Re:
In
the 80s no one made that distinction that I can remember; it came with
dance music culture.
I have to differ on this minor point. I remember underground being stuff
like Echo&the Bunnymen, the Pogues, New Order, anything with roots in punk
music (it's a big list). What wasn't underground? Duran Duran and the like.
At least in the US. Eventhough most of these groups weren't on independent
labels they did not get press/radio play etc. here. I used to have to pick
up NME and Melody Maker or fan zines to get any info on them.
Like I said, a minor point.
Kraftwerk, Marvin Gaye, Madonna, PE, Wu-Tang - all these artists came out
on
majors or major
affiliated labels or blew up in a big way on the charts and that didn't
stop
them making a radical impact, culturally. Maybe the music has become more
commercial at one end of the scale but Herbert says this could be healthy.
If one side of the music becomes more commercial, it creates a big space
for
alternatives. You can only take so much Britney Spears.
(2) It is basically a construct that is defined by those that dominate the
culture. Black music (that is what is defined as such) is always ghettoised
- ie marginalised, underground - to some extent. I think UR recognised this
and that became part of their strategy - to work from the underground, the
margin, make it work for them, like cultural guerillas fighting the power.
I
think the underground/overground divide also parallels gender in a weird
fashion..... Gay culture takes overground ideas and
twists them around, hence 'the camp'. A lot of the pop stuff blowing up has
assumed different camp overtones in some quarters that makes it potentially
counter-cultural.
I see a distinction between camp and cheese. So I see a lot of gray areas.
(3) Just 'cause it's underground don't automatically make it good.
(4) Our understanding of 'underground' varies considerably around the
world.
I have a feeling that Jeff Mills is better known in Australia than, say,
DMX. That's not to say that DMX is more underground but that maybe people
feel more comfortable or open to what Jeff does than DMX!
(4) There are plenty of overground artists who are revolutionary - even
now.
Like Missy Elliott. Sometimes context is everything; it depends on how you
interpret something.
>what is underground? is juan atkins underground? kevin saunderson? jeff
>mills? they have all in a way been dealing with majors or major
distribution
>networks (r&s = sony)
>we need to define and mark out what we're up to more precisely.
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