Death of techno...?

[sxyaznchiq]

excuse me if this has already been posted but anyway...

http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/26/ew.hot.eminem/index.html

Is Eminem right about techno-pop music?

He's dissed Moby and the entire genre, but he's not alone

David Browne

(Entertainment Weekly)

Thursday, September 26, 2002 Posted: 1:18 PM EDT (1718 GMT)

Forgettable, that's what you are: Prodigy's new single is just that.

(Entertainment Weekly) -- You remember electronica, or techno, or whatever term you used to describe it over the last decade?

I do, and those memories are pretty sweet: Watching the Chemical Brothers engage in knob-twirling and fist-pumping -- a PC-era Wayne and Garth -- at a packed show. Instantly feeling elated by the mix of beats and hooks on any number of great singles -- Moby's "Go," Utah Saints' "Something Good," Underworld's "Born Slippy." The sound of John Digweed's "Heaven Scent" at the climax of the indie rave film "Groove." Paul Oakenfold's "Tranceport" album. And on and on.

The key phrase in the paragraph above is "the last decade," because at this point, the sad fact is that this once-vibrant genre has, like my computer on a bad day, frozen up. Not commercially, in an ironic turn of events: This summer, we've witnessed two singles, Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By" and now Daniel Bedingfield's "Gotta Get Thru This," blend pop and techno into a pleasant, if inconsequential, middle ground between the two styles. But as nice as it was to hear those bleeps and bloops in "Days Go By" on a top 40 station, there's no denying that most of the thrill is gone.

Staying the course

The unfortunate reality is that a music steeped in constant change and reinvention has settled into some of its own ruts and routines. Staying the course, rather than innovating, is the current rule of thumb. After a five-year break, the Prodigy returned this summer with a new single, "Baby's Got a Temper." I've played it several times, and damn if I can remember much about it -- which sure wasn't the case with "Firestarter," and I don't just mean Keith Flint's reverse mohawk in the video.

There's still just enough to please the ear. Bent's "Programmed to Love" and Rinocerose's "Music Kills Me" albums were two highlights of the past year. Moby's underrated "Play" has many magical moments. And Layo and Bushwacka!'s new "Night Works" has its moments. But they're exceptions. Most of the rest, particularly the flood of DJ mix albums, feels stuck in time.

Anyone should have seen it coming, since pop genres tend to have roughly five-year lifespans. It's revealing that electronica and teen pop, both born of the clubhopping and affluent youth culture of the '90s, are running dry. With any luck, the music, like the economy it once mirrored, is simply going through a slump. "Rave Till Dawn," goes the title of an anthology in my CD collection. Maybe we're all realizing exactly how TIRED one gets by that time of day.

[georgym]

Maybe here in America, but out in Europe techno is still pumping like crazy.

Whenever i go there, it gets better and better. So if it is in fact dying over here, just take a trip to Europe and you'll see what i mean

[LavenderMenace]

this is obviously more about the death of the mainstream presence/popularity of the music than the music itself... and as far as i'm concerned thats fine. The music itself is still there and still amazing and innovative and life altering. you just have to dig a bit more for it. thats fine with me.

[starshaped]

Originally posted by gmccookny

Maybe here in America, but out in Europe techno is still pumping like crazy.

Whenever i go there, it gets better and better. So if it is in fact dying over here, just take a trip to Europe and you'll see what i mean

Yeah definatly it's massive in places like Germany,Holland etc etc It hasn't even come out of the underground in the uk yet,it could well be the next big thing over here,who knows?

[phuturephunk]

Originally posted by gmccookny

Maybe here in America, but out in Europe techno is still pumping like crazy.

Whenever i go there, it gets better and better. So if it is in fact dying over here, just take a trip to Europe and you'll see what i mean

. . .aight, I'm coming out of hiding for this one . . . cause I just gotta comment . . . George you're absolutely right . . .

. . . See, its all quite simple . . Americans are used to 'following the bouncing ball' when it comes to music .. . We're a very egocentric country, and the natural offshoot of that is we like to hear vocals . . .Consciously because it allows us to sing along, subconsciously because the lead singer can be considered the "I" or Ego behind the band . . .

. . Now, one also has to take into account just how much money it takes to make an album that will make you your money back and then some . . . Without going into major detail (I have before, but why bother now . .) . . this necessitates that you 'combine' whatever genre you're trying to hype (beats, in this case) with something that's going to be a 100 percent score (the 'bouncing ball' of pop music) . . End Result? . . A pop/beats hybrid that doesn't accurately convey what the underlying genre is truly about .. .

. . Even Firestarter and Breathe were, in effect, like that. . You go listen to The Prodigy Experience and Music for a Jilted Generation and you tell me how many full vocal tracks there are . . . Not many . . . Fat of the Land on the other hand, had all that fratboy jumping 'Breathe wit me' hook crap that was just too catchy to refuse . . By no means am I saying that it wasn't nice to listen to, I'm just stating that it was a hybrid and that's why it sold so well and became so big . . .

