7.30pm. Thursday 12^th June 2014, at The Victoria, 48 John Bright Street, Birmingham B1 1BN.

Has pop music lost its power over the hearts and minds of the young?

Debate among the nation’s music commentariat has intensified with the 20 year anniversary of Britpop. Symptoms of decline are numerous – from the collapse of NME sales to the rise of the reunion tour. As Salon speaker Neil Davenport notes, “Chart hits no longer have an era-defining quality.” 

Should we look for the source of the problem within pop itself? Have we exhausted the possibilities of the three-minute record and the thematically-unified album? Or is there a broader malaise?

Bob Stanley isn’t the only music writer to point to the impact of digital technologies – the free and instant download culture that demands less of us, in both financial and emotional terms. But rather than view this as a technology-driven problem, some see a broader retreat into a pervasive “slow-developing popular culture where the past always wins”. Others accuse X Factor of killing organic channels that nurture emerging pop talent.

Has the relentless war on public drinking and shared space driven us into an atomised relationship with music, detached from fashion or cultural thought? Are we scared of the jagged edges of past pop movements such as punk? If today’s young people lack the creative drive and fearlessness that pop music feeds on, how has that happened?

On the other hand, reports of the demise of pop music may be much exaggerated.

Pop music has always moved along with shifts in technology. Is manufactured pop really killing grassroots culture, or is Brian Epstein proof that it’s always been an integral part of the industry? X Factor may be a symptom rather than a cause, or even not a problem at all. Perhaps nostalgia makes us see pop through the distorted prism of the past.

Are we back in moribund 1975 – with the explosion of punk just round the corner? Do today’s pop hotspots, such as US cities Nashville and Austin, prove that the talent is still out there? Or does the lethargy at the heart of today’s youth culture mean no more heroes anymore?

Speakers

Neil Davenport: Neil is a music writer and sociology/politics teacher in London. He blogs at The Midnight Bell.

Adam Regan: Owner of Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, one of Birmingham’s most prominent music venues.

Michael Whitehouse: Graduate of Birmingham's Academy of Music and Sound. Guitarist for indie bands SubTotal and Torpedo Joe, and rock band Rubrik. Avid music fan.

Thanks, as always, to The Victoria, for providing the venue.

Recommended Readings

The death of pop: Don’t blame it on the download – Neil Davenport. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/the_death_of_pop_dont_blame_it_on_the_download/14529#.U0GDsFfeJDQ

Album sales are declining, but it’s part of the battle between art and commerce – Bob Stanley. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/24/album-sales-declining-battle-art-commerce

Pop history: A poor substitute for real history – Neil Davenport. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/11929#.U0GDglfeJDQ

We don’t read newspapers because the journalism is so boring – Adam Curtis. http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/02/adam-curtis-interview

NME and the death of the music press – Neil Davenport. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/nme-and-the-death-of-the-music-press/14695#.U0GDzVfeJDQ