The Water Cooler Moment

By Patrick Clifton. How pop music has changed and why this is a symptom of the collapse in mainstream culture.

By Patrick Clifton. Mainstream culture is dissolving, and with it the nature of “pop music”.

Olivia Rodrigo at the 02. Photo author’s own.

At this year’s Music Week Awards — the annual gathering of those who work in the UK’s recorded music industry— the Strat was given to Peter Lorraine, one of the figureheads of pop for those engaged with it in the 90’s and early 00’s. Lorraine edited Top of The Pops magazine and went on to launch Fascination Records. As label boss and manager, he was involved in the success of numerous stars including S Club 7, The Saturdays and Girls Aloud. The audience at the awards offered him a deserved ovation for his contribution to the music industry. But was this the bestowal of an award — or a eulogy not only to one of the most successful music genres since recorded music began, but also the notion of pop culture?

The method to develop and break pop acts in Peter’s era started with a process to find talented individuals and put them into groups; they were pair…