---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 1995 16:13:13 -0500 (EST)
From: C. Trowbridge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: You kids are spoiled!
Mucheast doesn't play enough cool music? boo hoo...If you look to
mainstream media to legitimize underground culture you're only gonna
lose. If you want draw attention to bands you like why not get involved
in grass-roots media yourself. Start a zine, promote an all ages show, do
community radio or cable-access tv, put out a tape or 7"...( and I know
most of you are already doing these things) Don't whine
about how Mike Campbell isn't hip to every band on the East Coast -
surprise surprise! Why let Muchmusic set the agenda for what's cool - set
it yourself.
Ever since Nirvana there's been a paradoxical attitude in
"the scene" that a) Indie bands are owed some kind of media attention and
financial success. ( while most of the bands who inspired the whole
indie/punkrock thing were ignored or despised [velvet underground, husker
du, big star, stooges, ny dolls]) & b) If bands do get
media attention and financial success, they get branded as "sell-outs" by
the very same hipsters who moan about how the mainstream neglects their
insular little scenes. If new people come to shows, the hipsters get all
uptight about the "jocks" and "posers"...
Much is obviously advertiser-driven and wants to appeal
to as broad an audience as possible, therefore it's always going to be
mundane. Maybe our energies could be put to better use creating media
sources over which we have total control than whining about those over
which we have no control.
Dischord-antly yours, ct
