SIMON REYNOLDS DISCUSSES CURRENT DANCE MUSIC IN TODAY'S NY TIMES

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Matthew it WAS seen as the Next Big Thing, at the time. i'm amazed it was successful as it was in the US however briefly - but i'm equally amazed at why the US market/media/public(?) has not been able to 'get it' in general. But the US is unique, and is responsible for much of what we hear in terms of invention and/or influence - it's surely just too goddamned HUGE for anything 'foreign' to make a lasting impact anyway (you could include House as 'foreign' despite (because?) it's gya, black origin even).

― Stevem On X (blueski), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:36 (nineteen years ago) link

You put, say, Linkin Park's "Faint" and Prodigy's "Firestarter" up against each other, and there's really not too much distinguishing the two.

or aphex twin's "come to daddy."

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:37 (nineteen years ago) link

they're all as different as they are the same

― Stevem On X (blueski), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:38 (nineteen years ago) link

In the UK, there is split between:

e.g on BBC Music
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/

Dance
House, Trance, Techno

Urban
Hip hop, R'n'B, Garage, Ragga

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:39 (nineteen years ago) link

i just heard a remix of cornershop in a fox super bowl commercial.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, Spice Girls were the tip of the iceberg of the late '90s teenpop explosion. 'NSync, Backstreet Boys and Britney all came later and were more popular than the Spice Girls. Actually, Backstreet were '97 too. What I meant was that the Spice Girls' success opened up a market relatively untapped in the '90s compared to every other decade ever, so there was a new thing to hype (or smear, to be more accurate) in the media that was actually pushing more units than the Chems ever could.

But yeah, nu-metal is more important since electronica was being marketed to modern rock radio and alt-rock fans.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha, I just heard that Cornershop commercial too! I was about to post about it here. That didn't sound like the Fatboy Slim remix.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:42 (nineteen years ago) link

'NSync, Backstreet Boys and Britney all came later and were more popular than the Spice Girls.

this was the NeoCons side-project, alongside the slandering of CLinton

and 'dance' as a term for certain genres and subgenres of music is just as hopeless as the terms pop, rock, indie, urban etc. - but i'm still surprised people feel the need to bring up the 'why is it called dance music when we can dance to Britney/rock music as well?' thing again...in 2005!

― Stevem On X (blueski), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:42 (nineteen years ago) link

New Kids on the Block were totally 90s.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Hey, I remember 1997/98 pretty clearly, that was a big record-buying time for me, my first year in college.

Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy both had some huge hits, but I would say that the success of Daft Punk really was only a modest success (which probably set them up to a better long term career, cos they aren't stuck with that nostalgia vibe. Well, that and DP just being way better in general.)

― Matthew "Flux" Perpetua, Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:44 (nineteen years ago) link

No, the point is that *particular styles* of dance music is barely alive in America.

4th paragraph:
In the new millennium, the mainstream profile of dance music dipped alarmingly. This downturn occurred on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was particularly precipitous in America

― john'n'chicago, Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:45 (nineteen years ago) link

dance music in america: http://www.funpic.hu/swf/numanuma.html

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago) link

American kids dance to Franz Ferdinand. How's that for compromise!

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Strictly in anecdotal terms, I remember a lot of people that I knew back then distrusting the "electronica" stuff that was being pushed on them and mocking it. I was very reliant on music magazines at the time, so I bought all of those records cos I was caught up in the zeitgeist of SPIN/Q/Select/CMJ etc.

― Matthew "Flux" Perpetua, Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago) link

DP, definitely weren't as big as the other three ("Around the World" and "Da Funk" were hits, but very, very minor ones), but all were still pretty big. I bought CDs by all four of those artists in the late 90s back when the only music I knew was what I heard off MTV and the radio--the same time I was still buying CDs by Everclear and 702.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Simon Reynolds is missing the days he could give EBTG 9 out of 10 reviews in spin.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Daft Punk's big American pop hit is "One More Time" and came out in 2001. Hmm.

― Matthew "Flux" Perpetua, Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:50 (nineteen years ago) link

Daft Punk didn't have any rock hooks and thus, didn't get as much modern rock play as the other three (I remember hearing "Da Funk" a few times, "Around the World" even less), but they were always on AMP and were big among people who were REALLY into the Chems/et al at the time (like me). But I think people who mainly liked Nine Inch Nails but owned a copy of The Fat of the Land didn't really care about Daft Punk.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:52 (nineteen years ago) link

John, when he writes "the mainstream profile of dance music dipped alarmingly",

"dance music" = House, Trance, Techno

(as stated in DJ Martian's post above)

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:52 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm pretty sure Reynolds gave the Chemical Brothers a 9 out of 10 for the last album in SPIN actually. Are they finally stopping him or something?

