre-Britpop period when indie's commercial bar was set so low you could put Kingmaker on the cover. During 2011 (see chart below), eight NME covers were themed or composite, 10 featured dead or defunct artists, 12 featured artists who first emerged in the 80s or early 90s, and 10 featured artists on their fourth or fifth albums (Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Muse). Of just 11 dedicated to relative newcomers, only four indie bands – the Vaccines, White Lies, Friendly Fires and Bombay Bicycle Club – have since either gone gold or are likely to. In the US, Spin contends with a similar drought of persuasive cover stars.

It does matter for record labels that need crossover successes to fund smaller acts, and therefore it does for young indie bands that don't want to be regarded as sales poison. It does for festivals forced to rely on the same old names to headline, especially when some of those old names (REM, White Stripes) bowed out in 2011. And it does for anyone who believes a healthy music scene thrives on variety and friction. The Brit awards' dose of Britpop nostalgia will be a reminder it's happened before, but there is no guarantee it will happen again.

The figures

UK sales for Guardian critics' top 40 albums in 2011

1. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (121,122)

2. Katy B – On a Mission (185,533)

3. Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra (0 – free download)

4. Beyoncé – 4 (451,000)

5. Bon Iver – Bon Iver (120,000)

6. James Blake – James Blake (60,000)

7. Metronomy – The English Riviera (54,417)

8. The Weeknd – House of Balloons (0 – free download)

9. Rustie – Glass Swords (3,841)

10. Tune-Yards – Whokill (8,000)

11. White Denim – D (10,000)

12. Wild Beasts – Smother (30,000)

13. King Creosote and John Hopkins – Diamond Mine (25,000)

14. Tom Waits – Bad as Me (40,305)

15. SBTRKT – SBTRKT (18,000)

16. The Horrors – Skying (65,000)

17. Björk – Biophillia (30,000)

18. St Vincent – Strange Mercy (7,500)

19. Drake – Take Care (168,000)

20. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (133,981)

21. Gillian Welch – The Harrow & the Harvest (33,321)

22. Noah & the Whale – Last Night on Earth (260,631)

23. Laura Marling – A Creature I Don't know (100,000)

24. Feist – Metals (40,000)

25. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo (14,000)

26. Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact (4,500)

27. Radiohead – The King of Limbs (100,000+ no precise figures or download figures provided)

28. Jonathan Wilson – Gentle Spirit (7,473)

29. Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow (119,731)

30. Gill Scott-Heron/Jamie xx – We're New Here (27,000)

31. Lady Gaga – Born This Way (821,000)

32. Lykke Li – Wounded Rymes (26,391)

33. Destroyer – Kaputt (5,000)

34. Jamie Woon – Mirrorwriting (30,000)

35. Cat's Eyes – Cat's Eyes (30,000)

36. Pistol Annies – Hell on Heels (No UK figures available)

37. Kanye West/Jay-Z – Watch the Throne (144,000)

38. Nicola Roberts – Cinderellas Eyes (50,000)

39. The Streets – Computers and Blues (42,000)

40. Gruff Rhys – Hotel Shampoo (20,000)

UK album sales for NME cover stars in 2011

Lady Gaga – Born This Way (821,280 + 342,378 for 2009's The Fame)

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (494,420)

Florence & the Machine – Ceremonials (384,314 + 198,120 for 2009's Lungs)

Foo Fighters – Wasting Light (380,372 + 171,536 for 2009's Greatest Hits)

Kasabian – Velociraptor! (279,025)

Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See (223,308)

The Vaccines – What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? (213,625)

Beady Eye – Different Gear, Still Speeding (165,864)

The Strokes – Angles (120,000)

White Lies – Ritual (95,000)

Friendly Fires – Pala (90,000)

Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind of Fix (80,000)

The Horrors – Skying (65,000)

Glasvegas – EUPHORIC///HEARTBREAK\\\ (50,000)

Tyler, the Creator – Goblin (25,000)

• All data is from record labels or the Official Chart Company. Some figures are approximate. Only NME cover stars who released new albums in 2011 are included

I found it quite interesting.
Certainly I've noticed this trend in the past few years, I am increasingly listening to older and older music, not really discovering many new bands. I thought I was just getting old but...no. Music sucks.

[Eddie Teach]

I'm not clear how playing guitar and "indie" are synonomous. In the US, the label refers to the size of the record company.

[Sheilbh]

It's a genre here, often one not associated with indie labels.

[Brazen]

I haven't even heard of (let alone heard music by) 22 of those top 40 artists *fogey*

I have downloaded half a dozen songs recorded in the last couple of years though.

[Josephus]

I'm not clear how playing guitar and "indie" are synonomous. In the US, the label refers to the size of the record company.

No, not really. It might have been the case, but even in America, the term is a generic label now.

[The Larch]

Good to hear that The Vaccines are getting some recognition. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VI3q4T-1Jc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sOq6Rrre7c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQKjI6395iU

[Valmy]

No, not really. It might have been the case, but even in America, the term is a generic label now.

I have to admit I have never heard "indie" referred to as a genre before.  What genre exactly is it?

[Josquius]

No, not really. It might have been the case, but even in America, the term is a generic label now.

I have to admit I have never heard "indie" referred to as a genre before.  What genre exactly is it?

Indie is indie. Its my favourite genre. Pretty well known in Europe at least (The Japanese seem to lack a word for it...).
Its pretty diverse and I can't really describe what it is...medium rock maybe?

[Brazen]

I have to admit I have never heard "indie" referred to as a genre before.  What genre exactly is it?

Quick, Wiki it while you still can!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_rock

[garbon]

I haven't even heard of (let alone heard music by) 22 of those top 40 artists *fogey*

I have downloaded half a dozen songs recorded in the last couple of years though.

24 here!

[garbon]

No, not really. It might have been the case, but even in America, the term is a generic label now.

I have to admit I have never heard "indie" referred to as a genre before.  What genre exactly is it?

Really? Wow.

[katmai]

I haven't even heard of (let alone heard music by) 22 of those top 40 artists *fogey*

I have downloaded half a dozen songs recorded in the last couple of years though.

24 here!

26   

[Grey Fox]

I've heard 8 of those if you only count Artists, I have no idea if I heard the actual song.

[Eddie Teach]

I've heard of 11, 12 if giving separate credit for Kanye and Jay-Z.

[garbon]

I've heard of 11, 12 if giving separate credit for Kanye and Jay-Z.

That would then be top 41.