The year of the lost bangers
Words by Matt Bell
It’s time we lodge our insurance claims, pay the excess, and write off the music of 2020 for good
Can you think of a time when you didn’t need a good banger in your life? We’ve sung songs that remind us of the good times, and songs that remind us of better times; ones that remind us of who the Bad Guy is, and ones that remind us to be Humble. Heck, many of us probably used music to help get through last year.
2020 impacted all of us in some shape or form, but especially those in the visual and creative arts. While we were lucky that we were able to sneak in the Fringe, the very necessary social distancing and COVID restrictions ultimately hit the sector hard. However, there was one thing I was hoping 2020 would address, and that’s the general decline in genuine bangers — original tracks that you want to come back to again and again, and again.
It might be a sign that I’m hitting my mid-life crisis about 30 years too early, but I’ve been lamenting what I argue has been a downturn in the music of the past few years — something evident in the fact that covers of covers and remixes of remixes now cut it as chart toppers. Teddy Cream’s cover of Daryl Braithwaite’s The Horses, I’m looking at you…
I thought 2020 and all that it brought with it — lockdowns, separation, distance, and the slower pace of life — would have been the catalyst for some of the greatest music we’d ever seen, perfect for a powerful and emotive songstress like Billie Eilish to reflect on those feelings we were all going through during the midst of uncertainty.
And sure, while it’s going to be a while before we see packed dancefloors full of sweaty people shoulder to shoulder at 2am on a Sunday morning, we all need a decent banger to get us through that workout or gym sesh.
Unfortunately, it looks like 2020 has maintained the status quo, if not pushed us further into the depths of a genuine banger drought.
Don’t believe me? The fact that Timmy Trumpet — a global top 10 DJ, no less — managed to bring a classic Vengaboys track (Up & Down) into 2020 by adding a bit of cowbell to it sums it up pretty clearly. Or what about the fact that Glass Animals’ Heat Wave, a song which might have just cracked the top 10 in Triple J’s Hottest 100 in previous years, went sailing into number 1? I might have lost half my readers by saying that, but it had to be said…
There could well be a few reasons why we’re seeing this shortage of bangers ripe for our listening pleasure, not least the impact that COVID has had on our ability to be creative. I don’t know about you, but I found it tough going in March, April and May of last year to really deliver my best work as the world around us seemed to get smaller and smaller.
And there may well be some substance to this thought — a recent article in the Harvard Business Review identified that social distancing has had the impact of making our daily routines more mundane and predictable, thereby limiting our exposure to new experiences that help us be creative.
However, the same article also noted two strategies to help maintain creativity are to harness negative emotions and engage in an expressive outlet, both which should be good catalysts for producing a banger. So, we might need to look elsewhere to find our reason for missing some quality tunes.
Could it instead be that the COVID restrictions on travel and large gatherings have turned the focus of artists away from performing their music towards other ways of sustaining their livelihoods? For emerging artists, this seems very plausible — after all, we all need to eat something and not performing your music isn’t going to pay the bills. However, for those who have been fortunate enough to make music their career, they’re going to have the reach, connections and streaming clout to still get their music out there and heard (and therefore bring in the cashola…). So close here too, but no cigar.
I could well just be a bit hasty to expect quality tunes this soon after a global shock to our psyches. When we look back to the tough years of The Depression in the 1930s, followed by the devastation of the Second World War in the following decade, it wasn’t until the emergence of Rock ’n’ Roll in the 50s that we saw creativity and individuality in expression really come alive. As a result, it could take the music industry a little while again for it to find its feet and ink a new chapter in the history book of great bangers.
My grumpiness that we’re entering into a prolonged banger drought in 2021 and beyond could well prove to be premature, and hopefully for the sake of all our eardrums that is the case. But right now, I think it’s only fair to music lovers far and wide that we declare 2020 as the year of the lost bangers.
Read more articles like this in issue 1, available around campus now (check out the magazine racks across Taste Baguette).
