Oh, I completely agree that Reynolds had an agenda. And like I said, I basically disagreed with every conclusion he came to.
BUT...while his thesis may have been severly flawed, the research that he presents (ie- the history of ecstacy culture) is still compelling and well written. This is all sounding too scientific. Its music. And you can take the exact same story of ecstacy culture and come to completely different conclusions. here's an interview with Reynolds that helps explain where he's coming from: http://www.space-age-bachelor.com/features/99/reynolds.htm he talks extensively about "Energy Flash" here's a piece where Reynolds first seems to develope his theories on Detroit techno vs hardcore: http://www.epidemik.com/features/articles/hardcore_article.htm and finally- a rather extensive page on Reynolds that finds him "rediscovering house" with the Mille Plateux guys: http://www.jahsonic.com/SimonReynolds.html Everyone's music collection is based around 'phases'. Reynolds just does an excellent job capturing his phases in print. Don't diss because he went through some phases that you didn't. On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > >To immediately address Mr. Knight's concerns, I blieve the book was first > >published around 97-98, which is when big beat was a new and exciting > >sound. And judging from where electronic music went after big beat in > >terms of mass appeal, seems as though Mr. Reynolds wasn;t that far off. > > >Granted- Big Beat now seems trivial, but you can't deny the importance of > >the Chemical Brothers and Norman Cook in bringing electronic music to a > >higher level of awareness to the public. A level that hasn't been topped > >since. > > Ah this is true... > However, I'd like to know how many people who went to all the Chemical > Bros. > and Fatboy Slim shows back in the heyday of Big Beat are still listening to > this music? It seems to be more of a "flash and it's over" movement as > opposed > to the steady life of techno and house. > So - after the party was going for a few years how many people were already > heading > for the door? Now the White Stripes are "saving rock 'n roll" > > The mass appeal didn't last in either case of Hardcore or Big Beat. > I'd like to see a new addition with some kind of update on his thoughts > or maybe "Generation Ecstasy part deux - everyone back to mine" > > I know that the Chems and Fatboy Slim were/are immensely popular but they > had to > cop rock 'n' roll images to get there - which does nothing for any music > producer > who doesn't want to sell themselves like that. I'd argue that Big Beat > brought > little attention to any other genre that wasn't presented as a circus. > Plus, how can someone write a book saying that one subgenre is going to > save the entire > world of electronic music and then turn around and slag off other > subgenres? > I think he does/did a disservice to all electronic music by leaning so hard > against some > very important styles and artists. Aphex Twin did quite a bit bringing > millions of people > into electronic music and his influences in music production are heard a > lot more today than > any Big Beat track. > > Reynolds had an agenda. > > MEK > > > > >
