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Topic History of: The Brits 2017 Max. showing the last 5 posts - (Last post first)
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andrew
JK2006 wrote: Thank you Dixie - and the tragedy is - so easily solved. If I still held a senior position in the world of music (and was a bit younger, with better ears than these ancient ones) I would produce an annual spectacular show that got massive ratings and interested billions - not millions - in great music (which is still being made). And I would fund and construct a weekly music show that was like Top of the Pops 2017 (NOT 1965) on mainstream terrestrial TV as well as another daily different show for online, free access.
The entire industry would be revived.
But, at 72, what do I care?
Good point. When the BBC show the brand new editions of TOTP at Christmas, it looks very and bland the presenters are very dire to watch and to listen to.
When I watch old clips of OGWT a simple production and Bob Harris, whom is not in your face or yelling in your eardrums but is there just promoting the music.
Ok KISS did do Argent a favour and vice versa.
JK2006
Thank you Dixie - and the tragedy is - so easily solved. If I still held a senior position in the world of music (and was a bit younger, with better ears than these ancient ones) I would produce an annual spectacular show that got massive ratings and interested billions - not millions - in great music (which is still being made). And I would fund and construct a weekly music show that was like Top of the Pops 2017 (NOT 1965) on mainstream terrestrial TV as well as another daily different show for online, free access.
The entire industry would be revived.
But, at 72, what do I care?
dixie
This article from the New York Times says it all for me. I was there (for my 28th Brits) and it won't be one I remember. (I was at all of the JK-produced shows at the Dominion and Hammersmith Odeon):
British music really sucks right now
By Hardeep Phull February 23, 2017
The Brit Awards are supposed to be a night when the British music industry can proudly show off its brightest, most colorful stars. Instead, Wednesday night’s ceremony felt more like a continual wash of gray that made the recent Grammy Awards look like a four-hour Michael Bay production by comparison.
Out of all the acts on display, the only one really worth paying attention to were the 1975, and if you didn’t, the Manchester quartet forced you to. After winning their award for best British group, they took to the stage to perform their gloriously catchy hit “The Sound” (from the Billboard No. 1 album “I Like It When You Sleep . . .”) and took the opportunity to sabotage their own slot, by having the broadcast cut away from the song to display some of the many criticisms that have been thrown at them. “Punch-Your-TV-Obnoxious” read one, while another opined that they were simply making “robotic Huey Lewis tunes.”
Many viewers mistakenly thought that the show had been hacked by a rogue 1975-hater, but it was in fact a replication of the track’s video. More importantly, this subversive moment was the only time during the painfully boring and predictable ceremony that viewers couldn’t be entirely sure what was happening.
It is no accident that the group is lining up a collaboration with London grime emcee Skepta — whose own performance was a rare bright spot of the night. Beyond that, there were slim pickings, as has often been the case in the Brit Awards’ recent history.
Emeli Sandé’s coffee-table soul blustered, but left no mark. Ed Sheeran played his two new singles, “Castle on the Hill” (a barely palatable dilution of his love of Springsteen and U2) and “Shape of You” (another one for the ever-increasing pile of dancehall-inspired knockoffs). The UK’s recent breakout star Rag‘n’Bone Man thankfully spared everyone his bland, gravel-voiced soul, but did bore the arena with a mind-numbing anecdote about his cat, and showed that he has about as much charisma as the statuette he received.
Even the so-called “icon” of the night couldn’t lift the gloom. Robbie Williams (an undistinguished member of ’90s boy-band Take That, who went on to become an undistinguished Frank Sinatra tribute act) was wheeled out for a croaky medley of tracks from his latest album. As if aware of his own shortcomings, he at least tried to inject a laugh. “Come on, the Brits, it’s nearly over. You can nearly go home!”
It’s true that the Brit Awards only showcases the most successful acts, so it shouldn’t be considered the definitive survey of everything the UK has to offer. But in recent years, this elite crowd has become markedly milquetoast, and consistently overshadowed by its American and Canadian counterparts.
On Wednesday, it was the solid-if-unremarkable performances by Bruno Mars and Katy Perry that seemed far more fun and interesting. In 2016, The Weeknd, Rihanna and Drake stole the show from the like of James Bay, Jess Glynne and Adele. And in 2015, the spectacle and bombast of Kanye West and Taylor Swift, quite frankly, wiped the floor with Sam Smith and George Ezra.
Whatever weak tea they’re drinking over there just isn’t cutting it anymore, because as the Brit Awards has shown, the current wave of British-pop mediocrity is reaching epidemic proportions.
Chris
JK, do you know why every "music legend" is forced - dead or alive - to duet with the mediocre and extremely tiresome Chris Martin & Coldplay?
GG
I wasn't at the show this year but saw it streamed.
I truly don't understand why Katy Perry was there. She melted down vocally in humiliating fashion at the Beatles tribute after the Grammys last year in front of everyone in music, and yet they keep letting her perform on air at these shows.
Although I have great sympathy for Andrew Ridgeley and his band-mates regarding the death of George, the spoken thing just stopped the momentum of the show cold. That is the fault of the TV executive producer. Letting that happen was an amateurish mistake on a show going out to millions. That had to be well rehearsed, so here is no excuse.
I thought the Chris Martin performance was pretty good notwithstanding that he can't sing like George Michael. But who can?
I thought Dermot O'Leary was good.
The BPI has done away with the Producer Brit Award this year after a row with the MPG on how it is voted for. This is absolutely absurd, wrong, and needs to be corrected for next year.
I would much rather see 3 minutes of video on the five best producer nominees and then an on air presentation of the award, than see a tired Katy Perry yell off-pitch and dance badly.
No juice from any of the parties either, sorry but it seemed like a rather dull night.
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