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:53 (nineteen years ago) link

And when Daft Punk had a crossover hit, it was on pop radio.

Yeah, it really does have a lot to do with how they were trying to shoehorn this stuff into rock stations, it alienated the core demo of rock stations.

― Matthew "Flux" Perpetua, Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Sorry for bringing up modern rock radio AGAIN (HFS nostalgia?), but there were really no electronica radio hits after '97 at all. If "Come to Daddy" had come out just one year earlier (and were atached to a full-length album rather than an EP), it would have been just as big as "Firestarter."

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I think "Busy Child" was probably the end of that trend.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I'd blame "Sunset (Bird Of Prey)," though there's no way in hell "Come To Daddy" could be as big as "Firestarter." No chorus, dude!

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Miccio is right, choruses are key!

"Come To Daddy" did pretty well, though.

― Matthew "Flux" Perpetua, Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:57 (nineteen years ago) link

It's ALL chorus!

"I WANT YOUR SOUL, I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL!!"

so metal

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:58 (nineteen years ago) link

thank chris cunningham

(x-post)

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:58 (nineteen years ago) link

"Block Rockin' Beats" and "Busy Child" didn't have choruses though (or even vocals aside from samples)

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:58 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm pretty sure they were hookier than "Come To Daddy." Kind of like "Spanish Flea" with a catchphrase.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:00 (nineteen years ago) link

hahaha "Block Rockin' Beats" made it to no. 40 on the modern rock chart. That really was more of an MTV hit than radio. "Praise You" was a chart hit though.

These guys really were more of an MTV/album sales thing

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:05 (nineteen years ago) link

and a SPIN magazine thing

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:07 (nineteen years ago) link

"Praise You" was pretty huge and deserved to be. It was on the first volume of the American version of Now That's What I Call Music, which I have around here someplace.

― Matthew "Flux" Perpetua, Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:09 (nineteen years ago) link

I think HFS just played the Chemical Brothers more than most stations did.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link

"Karma Police" was on NOW 1 too! x-post

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Sorry for bringing up modern rock radio AGAIN (HFS nostalgia?), but there were really no electronica radio hits after '97 at all.

Not entirely true. Lo-Fidelity All-Stars' "Battleflag," Fatboy Slim's "Praise You," The Properllerheads' "History Repeating," one or two others.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link

I heard "Block Rockin' Beats" quite a bit, but the local alt station was so trippin' out on the indie explosion that they were playing Chavez's "The Guard Attacks" and Sebadoh's "The Ocean." According to the billboard chart "Let Tomorrow Be" was even bigger.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link

I seem to recall "Block Rockin' Beats" getting played as bumper music for sports games. I know that it's on a Jock Jams comp.

― Matthew "Flux" Perpetua, Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link

"The Rockafeller Skank" too. Fatboy's hits were all '98/'99 mainly. "Going Out of My Head" wasn't all that big.

(x-post to Bill)

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:13 (nineteen years ago) link

adwise techno definitely had an explosion. I remember one ad break during the Simpsons where 3 of the ads featured Fatboy Slim or a Fatboy Slim remix.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link

bbbbut jocks only like rock!!!![/we covered that fallacy already]

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link

i like to think that 'Block Rockin' Beats' was only a big hit because 'Morning Lemon' is so fucking ace

― Stevem On X (blueski), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link

I remember when they played "Battleflag" on the season finale of E.R.!

Jock jams is really where all of america gets its house music.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link

xpost - drum n' bass tire commercials.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link

i don't miss it don't miss it don't miss it don't miss don't don'tdon'tdontdontdontrbbrrrrrrrrr

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:15 (nineteen years ago) link

I heard "Ocean" a lot too. See, during '96 and '97, right before Korn had their big breakthrough and after the first and second waves of grunge were dying, radio was scrambling, trying to grab ahold of anything to latch onto.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:15 (nineteen years ago) link

well "Ocean" made sense following Folk Implosion's "Natural One."

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:16 (nineteen years ago) link

then a man named Fred showed up with a George Michael cover.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:16 (nineteen years ago) link

but "Natural One" is one of those Odelay-era hits that weren't popular on that scale before or after.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:17 (nineteen years ago) link

sebby-doh was getting pretty relatively big by that point anyway - at least compared with their humble beginnings.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:18 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah but the one-hit gets followed by the would-be-second, Mike O.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 22:19 (nineteen years ago) link

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