At 03:55 PM 9/20/99 +0200, Aril wrote:
i agree to the fullest!
i´ve been hearing that BS for so long from people for example who are
against others having their pics
taken, as if that would have anything to do on wheither the music is good or
not, wheither it´s underground
or not or even as if the records would sell more because you have a picture
featured in a magazine...
as long as you make the music for yourself and you never comprimise, it will
never be a sellout.
aril
I have several points to raise about all this jeff mills sell-out nonsense
Firstly, I think it is about time all the detroit people and others who are
making such music with integrity finally got their pay day.
There are many fan boys out there who think the minute someone makes money
he is a sell-out, but i don't think that is always true- certainly not in
Mill's case. Tell me the last time you saw Jeff Mills on the cover of Smash
Hits, in a sit-com, selling pepsi or coke? I have never seen such things.
Mills is making minimalist techno music that still has Mr and Miss Average
teenager saying 'What is that god-awful crap? Put the spice girls on.
Another thing is that people are doubting just how legitimate mills is as a
minimalist artist, I can't see why people are doubting this man! Mills is da
man, he sends all the kids trying to emulate his stuff on anything from
pro-tracker mods to rebirth, even old casios! He is one of the authority on
that minimalist style
Mills is making good music, making his own style of music. The reason it
sells is because it really is good, and people like it so much they are
prepared to part with their hard earned money.
I think we have to get this idea out of our heads that being successful
finacially in techno is sell-out. There is always quality music and art that
will make money, thats why you had Bach, Mozart and all the other greats
hiring their services to all the courts of Europe's nobility. Is just
happens that people with money, education and taste are willing to pay for
music and art which they recognize as being worthy of their attention. But
still, just like the nobility were appreciative of good music, so too
techno-enthusiasts are appreciative of good music, however the total number
of techno fans spending their cash on records, regardless of Mill's modest
little fortune, is still F*** All compared to what pop music makes. This
could suggest that he is not selling his stuff to people following the
latest trend, but the real enthusiasts who are carefull to what they listen.
I don't think the uneducated mainstram listener would really buy a techno
record, especially when they think they can replicate the entire record by
banging two garbage bins together.
All of our techno heroes I think should not be equated with the politics of
the punk-era's anti-sellout notion. I think our Techno heroes are like some
kind of deposed nobility of honourable music makers, from the same tradition
of all the great composers who have also come from ordinary working class
backgrounds. They should rightfully be in the public's eye as the
authorities on music, along with all the other true musicians from other
genres. I think that Mills, and the whole detroit techno scene should be
rolling in money, taking showers in it, they deserve it.