. . Electronic is also a very right brained genre of music, demonstratable by the fact that so many creative types frequent the scene as partygoers . . The 'bouncing ball' is a left brained construct . . Vocals and really speech in general are a faculty of the left brain and most people walking the earth are dominant on that side . . In effect, without words, they're lost . . . whereas right brained creative types are much more tuned to seeing the 'essence' of communication (whether it be artistic or otherwize) then the actual content, letter for letter, that it conveys . . . Since electronic caters more to missing the trees for the proverbial forest when it comes to the music, whether it be a listener losing the nuances of the high end in a track for the track in its entirety . . or a listener losing the song for the greater whole of the Set that the DJ is throwing down, naturally the end result will be less of the general public taking notice and listening . .

. . . Add the drug stigma, and the fact that many people who went through the scene over the last 10 years got burned when they were fresh out of HS (or still in it) on pills and various other letters of the alphabet . . . . and you can see why many of the people who were out there don't want to revisit those times, nor give it creedence for the music that it brought to them . . .

. . . We in clubplanet are a MINORITY . . most people who frequent nightlife are doing it as a diversion . . Hell, many people on this board are doing it as a diversion . . . So to those people, the 'scene' and the music it brings is trivial, a vehicle to other motives rather than being the ulitmate goal . . .

. . . eh . . or something to that effect . . .

-Phonk

[starshaped]

Hang on i've just read the thread are we on about proper techno or just dance music in general which un educated individuals sometimes class as techno?

[phuturephunk]

Originally posted by starshaped

Hang on i've just read the thread are we on about proper techno or just dance music in general which un educated individuals sometimes class as techno?

. . . dance Music in general, a subject that the author of the original article, doesn't seem to keen on . . .

[phuturephunk]

. . . see why i never fucking try anymore . . . exaaaactly . .. . . . bye kids . . .

[bigpoppanils]

when was dance music "alive" in the US?

[digitaldan]

Originally posted by phuturephunk

. . . see why i never fucking try anymore . . . exaaaactly . .. . . . bye kids . . .

I still love you phuturephunk

[danwilson]

I remember first hearing Techno in the mid to late 80s. I thought it was the greatest thing at the time. But house and trance are the 2 greatest music's for beats. I like house and trance alot better then techno. I'v never liked Electronica music. I'v liked Euro Dance to.

[Rad_Z]

Phuturefunk,

what type of a field are you in??

By your intuitive and analytical posts, you sound like(or could be) a philosopher, a sociologist or something in that area.

Btw, very good and thoughtful post!

Rad_

[bsb2002]

look at the artists they discuss in that article: it's all the big "electronica" artists that got all hyped in the US a few years ago. I hardly think the success of Moby or the Prodigy is an accurate barometer of where dance music is in America. Maybe in the eyes of people who read Entertainment Weekly, but come on, who is that????

[Taub]

i didnt read the above posts

but

Techno never went mainstream to go dead....its still mainly undergound

[candg]

I wouldn't say it is going away, I remember a few years ago when you could walk into any major cd store and count the techno cds they had on your hands...now they have entire sections.

[Xpander]

I've this nagging suspicion that this David Browne guy doesn't have a clue what the hell he's talking about.

First off, he's mistaken a couple of good tracks (Heaven Scent, Born Slippy), and a few good albums (tranceport, night works) as the motherload of all that's "techno", when they're just a few bits and pieces that was somewhat accepted (or in many cases, close enough to it) by the mainstream.

The fact that he draws on Chemical rothers and "singles" as his collection of "great memories" goes to show that he's not the most well versed when it comes to exactly WHAT electronica encompasses.

Oh, and let's not dismiss the fact that he thought "Play" was underrated.

According to this guy's logic, the day that Fred Durst busts an artery will be the day that rock and roll breathes its last...

[deepak1977]

techno really has gone far into the mainstream as it can go, which is not far. i think it's going back into the underground now, which is a good thing. it will allow dj's to be more creative and more dj's to enter the scene. the clubs are going to be better, people who go will actually dance. i think clubs are going to be more like arc, where the dress code will be more laid back and they may not even bother getting a liquer license, so that will make teens be able to go. while techno is seem to be "dying" in the mainstream's eyes, it's not dying in the underground. just look at how successful sasha & digweed's delta heavy tour was.

to make it in the american mainstream you have to LOOK GOOD. look at the top dj's, none of them are an enrique inglesias or a justin timberlake. digweed is the most average looking guy in the world, he looks like every other brit. in a issue of URB , they had a picture of timo maas, with a double chin. danny tenanglia is a fat, bald, and old by industry standards. nick warren looks like somebody's dad. and danny howells is so skinny and lanky, that he could pass for an AIDS patient. i hate to paint a negative picture of these guys, because from reading interviews and going on their websites, they're great people who know how to play great music. the reality is, to get the public to like your music, they have to like your looks.

you can only glamorize techno so much, how many ways can you make turning knobs look cool. with a guitar you can do all sorts of stuff with it, but you can't smash and burn your mixer. in electronic scene, the emphasis is on the audience. that doesn't market the dj's well, because the emphasis has to be on them.