10 Truly Heartbreaking Facts About Popular Music

This says a lot about people.

Were you aware that the top selling single of 2013, worldwide, was "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke? At the same time this absolute mockery of the music world was being played out, both Black Sabbath and Pearl Jam released new tracks. Surely Ozzy's first studio LP in 35 years should have seduced the public interest in higher figures than a guy who helped produce a Lil Wayne album? Alas, it didn't. And that's just one of many truly disappointing things that happen in the world of music. Great artists have often come behind less-talented, mainstream pop stars. It's a fact we have to face: a high population we live amongst have a collectively generic taste in music, and it's not just today's culture. Real musicians don't care about marketing and sales as much as commercial stars, and they never really have: the artists we call "legends" of the 60s and 70s were never chart-toppers in their day. Still, that doesn't mean they can't out-sell the rubbish being spurned out in the charts today. It's called popular music for a reason, and is obviously greatly affected by how easy it is to consume now, not to mention population growth - but surely that means people now have less of an excuse to listen to crap music, and more opportunities to hand their ears over to musical gods, right? Right guys? WRONG.
 
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Human woman. Content Manager at What Culture. Lover of many "ologies", punk rock and cats. My god is Ilúvatar. Follow me on Twitter: @nina_cresswell