I’ve read the original text now, and I don’t find anything particularly queer about it. I cannot comment on the ‘hipster metal’ thing, but the other parts seem about right. I definitely agree that there seems to be less love for contemporary pop out there compared to how it was just two or three years ago. But that is more because of chart pop having got worse, than a general change in preferences, I think.
I would argue that hip-hop has become less poppy over the last three years (I’m mostly thinking of crunk here), and, as someone said in the r&b thread, current r&b is mostly hip-hop beats with singing instead of rapping (= great beats, but bad song-writing). Commercial house, too, has become less song-based, and more loop-based (it has been for a long time, but real, original, songs are getting rarer by the day, I think) often = less pop, most of the time (see also all those awful hook-from-a-60s-song-plus-Benni-Benassi-beat songs that every conehead here insists on playing). I don’t agree with Gek’s argument that the ‘new’ techno scene is poppy (if that was what he meant). I think ‘Put Your Hands Up for Detroit’ (from the chart below) is a good example of how the new ‘techno’ (or, electro-house, or whatever you want to call it) songs manage to chart despite obvious, traditional, pop attributes (the same goes for ‘Yeah, Yeah’).
Here’s the grim list of 2006 U.K. Number 1s:
1026 28 Jan Arctic Monkeys When The Sun Goes Down 1
1027 4 Feb Notorious BIG featuring Diddy,Nelly, Jagged Edge & Avery Storm Nasty Girl 2
1028 18 Feb Meck featuring Leo Sayer Thunder In My Heart Again 2
1029 4 Mar Madonna Sorry 1
1030 11 Mar Chico It's Chico Time 2
1031 25 Mar Orson No Tomorrow 1
1032 1 Apr Ne-Yo So Sick 1
1033 8 Apr Gnarls Barkley Crazy 9
1034 10 Jun Sandi Thom I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) 1
1035 17 Jun Nelly Furtado Maneater 3
1036 8 Jul Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean Hips Don't Lie 1
1037 15 Jul Lily Allen Smile 2
1038 29 Jul McFly Don't Stop Me Now / Please Please 1
rere 5 Aug Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean Hips Don't Lie 4
1039 2 Sep Beyonce featuring Jay-Z Deja Vu 1
1040 9 Sep Justin Timberlake Sexyback 1
1041 16 Sep Scissor Sisters I Don't Feel Like Dancin' 4
1042 14 Oct Razorlight America 1
1043 21 Oct My Chemical Romance Welcome To The Black Parade 2
1044 4 Nov McFly Star Girl 1
1045 11 Nov Fedde Le Grand Put Your Hands Up For Detroit 1
1046 18 Nov Westlife The Rose 1
1047 25 Nov Akon featuring Eminem Smack That 1
1048 2 Dec Take That Patience 4
1049 30 Dec Leona Lewis A Moment Like This 4