the majors often do whatever it takes to makes $, that's just the way some people run their businesses. look at the UR versus sony and bmg thing. sadly yet another case of money vs. music. writers, on the other hand, shouldn't be writing solely for the sake of $, they should have some sort of interest int he truth, and have a responsibility to do research, get the facts, etc. calling "blue" techno is at first glance a minor thing, but in the whole scheme of things it's symptomatic of a greater problem as a whole in the "mass media" when it comes to writing about "techno". in short, it's lazy journalism, as far as i can see, but it also propagates this "--ism", this ignorant fear of the "other" that is the basis of racism, homophobia, sexism, et al. this lack of thinking that shoves techno and things we hold dear into this "other" corner so those who *don't know* can continue to "educate" the public with their misunderstanding and misinformation. (i'll digress for a minute: cleaning up at my old house at the end of january, it was a literally freezing cold day and this young man was running down the street in front of my old place in his bare feet with just shorts and a t shirt on. my girlfriend said "hmm, must be drunk", but even drunk people have a bit more sense than that. yesterday, waiting for the bus, again, it was a freezing cold day. everyone at the bus stop had on winter jackets, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. but this one man had on just jeans and a *t shirt*. people were freaking out behind his back "oh my god, this guy is wearing just a t shirt outside and it's like minus ten below (celcius))" thinking he was some sort of crazy man. well, it's likely that he (and the bare foot man) were having a manic episode (bipolar or schizophrenic) and they just didn't realize how cold it was because the weather was not registering with them. i was standing right next to the man at the bus stop and he wasn't even shivering, wasn't exhibiting anything to show that his body was even registering the cold. but, because he was different, this "other", people just couldn't deal with it. back to the techno thing: writers and people who "can't deal with" techno, either because they're unfamiliar with what techno really is or because they are content with the mainstream status quo, exhibit this "fear of the other" when they hear something they don't know/understand and think "aha!--techno". so these journalists who don't have a clue what techno is often call something "techno" when they really mean "i don't know what to call this". that "blue" track is just european dance music that comes from stuff like culture beat, technotronic, real mccoy, etc. but a journalist who doesn't know this simply thinks "hmmm, this doesn't sound like the dance music i know like madonna, so, HEY, it must be TECHNO". (i had a guy call my halifax radio show and say he really liked what he was hearing. think i was playing something 313 at the time. but then the first thing he mentioend was that damn "blue" track and how it was so underground and he could only get it on this one certain compilation and how he loved techno. etc. i tried to explain that because the song was hard to find on a compilation and new to him, it didn't make it techno, but i don't think he really understood. it's things like that that frustrate. how can you present atkins, bell, hood, et al to people who think "blue is techno"? alan oldham mentioned this general area in a recent interview: it's near impossible to get detroit techno respect/understanding in north america in the mainstream when you've got mainstream media propogating things like eiffel 65's "blue" = techno. again, it seems like a silly thing to discuss on 313, but it's the little things like this that can often have a big effect. the word "techno" *needs* have meaning, but the misuse of it takes that true meaning away and dilutes it for those who really are techno. rolando's jaguar is truly a techno classic, and, setting aside the greed and copyright violation aspects of the ur/sony/bmg case, it's diluting a classic to do such a horrible cover/grab version. people might hear that cover/grab version *first* (or might never hear the real version) and think "oh, so 'that's techno'!". we definitely don't want that. more: not sure if you've heard of the jazz artist jerry granelli, but he did an album with a local hip hop artist here (stinkin' rich) in halifax and the album got reviewed last week by a halifax writer who usually only writes about *classical* music. he wrote that the album had jazz, hip hop, and "even techno" material. i have a promo of the album in question and it's got the jazz and the hip hop, but i don't have a friggin' clue how this local writer got the word "techno" in there, unless, because he's used to writing about classical music only, he just thought "hmmm, i don't know what this is, so HEY, it must be TECHNO". again, that's lazy journalism, and, being a writer myself, i get really really pissed off about that. here in halifax, the local media is still refering to parties (you know, where people dance to electronic music all night ;)) as "rave parties". not "raves" (a word that should be buried), not "parties", but "rave parties"! it's almost hilarious, but then again, with the power of the press, it's just so pathetic in the end because those coming up in the scene think they're going to a "rave party" after reading about it in the press here now. the local "alternative" press did a huge story on the jump up dj aphrodite when he played here in halifax last year, yet i had to fight tooth and nail to get them to give me 500 words (about 25% of the length of the aphrodite piece) to write my terrence parker piece when he came to play halifax. and, the promoters here said parker played "detroit techno" on their flyers, bastardised the background info i gave em, etc, etc, which pissed me off to no end as you can well imagine. i mentioned in my piece that parker was an example that detroit did *not* only equal "techno", yet here were the promoters at the party he was playing couldn't even get it straight! in the juan atkins interview from last year for the show, atkins said that his worry is that people will hear the mortal kombat soundtrack and think "HEY, that must be TECHNO". you could *really* hear the concern when he told me this, and i can understand why it would bother him so much. heck, it bothers me a ton and i haven't contributed anything whereas he's a main progenitor! enough rant, must do the dishes and feed the cats. andrew duke :)
Sanderson Dear wrote: > andrew, > > i swear it's amazing what the majors will do to try and keep up with the > "scene". what's worse is... it's amazing the sheep who go out and buy this > shite, and believe as you said this is "techno". > > i wonder what "their" criteria is, for calling that track techno? > > sand. > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andrew Duke) > >Reply-To: Andrew Duke Cognition/In The Mix <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "...Techno list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "...313 list" <313@hyperreal.org>, > >"...Global Techno list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: (313) re: Eiffel 65--Blue (Ba Da Dee) > >Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 11:13:48 -0400 > > > >i've see this song refered to as "techno" > >so many times in the last week that I'm > >about to blow a gasket. just had to get > >that off my brain :) andrew duke > > > >-- > >Cognition/Andrew Duke's In The Mix > >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >http://techno.ca/cognition > >1096 Queen St #123 Halifax NS Canada B3H 2R9 > > > > > > ______________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -- Cognition/Andrew Duke's In The Mix mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://techno.ca/cognition 1096 Queen St #123 Halifax NS Canada B3H 2R9
