LONDON (AFP) - An English radio station said it has banned songs by British crooner James Blunt from its airwaves after listeners said they were fed up with hearing "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover".

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Chris Cotton, programme controller of local radio Essex FM in southern England, said: "We don't have anything against James Blunt and we're pleased he has been so successful, but we really need a break."

The music industry exerts a lot of pressure on radio stations to play certain artists' music over and over again, Cotton said.

"Often this can be out of step with the audience's tastes, which results in songs being overplayed," he said. "We're happy to stand up to this pressure and follow the strong message listeners have given us. We encourage other radio stations to take the same step."

Despite this minor setback, Blunt has enjoyed phenomenal success since his voice first emanated from radio stations across the world last year.

"You're Beautiful" topped the charts in 25 countries.

In March, the former army officer became the first British artist to reach the number one slot in the US Billboard chart in nine years.

His album, "Back To Bedlam" has sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

Lucky England.

Here in Toronto they have been milking "You're Beautiful" for over 8 months and shows no signs of slowing down. It is really irritating.

Krytonite said:

not true. MADONNA has had #1 albums in the states.

seriously. 'we're banning an artist because we play him too much.'

anyone else confused on this one?

Why did they start playing that shit first of all?

CHIC0 said:

No, not really.. in fact.. I know a lot shit they play too much that should be taken off too

Enough is enough. let the damn song rest..
[Edited 5/29/06 15:39pm]

Sdldawn said:

you completely missed the point.

CHIC0 said:

and its just absolutely dreadful. i can't stand his voice, look, lyrics, anything. just absolutely dreadful.

CHIC0 said:

I don't think it was very difficult to see your point.

I'm just stating how I feel
[Edited 5/29/06 22:01pm]

Sdldawn said:

nice try.

just not sure why you quoted my post. all i'm saying is that they're banning an artist (wether you like him or not is irrelevant), because he's over played...but yet they, themselves chose to overplay it.

that's like saying i hate BECK though you have him on repeat in your cd player.

I feel sorry for James Blunt.

I can understand they his voice is not everyones cup of tea, but at the end of the day, in the middle of a frenzy of manufactured pop. this is a singer/songwriter that produced a very good album.

But because he appealled to all age groups (a record companies dream) he got massively over exposed and now grates on people.

CHIC0 said:

It's just one dinky little Essex based station, not a national station. It's probably because he's played so much by ALL the radio stations that they decided to do something abit different and get some publicity for it at the same time.

Man, I wish US stations would do this as well.

The "Beautiful" song and Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" song are the friggin bane of my existence right now. I just can't get away from them.

Now how about 50 Cent and the like ?

endorphin74 said:

sallysassalot said:

i find it's great music for thumbing through j.crew catalogs.

Anx said:

And you do this often?

minneapolisgenius said:

never, actually.