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

dee white stripes by far most successful rockisback act

Lou Bega HAD to get past #94. Had to!

I don't traditionally think of this as swing, but if it is, then yeah, I think it went top five.

"Zoot Suit Riot" only charted Modern Rock.

I guess I'm saying that having no instrumental music in the states in some way IS a bad thing. Partly because I have to try and not listen to the depressing, cynical, egocentric, predictable and uncreative lyrics for way too many party hip-hop/rnb/crunk tunes to even try and begin to enjoy them.

xp

"Out of left field came German-born, Italian/Ugandan Lou Bega, scoring an international chart-topping single with his infectious "Mambo No. 5" -- the only thing that kept it from reaching the top of the U.S. charts was the fact that no American commercial single was ever issued."

Hey, it's called Mambo No. 5 for a reason.

I certainly don't think it's easily lumped in with CPD, Setzer, etc.--they had totally different demographics, weren't played on the same stations, etc.

Hell, on I Love the 90s, VH1 had totally different entries for Lou and the Swing revival, where they could have been easily grouped to save time.

yes, their albums tanked, or are about to tank, in america. but they arent going to shift mega-units here in the UK either? time has moved on, and they are too tied in to 'the 90s', is there anything less fashionable than chemical brothers, prodigy et al right now (and lets not even get into leftfield and the littler ones of crossover-electronica)

i think the semantics about what is and isnt dance music are a distraction. yes, everything ever is dance music, we know that. but we also know what is being talked about specifically on this thread, and as long as we know what is being discussed specifaclly, i think we can put the semantics to one side, perhaps for some rainy day laterin the year

it is entirely logical that dance music has plummeted in profile and popularity, it is the sound of the 90s, what is less popular than the immediate past? plus the grassroots were never there, only ever inroads. (yes, yes i know the grassroots were there in certain cities, but not nationwide and thats what keeps things afloat). here the grassroots are there, but the downturn is here too.

does this mean dance is dead? well, it depends if you take a uk/us centric view? i think perhaps people in israel dont consider it dead!

black people make the last uptempo rock and jazz chart smashes but nooo everybody's gotta be all Barkenaked Ladies and Brian Setzer and shit.

same wavelength, different movement.

Simon Reynolds has incredibly unique perspectives on dance music in the broadest sense, but the more I read his articles, the more I'm convinced he's become far more jaded and is working with a smaller and smaller domain of actual input when he writes these articles.

Baz Luhrman?

another thing to note, is that european musics track record in america, as far as popularity goes, has been iffy at best, with a few short periods of large success, with vast deserts of indifference between.

im not sure that simon has really got to grips with hip hop at all, i feel sometimes he is looking at hip hop through dance (or house, if you object to the usage of the word dance in this context) glasses, and im not sure where that really gets us

right, and the electronica 'invasion' of '97 has really proven to be no more seismic on reflection than the period in the early 90s when EMF, Carter and Jesus Jones all scored massive hits Stateside.

even before 1996?

No, just the "Firestarter" stuff (the only things to do well here in the US).

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T-shirt?

Simon Reynolds complains too much.

Gareth otm about schemas and stuff.

Other thing that occurs to me is that jaded ex-raver ecstasy burnout types get v v nostalgic for their clubbing heydays when they were in huge barns full of thousands and thousands of people all feeling the vibe and it was IMPORTANT, damn it.

Newsflash, fucker, you were ON DRUGS. Perception did not equal reality.

Having said that, it is pretty much impossible to overstate the importance of clubbing to euro youth culture. But that is inseparable from two things. 1) drugs. and 2) Europeans need drugs in order to get that whole conviviality thing going that comes so naturally to americans. so OF COURSE taking lots of ecstasy and losing the plot for 6 hours is/was bigger in Europe.

Also, point 3: economics. In Europe it's CHEAPER to take drugs than it is to drink, because most Es are made in Holland, and competition keeps the price at around the cost of a pill at the equivalent of 2 pints of lager. So, again, popularity of drug music? Unsurprising. Contrast the US where it's fucking hard for 16 year olds to get a hold of alcohol or get into clubs, but very easy and cheap for them to buy pot. Popularity of hip hop? Unsurprising...

I donno about that one, but otherwise probably otm.

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2001 Crazy Town, "Butterfly"
2000 Creed, "With Arms Wide Open"
2000 Matchbox Twenty, "Bent"
2000 Vertical Horizon, "Everything You Want"
2000 Santana, "Maria Maria"
2000 Savage Garden, "I Knew I Loved You"
1999 Santana f/Rob Thomas, "Smooth"
1998 Barenaked Ladies, "One Week"
1998 Aerosmith, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"