The Student Room Group

The last decade has produced just four UK festival headline acts

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-last-decade-has-produced-just-four-festival-headline-acts-10361903.html

Is it true that music isn't as good as it used to be, or is it the case of times changing, and people wanting to see nostalgic big-set headliners rather than newcomers with a smaller catalogue?

I personally think we are more diverse in our music tastes nowadays, making it hard to have a big headline act to attract so many people who 'love' them. Also i'm rather intrigued by how all 4 head-liners were male.
Reply 1
I'd say that festival line-ups are definitely getting progressively worse.

The only highlights (that I watched) of Glastonbury that I actually enjoyed were Chemical Brothers
Reply 2
Original post by GuppyFox
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-last-decade-has-produced-just-four-festival-headline-acts-10361903.html

Is it true that music isn't as good as it used to be, or is it the case of times changing, and people wanting to see nostalgic big-set headliners rather than newcomers with a smaller catalogue?

I personally think we are more diverse in our music tastes nowadays, making it hard to have a big headline act to attract so many people who 'love' them. Also i'm rather intrigued by how all 4 head-liners were male.


Older bands have had more time to establish themselves so they are more likely to have large enough reputation to headline. Give some of the acts from the last 10 years another 5 years and many more of them will headline.

I don't get why they excluded Florence and the Machine as they still headlines regardless of whether they're replacements.

I personally prefer the male voice so tend to prefer male acts.
Reply 3
Florence headlined the pyramid at glasto ! But it's not only about the pyramid stage:
Rudimental headlined the other stage
Enter Shikari headlined the john peel stage
Reply 4
Original post by emlaar97
Florence headlined the pyramid at glasto ! But it's not only about the pyramid stage:
Rudimental headlined the other stage
Enter Shikari headlined the john peel stage


The headliners of Glastonbury are the acts that headline the pyramid stage.
Reply 5
Original post by CRW1996
The headliners of Glastonbury are the acts that headline the pyramid stage.


Like I said, Florence headlined the pyramid.
Reply 6
Original post by emlaar97
Like I said, Florence headlined the pyramid.


Yes but who headlined the rest of the stages is irrelevant.
Reply 7
Original post by CRW1996
Yes but who headlined the rest of the stages is irrelevant.


So is whether or not you you prefer male-fronted acts :/

Let's live and let live :smile:
Reply 8
Original post by emlaar97
So is whether or not you you prefer male-fronted acts :/

Let's live and let live :smile:


True, I kind of worded that wrong. I should have said I prefer male-fronted acts and so do the majority (from my experience).
I think maybe because people think of "festival headliners" as big rock bands, and there arent really that many current, new big rock bands worthy of headlining, there are a lot of upcoming bands however imo. The likes of Royal Blood may perhaps become a headline act one day who knows, i dont think rock is as mainstream as it used to be i think Rap and sort of nicki-minaj-type-**** is the mainstream at the moment, and i think festival planners are reluctant upset the applecart and put someone like Nicki Minaj as a main headliner.. gladly so, id much rather see a has been who has created good music than a forge of artists such as her and the like
Reply 10
Original post by ToffeeBoy96
I think maybe because people think of "festival headliners" as big rock bands, and there arent really that many current, new big rock bands worthy of headlining, there are a lot of upcoming bands however imo. The likes of Royal Blood may perhaps become a headline act one day who knows, i dont think rock is as mainstream as it used to be i think Rap and sort of nicki-minaj-type-**** is the mainstream at the moment, and i think festival planners are reluctant upset the applecart and put someone like Nicki Minaj as a main headliner.. gladly so, id much rather see a has been who has created good music than a forge of artists such as her and the like

But the people that have headlined aren't in rap at all:

Mumford & Sons - Glastonbury 2013 and Reading & Leeds 2015,
Calvin Harris T In The Park 2014 and V 2015,
Avicii T In The Park 2015,
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds T In The Park 2015

They all deserve headline status, 2 massive dance DJ's, one of the most popular indie rock bands of this decade and well noel gallagher...

Rock bands aren't the only thing people want to see and it shows I think
Original post by GuppyFox
But the people that have headlined aren't in rap at all:

Mumford & Sons - Glastonbury 2013 and Reading & Leeds 2015,
Calvin Harris T In The Park 2014 and V 2015,
Avicii T In The Park 2015,
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds T In The Park 2015

They all deserve headline status, 2 massive dance DJ's, one of the most popular indie rock bands of this decade and well noel gallagher...

