Defend the Indefensible : Electronica Class of '97 sentimentality

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This article appeared in this week's issue of Toronto's eye magazine:

http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_01.20.05/beat/chemicalbros.html

Summary:
-- in 1997, a bunch of dissimilar bands were stuck with the "electronica" label
-- they sold some records
-- now they all suck, and nobody cares
-- but yee-ha, the Chemical Brothers are releasing their album soon, maybe electronica will make a comeback!

Despite the title and the accompanying pic, this article isn't really about the Chemical Brothers -- it could have been about any of the other bands he mentioned, but it so happened that the Chems have an album out soon and the others don't. So what? Why would this album fare better than the Prodigy and the Orb did? Hell, he even said that the new Chems album wasn't all that good! Is there any point to this article at all, or is this just a 1000-word extended reminder that "the Chemical Brothers have an album out soon, remember them, you used to like them?"

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Friday, 21 January 2005 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Entertainment Weekly took, weirdly, a similar line with the Prodigy album:

1. Remember techno, from the mid-to-late 90s?
2. I guess it hasn't been good since then.
3. I mean, did you hear any?
4. But so the Prodigy just made another album.
5. Also incidentally there's this guy called Dizzee Rascal.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 21 January 2005 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, yes, 1997 - the Year That That Techno Shit Almost Broke. During which all of my college-mates suddenly started asking me what I thought of The Prodigy and such, and what was a good CD to get if they were just getting into techno?

I guess it's officially long enough ago that people are getting nostalgic for that era.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 21 January 2005 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh no! Techno-retro?

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 21 January 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, I understand that for portions of the general North American public this kind of pop-crossover electronica is what "techno" is -- naturally -- but it never crossed my mind that anyone would think it was really good in the late 90s and then just kind of fell apart. Even just aside, I dunno, Moby: given that this stuff was initially billed as crossing over from a whole other realm of music, you'd think people would conceive of it as having just retreated back there, as opposed to dying off. (Leave alone also that all the acts involved kept right on releasing albums.) It's essentially the same effect that will one day make Modest Mouse qualify as a "one-hit wonder" -- if it doesn't surface on some huge level, it's evidently impossible to conceive that it might be hanging around underneath.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh no! Techno-retro?

Coming soon, "I Guess I Didn't Know: The Electric Years", in which your favourite emo and indie bands tackle "Born Slippy", "Firestarter", "Busy Child", and other songs that they couldn't possibly have been into at the time.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

portions of the general North American public

Portions??!!! Try just about everyone I was in college with, save for a handful of rave & club kids who had pretty much the same sense of resignation that I did.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

but it never crossed my mind that anyone would think it was really good in the late 90s and then just kind of fell apart.

These are the same sorts of people who think that disco was hot in the 70's and then there was a bonfire one day at Comiskey Park which instantly wiped disco from the map. The next day, everyone bought a Supertramp album and nobody spoke about disco ever again.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

These articles always make me think of the critical panning the Beach Boys took from 1968 to the mid-70's. They were making some of their best stuff but since they were judged to be unfashionable they were marginalized and ridiculed.

To the Prodigy, Chems, etc, I say "good on you" for staying the course. There are plenty of bands who could potentially have had their best stuff still in front of them had not split when faced with a sudden drop in fashionability and /or popularity: The New York Dolls, The Buzzcocks, The Revillos, The Beta Band, Teardrop Explodes etc. ILMers please fill in your favourites here.

Anyway, as usual they trot out the same old names in this article but I'm getting all misty eyed thinking about the king of handbag, Motiv8 who was responsible for those brilliant mixes of "He's on the Phone", "Disco 2000", "Stars" by Dubstar, "Red Letter Day" by the Pet Shop Boys, and of course, "Ooo Ah Just A Little Bit" by Gina G. Pretty much a definition of the pop/techno crossover of the mid 90's I'd like to hear him tackling the Flaming Lips.

― everything, Friday, 21 January 2005 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

My girlfriend was at work, playing a mix CD of some lesser-known (to the general public) soul & disco numbers ("Running Away", "A Date With The Rain", etc.), and her co-workers kept busting her chops about "this cheesy 70s crap". Oddly enough, she played a disco hits compilation ("YMCA", "You Make Me Feel Mighty Real") the next day, and that went over fine. Ironic canonization in the workplace!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stars" by Dubstar

Classic, classic, CLASSIC!

I have, like, ten mixes of this song.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I should note for the record that I did not read the article in question before posting here.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I still haven't.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Between my summary, and the EW Prodigy article that you're already familiar with, you essentially have read it.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, yes, 1997 - the Year That That Techno Shit Almost Broke.

What do you mean "almost"? Fat of the Land debuted at #1 here in the US, for Chrissakes!! What more do you need?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Americans talking about 90s "Electronica" = adorable!

Let me drop the Big Beat bomb!

BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT! BIG BEAT!

Actually I thought this would be dissing albums like Chiastic Slide and Come To Daddy, in which case I'd've had to have laid the smack down.

Ok, carry on.

― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 22 January 2005 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Half of us are Canuks, sir.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 22 January 2005 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

And the rest of us are Scottish.

― everything, Saturday, 22 January 2005 03:11 (twenty-one years ago)

some of us are bored

― the first church of latebloomer, friend of plebians and santa (reformed) (latebl, Saturday, 22 January 2005 06:58 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000003RZK.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― mike h. (mike h.), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:10 (twenty-one years ago)

What do you mean "almost"? Fat of the Land debuted at #1 here in the US, for Chrissakes!!

The Prodigy breaking through =! Techno breaking through. That's just one band, and it went "only" 2x platinum, which is far cry from the Nirvana/Pearl Jam-level 10x platinum breakthrough that actually affected the industry for years.

Basically, the Chems/Prodigy shifted units on a White Stripes/Strokes level, which is to say, enough to get lots of press from the rock media but not enough to make the general public give a crap about them five years down the road.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:26 (twenty-one years ago)

In heaven it's always 1997.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:51 (twenty-one years ago)

OTM - that's exactly what I was getting at. Culturally, Prodigy going platinum were a blip on the radar. At least here in North America.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

damn, i really miss AMP.

and yes, viva 1997!

fuck, what a great year for pop music.

― reo, Saturday, 22 January 2005 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Note to Joshua Ostroff:

See, this is how you do it:

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

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 23 January 2005 03:02 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck a 1997.

― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Sunday, 23 January 2005 05:02 (twenty-one years ago)

PINKERTON WON. DEAL.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 23 January 2005 05:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I acknowledge the fair victors, but that doesn't mean I don't cuddle up with my soundtrack to The Saint every night before going to sleep.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 23 January 2005 06:11 (twenty-one years ago)

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