Give Me A New Trend, Damn It
I am a music fan and a musician...these two terms can be mutually exclusive when encountered in real life, but I find that a good musician is usually a good listener, and a good listener is usually a music fan. What never fails to amaze me is the way in which thoughtful music listeners are consistently fooled by the business end of music. Lately, no genre is more guilty of the constant shifting of trend and focus than the indie/punk/noise world.
As a highschooler in the early 1980's I gave up listening to the radio by the time I was a sophomore. The creeping death of classic rock radio had just begun. Real, vital, creative rock music had disappeared from commercial horizons and word-of-mouth began to be the way in which true believers shared their knowledge and love of new bands. Fanzines were always a good way to get tipped on a new band, or maybe you'd discover a good band opening for a band that you already liked. The crowds in US cities for adventurous bands like the Minutemen, Black Flag, Husker Du, the Butthole Surfers, and R.E.M. made journalists pay attention to the scene that was growing in size and influence--and that's where the problem began.
Athens, GA was the first place that I can recall being considered "the place where ALL the cool music is coming from now", on the strength of R.E.M., Pylon, the B-52's, etc. all attaining prominence, and in some cases, cash...this would've been back in 1984 or so. Its picturesque Southernness helped win the attention of the music media, who instantly raised the town to mythic status. Even bands like the Butthole Surfers were fooled and moved to town (see Atzerodt's Our Band Can Be Your Life) to soak in the coolness. After a short time the town became glutted with music and people's focus had been steered elsewhere, due to the rise of some more interesting music. That city was Minneapolis, where the Replacements and Husker Du were tearing things up--so bands like Soul Asylum and Trip Shakespeare managed to profit in the inevitable wake of the media frenzy growing around town by scoring major label deals.
And after Minneapolis, there was New Zealand--after New Zealand, there was D.C.--after D.C., Seattle--after Seattle, Japan--after Japan, Chicago--after Chicago, NYC--the pattern repeats itself. The labels from each locus become huge--Twin/Tone, Flying Nun, Sub Pop, Dischord, and Thrill Jockey. And in each city/country their music scene was hyped to the skies as the greatest ever, etc. etc. Now it's 2005 and it seems that nothing is hotter than Finland and Rune Grammofon Records. I saw on Dusted's site last week an article talking about Byron Coley and Thurston Moore and the Avanto Music Festival and Byron Coley even says "Finland's burning, baby". So I guess it's official now. No more Scandinavian black metal--now it's time for musical eclecticism, Finland style, as their hardcore/jazz/film noir/neoclassical melanges begin to conquer the listening world.
I hate this shit. It's so transparently stupid. Bands are bands, cities are not bands, nor are countries. It's as if the American music scene has turned into a British scene where everything must be bigger, newer, and therefore better than what went before. For the record--bands like the Strokes, the Bravery, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs--they aren't music, they're indie-rock marketing plans....
I heard a good story from an acquaintance--who will remain unnamed--about a big indie rock band who likes his band a lot, to the point where they've opened for them in NYC and Brooklyn in years past. When this band (hint--they had the misfortune of playing N6 on the night of the 2nd stolen Bush election) was planning on cruising through the area the next time they were basically forbidden by their own management to have the band they wanted on the bill. Aesthetics be damned--there wasn't enough new product out on the college radio charts by my friend's band to justify them appearing with the bigger band. This mentality shows you that the major-label mindset has survived the internet's destruction of the music industry...rather than go find jobs in a new industry the shit has flowed downhill into the indie label world. So the shifting trends that circle around the indie world will probably become more numerous. In a way I guess I'm glad--I really can't stand most of this freak-folk stuff that's currently making the critical community swoon (like Devendra Barnhart, Espers, etc.), so I'm actually eagerly awaiting the next trend now. They've even got me now....and by the way, Animal Collective is a great band, but they aren't a folk band...that's why they're good.