Rock bands aren't the only thing people want to see and it shows I think


Yeah thats a good point, but the likes of drake playing T-in the park this weekend, and Kendrick second-headlining reading i think shows it's increase; I just dont think there are that many huge headline worthy rock acts out there right now, so festival organisers stick to the old guns
Original post by ToffeeBoy96
Yeah thats a good point, but the likes of drake playing T-in the park this weekend, and Kendrick second-headlining reading i think shows it's increase; I just dont think there are that many huge headline worthy rock acts out there right now, so festival organisers stick to the old guns


wireless* ffs
Original post by ToffeeBoy96
I think maybe because people think of "festival headliners" as big rock bands, and there arent really that many current, new big rock bands worthy of headlining, there are a lot of upcoming bands however imo. The likes of Royal Blood may perhaps become a headline act one day who knows, i dont think rock is as mainstream as it used to be i think Rap and sort of nicki-minaj-type-**** is the mainstream at the moment, and i think festival planners are reluctant upset the applecart and put someone like Nicki Minaj as a main headliner.. gladly so, id much rather see a has been who has created good music than a forge of artists such as her and the like


Here's looking forward to Royal Blood headlining :smile:
Original post by emlaar97
Here's looking forward to Royal Blood headlining :smile:


Hahaha yeah maybe one day, depends how they progress i guess
Reply 15
I dislike most of the things in the charts. It's just not worth listening to the radio really.
Music isn't getting worse, but pop music has been churning out the same, formulaic content for the last four or five years. Of course there is the odd song in the charts that are good but a lot the style and creativity is being regurgitated over and over again until it's not creative anymore. And they're still doing this, because it caters the industry to make more money, i.e more about the booty, extensive media coverage about the person rather than their music. Look at Nicki Minaj for example. Pop music is nowhere near as representative of all music than it was in the past, literally there is so much music out there that now I can't really say music is getting worse, but pop music sort of is.

I also disagree with people who completely classify music via lyrics and execution of any vocals. In my opinion,just because a song doesn't feature many vocals doesn't make it bad. But what the pop scene seems to be doing is covering it up with the same instrumentals and same feel (probably because they're going towards the same producers but I digress) thus rendering them unmemorable. If lyrics were made the focal point, they're still using the same lyrics too. Not many of them even try to vary it or anything.

Some pop songs are good though at least, I really like Uptown Funk :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Music is like wine. Some gets better with age, and others turn into vinegar. Given a free choice a restaurant between a vintage Sauvignon Blanc or a generic bottle of Rosé I'll chose the former. I might drink the Rosé at home, but going to the restaurant is a special occasion so I might as well have the vintage.

Likewise given the choice at a festival I'd rather see Black Sabbath over Royal Blood. Not to say Royal Blood is a bad band, I enjoy them and listen to them at home, but Black Sabbath are legendary and aren't going to be touring forever.

Hence I believe festivals will obviously chose established bands, that can draw a large and diverse audience over newer up an coming bands for their headliner. It doesn't mean music is getting worse or anything like that.
Original post by HeskeyLAD
Music isn't getting worse, but pop music has been churning out the same, formulaic content for the last four or five years. Of course there is the odd song in the charts that are good but a lot the style and creativity is being regurgitated over and over again until it's not creative anymore. And they're still doing this, because it caters the industry to make more money, i.e more about the booty, extensive media coverage about the person rather than their music. Look at Nicki Minaj for example. Pop music is nowhere near as representative of all music than it was in the past, literally there is so much music out there that now I can't really say music is getting worse, but pop music sort of is.

I also disagree with people who completely classify music via lyrics and execution of any vocals. In my opinion,just because a song doesn't feature many vocals doesn't make it bad. But what the pop scene seems to be doing is covering it up with the same instrumentals and same feel (probably because they're going towards the same producers but I digress) thus rendering them unmemorable. If lyrics were made the focal point, they're still using the same lyrics too. Not many of them even try to vary it or anything.

Some pop songs are good though at least, I really like Uptown Funk :smile:


Couldnt agree more, Rihanna uses the same processed drum beat for all of her songs.. not that it's a 'bad' beat, but as you said, ITS THE SAME! how long can an artist churn out the same painting?

Also, uptown funk is a great tune, one of the best ive heard in a while in the mainstream pop scene at least
Music is better now than ever in my opinion, but then I don't listen to pop music and most of what is termed 'rock' makes me feel physically ill.

With regards to festival headliners though I'd say its part of a bigger narrative of baby boomers having a stranglehold on popular culture, so much so that they won't let any new bands come up and prove that they can do it because something new is too much of a risk. Its far easier and simple to go back to Queen, The Who, Iron Maiden or whatever other pensioner musicians are available than take that next step and give the chance for someone else to proove their ability.

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