You Belong on the Radio - German Music Charts (5)
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Mama, it's OK if you have Wild Thoughts when There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back and the Thunder is Unforgettable
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Music Box: Sia's "This Is Acting" (2016)
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Sia's latest album tackles the things our culture forces us to struggle with
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - UK Music Charts (2)
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I haven’t discussed new music since November and I’ve only looked at the British music charts once, all the way back in August 2014, so it’s time to do both again as these songs seem ripe to be analyzed. Let’s listen to some fresh tunes then, shall we?
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - 1981 Edition [1981 Week]
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No theme week without songs. The leitmotif for this week seems to be “detachment”, so let’s see how the popular songs of 1981 join the detached chorus.
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - 2004 Edition [2004 Week]
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What will the top songs of 2004 tell us? Let’s find out!
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - Indie Edition
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This should be called You Don’t Belong on the Radio.
It’s time for songs again, but I wanted to shake things up a little again and not just complain about the terrible mainstream, but take a look what you find outside it. This definition is fishy since “indie music” is not as not-mainstream as it used to be, but still, music that not necessarily only strives to make money and get into the charts is often very different. Almost needless to say, this is mostly the kind of music I’m listening to. One thing you’ll notice is that the lyrics often are much less clear to interpret. As a resource I used the site CampusCharts, which always has a good mix of new indie songs that people can vote on. The charts are from the week 16 of 2015.
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - German Music Charts + Music Videos
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It’s time for another look at the charts. Since I haven’t done the music video version in a while (and only once), I decided to do that again but this also look at the lyrics. My selection comes from the current German charts again since by now all the songs I have written about before have at least moved out of the top 10. So here we go!
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - 2012 Edition [2012 Week]
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Just like last theme week, I decided to look at the popular songs of this year to see what they’re telling us. I’m assuming the songs from two years ago don’t sound so different than the songs nowadays, but I’m still interested to see what we find in those songs. For this I’m using the lists of number one songs and top 10 songs from Germany, the US and UK, which again overlap a lot.
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - German Music Charts (2)
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So, it’s time for the charts again and also time to look at Germany again, just like in the beginning. Which was over two months ago, but I still have to search for new songs now. But there are enough, so let’s get started!
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - 1980 Edition
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Of course I couldn’t do a year’s theme week without looking at this year’s songs. Because there is only one 1980 week, I decided to look at the top 10 of the top songs of the year from Germany, the UK and US simultaneously, since they also overlap pretty much. Is the music of 1980 as dark, detached and depressing as everything else this week? We’re about to find out!
Read MoreMusic Box in 1980: Joy Division's "Closer"
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I almost couldn’t decide on an album to pick from 1980, not because there was no good music, but because there wasn’t much that spoke to me. There’s not a favorite album of mine from 1980 or something with a personal meaning. So I just picked an album I like and that I knew would offer me something to write about, Joy Division’s Closer, which was released two months after Ian Curtis had committed suicide. It is unsurprisingly dark and cold, yet undeniably powerful.
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - U.K. Music Charts
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These posts seem to be popular, so let’s finish up the Big Three with looking at the U.K. Singles Charts. Though, looking at all three now, I see that the difference between them is not as big as it once was, since there are many repeats. I remember a time when the U.K. charts was full of hip new indie bands. Yes, I'm old.So maybe we have to shake things up a little next time…
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - U.S. Music Charts
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So, here we go through the charts again. This time I’ll look at the Billboard Hot 100, which are the singles charts for the U.S. Since I almost know no current music, I know as many songs here as in the German charts, so the surprise factor should about be the same. Be ready to be offended! Here we go!
Read MoreYou Belong on the Radio - German Music Charts
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Inspired by someone‘s suggestion (you know who you are, constant reader) and following something I did many years ago, I decided to start a new series about music. Here’s the plan: I look at the music charts to see what the most popular songs are actually telling us. Most people can sing along the lyrics without ever thinking about them. If you do that, sometimes you discover interesting, disturbing or surprising issues. Today I look at the top 10 of the German single charts but only pick the songs where I find something worth writing about. Whatever I write about the songs does not necessarily say anything about whether I like them, so no one should feel offended. I don’t know what will happen, but that’s part of the appeal!
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