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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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Failure to deliver - Hype let downs.
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Lugia
970 posts

Re: Hmm...
Jan 25, 2004, 23:49
Having had a toe in on that scene from circa 1989 or so, plus having encountered the early acid stuff (ie: "Washing Machine", etc) when it was around, I'd have to say that there was a real curve to the scene that peaked right around the end of 1994/beginning of 1995 over here in the States. After that, I first saw the word "electronica" used in _Spin_ in the latter half of '95, and to me, it was the handwriting on the wall. Sure enough, within the next 12 months, the whole mess went thru this fit of commercialization, and then it all went sailing down the toilet. For every 10 quality Detroit productions or IDM-types trying to push the artistic envelope, you had some naff thing like The Prodigy (ugh...I typed that word...I feel dirty now) that had the hype-o-tron turned up to 11 and who got the major label budget needed to ram itself down our throats. Toward the end of the decade, you could find greats like Juan Atkins working in a D-town record store, his groundbreaking records gathering dust in the bins, as suburban candyravers yowled for him to sell them the latest booty house rubbish. I know for a fact that that was emotionally crushing to him.

There was a lot of promise there. There was some amazing work done, stuff that can still be held up a decade or more later as being Truly Great Music. But when it was near or at its peak of good, it was underground, and when it started to go aboveground (speaking States-wise, again) it got buried under the deluge of major-label poo.

If there was a SAD 'failure to deliver', if there ever was such a thing of tragedy, it would have to be in what was done to the scene in the years 1996-97. It defined what so many people think of when they hear the word 'techno', and that commercialized claptrap simply WAS NOT IT. It saw the influx of dumb body chemicals in deference to the mind-expanding ones that defined the original scene. It saw loads of cheapass "ravE" events held by wack promoters rolled out. It saw a bunch of people who had little to no interest in the music wander onto the premises. It was a reason to cry...and I often did, for what was lost.
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Re: Hmm... (Moon Cat)
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