This week everyone can cast their vote for the Top 900. Radio DJs cycle through the whole province to speak to listeners and acquaintances from the music world about their favorite songs. In recent years, Guus Meeuwis has always been number 1 with Brabant and Danny Vera was also found high in the list with his song Rollercoaster. But how is it that we vote for the same numbers every year?
According to neuropsychologist and music lover Erik Matser from Helmond, it makes sense that this happens. “Music taste is strongly connected to a person’s culture and backwards. Think of the place where you grew up or live.” According to him, those factors determine what you like.
“For example, my children will set up the music of my favorite artists faster, because they grew up with that music,” he says. So the favorite artists or songs from your parents will return to your top 900 list earlier and then you pass them on to your children.
Top 900
The Top 900 is the only music list where Queen and Coldplay go hand in hand with Guus and Gerard. The listeners of Omroep Brabant put together the annual list of songs. The radio DJs cycle through our province all week to pick up voices for the Top 900. You can fill in your own list via this link.
According to Matser, a perhaps even larger determining factor for tackling the same songs is the ‘unique sound’ of artists. “For example, look at U2. The voice of Bono in combination with the sound of the rest of the band is very characteristic. It means that nobody can make music in the same way as U2.” The Irish band therefore supports Matser among the ‘gifted people in music’. And this is the kind of artists that we always vote for.
According to Matser, Guus Meeuwis is also gifted in music. “The quality of Guus’s voice and music ensure that his songs stay beautiful,” he says. And of course the fact that Guus comes from Brabant and partly sings about the province to his success. “That ensures that people from Brabant feel connected to his music.” But according to him, the success of the singer from Tilburg is mainly due to his unique sound. “Even if Guus had lived in America, he could have touched people with country style music and stories about life there. I know that for sure.”
Unique sound and recognizable topics
What happens at regional level when you look at the success of Guus Meeuwis, according to the neuropsychologist, you can translate international artists who know how to touch people worldwide thanks to their musical giftedness and characteristic sound. He cites Adele as an example. “If she starts singing you immediately know that it is Adele.” According to Matser, the subjects she sings about are also very recognizable. “She often sings about love and the sorrow that comes with it. Adele knows how to turn that human emotion into music that we can recognize in.”
“Charles Aznavour has also succeeded in this and the same applies to Toon Hermans. The latter knew exactly how to touch people with songs about his childhood and growing up.” Songs by artists who have this gift are, according to Matser, the songs that remain successful. “It is the songs that bring a specific feeling upstairs or bring you back to a certain moment from your life.” Nostalgia plays an important role in such a way when it comes to songs that people keep putting them in their list.
Finally, the neuropsychog makes a call to people who listen to non -Western music more often – or also -. He hopes that they too will send their list for the Top 900 more often. “In Western music, the ‘do re mi’ melodie mainly occurs and you almost never hear music from India or Morocco,” he says. “That’s because they listen to other rhythms in those countries.” If people who listen to that music now also submit their list, the list would “brighten up enormously:” And make it really Brabant. “