THE BOOK STILL SUCKS!
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas D. Cox, Jr. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 9:11 PM
To: 313@hyperreal.org
Subject: Re: (313) Book: Generation Ecstasy : Into the World of Techno
and Rave Culture
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Matt MacQueen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>(that's what music
>journo's do, i admit, and it's usually more out of their desire
to
>generate more ink than a true proper look at something for what
it is)
>just killed his earnestness and credibility for me.
hmmm. ill have to disagree with you on this. the guy is obviously
in it for his love of music, and most especially his love of the
ever changing trends in music. i wouldnt necessarily call myself a
simon reynolds fan, but i do read his blog all the time. i
reccomend you find it and check it out, see that he does indeed
overanalyze music in general, but for fun as opposed to money. and
as far as his concentration on the "hardcore continuum", thats
mostly a result of his location during specific times when music
changed. if you think about it, techno and house are mostly very
retro music. im not saying this in a bad way, but just observe how
you can mix old disco records with old house and techno records
with new house and techno records and make it sound coherent. if
you try that with any number of the hardcore related genres, its
pretty much not going to happen because of their high rate of
change (or "progression" as some like to think of it;).
>That said I haven't tried to write a book on techno, so I still
can't
>blame him for trying. Respect is certainly due for that. But
this is
>a book for people who want to get back in touch with their Inner
>Raver... or see what other parts of the rave scene they missed
out,
>it's a book about drugs connection with the music... it's a book
as
>much or more focused on drugs than the music.
ive always had something of a beef with the connection of dance
music and drugs because im not a big drug user, but over time ive
come to see the importance of drug use to dance music. to say
theyre unrelated is to totally miss anything of the culture that
actually made dance music come into existance. its not like people
making acid house suddenly made people want to do ecstacy. the
people who made it were making something that appealed to
dancefloors that already were using it, as well as other drugs.
>If you're looking for something
>meaningful about techno music, I recommend you look elsewhere.
im not sure that was the point of the book though. thats
what "techno rebels" is for. his book was focused more on the UK
rave culture, which is far different from the detroit and chicago
cultures that surrounded techno and house.
tom
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