Re: newsgroup and other stuff

Mark Turner (mturner@netcom.com)
Thu, 7 Mar 1996 14:05:36 -0800 (PST)


I said:
> > >
> > The whole issue of "underground" music is problematic to me.
> > I agree with Chris that it's nice to share a special interest
> > and be able to talk about it with a group of people on lists
> > like this. However, shouldn't we all be striving to make the
> > music more popular? While there will always be lame records
>
Then Geoff said:

> I think I missed the point. Why should we strive to make the music more
> popular? I kinda get turned off by overproduced commercial music mass
> produced for the masses (excuse the cliche). I love the music. I love
> the variety in it. I think that when music becomes so popular, it merges
> diverse thoughts into the thought of big $$$ (read: same song, different
> group or: same s*it, different day). The pop audience seems to love
> something one day, hate it the next. It took me a long time listening to
> many different styles to gravitate to the love of AJ that I have now. I
> think that once the pop audience was done with AJ, all we would have is
> shreds of broken up groups. Of course something else would come along.
> Last point: would you like groovin' to some great AJ in the middle of a
> top 40 crowd? *shiver* Wow, does this seem so negative? Have a nice
> day! I think all of you on the group are great. Really, I mean that.
>
When I suggested we strive to make the music more popular,
I didn't mean to suggest that the music itself should change.
What I meant was that we should try to expose people to the
music we already love. If more people starting buying acid jazz,
that would create more opportunities and avenues for acid jazz
artists to express themselves. There will *always* be bandwagon
jumpers; we've got plenty of those already. But if there were
more record companies investing in acid jazz artists, there
would have to be a lot more good stuff as well.

Popular music has not always been synonymous with over-produced
crap. Think of Motown, or the Beatles, or Duke Ellington. I
might be naive, but I think if radio stations were a little more
adventurous in their programming, and record company execs were
willing to invest in artists who broke the molds instead of
conforming to them, the whole music scene would be much better off.

I personally try to expose as many people as possible to the
music *I* like. I realize that not everyone is as passionate
about music as I am, or has the time to scour the specialty
stores for that elusive white-label promo copy of fill-in-the-blank.
But if I can turn 5 people on to something good, and then they
turn 5 more people on, etc., etc., then before you know it DJ
Krush will be coming to *your* town because acid jazz is a viable
commodity. (I can dream, can't I?)

-- 
 Mark Turner
 mturner@netcom.com