Re: Why jungle will never go mainstream!

feesh@asu.edu
Wed, 02 Jul 1997 01:07:41 -0700 (MST)

It's funny, all this talk about the new mainstream hype that has been
going on for months and months and months now. All this talk about
selling out etc.
I listened to punk and independent rock for a damn long time (still do
actually) and I've been noticing for a long time that all the headz'
attitudes about electronica is evolving into the same attitude that the
punk kids have had for over a decade. People are afraid to hear their
music on the radio because then everyone will think you jumped on the
bandwagon like them. Its a selfish act on the part of the fan.
To say that you don't listen to anything once it goes mainstream, well
that's just wrong. I know a lot of people on this list like the chem
bros, but does the quality of their music actually get worse just because
the kids that like 311 like the chem bros too? absolutely ludicrous.
but anyways, elson is right on here. The mainstream is absolutely
essential whether you listen to it or not. Music is and has always been a
reactionary thing. Without the mainstream, no one would ever get sick of
the stagnant state of music and come up with something new (ie punk,
hip-hop, jungle, et al). I don;t listen to the mainstream (save maybe one
or two groups every once in awhile) but I love it to death.
scott

On Tue, 1 Jul 1997, elson trinidad wrote:

> At 05.01 PM 7/1/1997 -0700, feesh@asu.edu wrote:
> >I'm not saying that jungle will go as big gangsta rap or grunge, but it
> >will gain a much bigger following than you seem to think it is capable
> >of. I'm sick of all this crap about how American's don't understand
> >techno/electronica.
>
> Yeah, man. After all, we invented the analog synthesizer, the digital
> sampler and the personal computer.
> U-S-A! U-S-A! Woo-hoo! :)
>
> Seriously, sometimes people get blinded about this "mainstream" or "selling
> out" business that they actually lose touch on what is the real beauty of
> it: Its artistic impact. What I mean by it is the genre's contribution to
> music, in this case, American music. As an example, take hip-hop; sure it's
> gone mainstream, but that only pushes the envelope further on the other
> end. And if someone had the ability to stop hip-hop from going mainstream,
> there would be no hip-hop artists outside the US. No MC Solaar, etc. In
> fact, it probably wouldn't even go outside New York City. Surem that's an
> extreme scenario, but remember, for better AND for worse, hip-hop has
> influenced music all over the world, either in the form of rapping,
> scratching or use of drum loops. Some hip-hop purists may call it
> bastardization, but from another point of view, it only shows how powerful
> its influence is...something that grew out of the streets of NYC is now
> enjoyed all over the world...Jungle has the potential to do the same thing.
>
> Also, look how the progression of musical influence cycles itself - take
> for example hip-hop artists from Africa; hip hop's roots were from Africa,
> but developed from an American perspective (some would say African-America,
> but to the rest of the world, it's still simply "American."), and brought
> back to Africa. Isn't that amazing? Same for African jazz artists. As for
> Jungle, I don't know how big Jungle as we know it is in Jamaica, but if and
> when it does, same thing...
>
> Elson
>
> -30-
> =============================================
> Elson Trinidad
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> elson@westworld.com * http://www.westworld.com/~elson
> =============================================
>
>
>