So now the metal trend has passed, the ambient trend has passed, the post-rock trend has passed, the post-punk rehash disco trend has passed, and we are near the end of noise-rock's 15 minutes of fame. What will be next? What will you follow?
As a highschooler in the early 1980's I gave up listening to the radio by the time I was a sophomore. The creeping death of classic rock radio had just begun. Real, vital, creative rock music had disappeared from commercial horizons and word-of-mouth began to be the way in which true believers shared their knowledge and love of new bands. Fanzines were always a good way to get tipped on a new band, or maybe you'd discover a good band opening for a band that you already liked. The crowds in US cities for adventurous bands like the Minutemen, Black Flag, Husker Du, the Butthole Surfers, and R.E.M. made journalists pay attention to the scene that was growing in size and influence--and that's where the problem began.
Athens, GA was the first place that I can recall being considered "the place where ALL the cool music is coming from now", on the strength of R.E.M., Pylon, the B-52's, etc. all attaining prominence, and in some cases, cash...this would've been back in 1984 or so. Its picturesque Southernness helped win the attention of the music media, who instantly raised the town to mythic status. Even bands like the Butthole Surfers were fooled and moved to town (see Atzerodt's Our Band Can Be Your Life) to soak in the coolness. After a short time the town became glutted with music and people's focus had been steered elsewhere, due to the rise of some more interesting music. That city was Minneapolis, where the Replacements and Husker Du were tearing things up--so bands like Soul Asylum and Trip Shakespeare managed to profit in the inevitable wake of the media frenzy growing around town by scoring major label deals.
And after Minneapolis, there was New Zealand--after New Zealand, there was D.C.--after D.C., Seattle--after Seattle, Japan--after Japan, Chicago--after Chicago, NYC--the pattern repeats itself. The labels from each locus become huge--Twin/Tone, Flying Nun, Sub Pop, Dischord, and Thrill Jockey. And in each city/country their music scene was hyped to the skies as the greatest ever, etc. etc. Now it's 2005 and it seems that nothing is hotter than Finland and Rune Grammofon Records. I saw on Dusted's site last week an article talking about Byron Coley and Thurston Moore and the Avanto Music Festival and Byron Coley even says "Finland's burning, baby". So I guess it's official now. No more Scandinavian black metal--now it's time for musical eclecticism, Finland style, as their hardcore/jazz/film noir/neoclassical melanges begin to conquer the listening world.
I hate this shit. It's so transparently stupid. Bands are bands, cities are not bands, nor are countries. It's as if the American music scene has turned into a British scene where everything must be bigger, newer, and therefore better than what went before. For the record--bands like the Strokes, the Bravery, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs--they aren't music, they're indie-rock marketing plans....
I heard a good story from an acquaintance--who will remain unnamed--about a big indie rock band who likes his band a lot, to the point where they've opened for them in NYC and Brooklyn in years past. When this band (hint--they had the misfortune of playing N6 on the night of the 2nd stolen Bush election) was planning on cruising through the area the next time they were basically forbidden by their own management to have the band they wanted on the bill. Aesthetics be damned--there wasn't enough new product out on the college radio charts by my friend's band to justify them appearing with the bigger band. This mentality shows you that the major-label mindset has survived the internet's destruction of the music industry...rather than go find jobs in a new industry the shit has flowed downhill into the indie label world. So the shifting trends that circle around the indie world will probably become more numerous. In a way I guess I'm glad--I really can't stand most of this freak-folk stuff that's currently making the critical community swoon (like Devendra Barnhart, Espers, etc.), so I'm actually eagerly awaiting the next trend now. They've even got me now....and by the way, Animal Collective is a great band, but they aren't a folk band...that's why they're good.
So now the metal trend has passed, the ambient trend has passed, the post-rock trend has passed, the post-punk rehash disco trend has passed, and we are near the end of noise-rock's 15 minutes of fame. What will be next? What will you follow?
posted by alyosha mcbain at 1:30 PM
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