Dirk said:
> Mark,
> While I agree with the spirit of your post..why you got ta diss Moby?
Ha! I knew somebody would give me shit for name-checking...I just figured
it would be about the guy with the big hat, instead of the born-again
vegetarian. ;-)
Seriously, I don't know Jay OR Moby...they may both be totally sincere, for
all I know. But I wasn't dissing them as people, only their marketable
image vs. musical worth. You have to agree that they've BOTH gotten more
press than they deserve, in relation to their respective contributions to
music. Correct?
> Jay
> from Jamiroquai has always been a spotlight hunting egoist. Only now his
> lack of originality has finally caught up with him. He doesn't seem like a
> terribly cool dude, though I did love LOVE early Jamiroquai records. Moby
> ain't like that. He's a down to earth, heck of a nice guy and has
> tried MOST
> of the time to do interesting work. There was a period where he
> seemed to be
> caught in a circle, repeating himself, but I think the last
> record is quite
> good DESPITE it being a huge success.
Little Axe was sampling blues records in 1994! What has Moby done that's
innovative?
> Anyway I think we can pick worst artists to pick on than Moby and
> far bigger
> labels than V2. In fact that's the new secret for the majors: get
> yourself a
> trendy imprint and run it like an indie...just with lots of money and
> marketing support. And lo and behold you get: V2 (the new Virgin with
> distribution by BMG), Astralwerks (Virgin), Jive Electro, F-111, 1500,
> Kinetic, etc etc. (Mind you some of those labels have their moments). And
> when push comes to shove I think the indies are just as guilty as
> the majors
> when it comes to flooding the market with mediocre product..go check the
> compilation (or trance) section of any big record store for some obvious
> proof.
You are right on all counts. There are definitely worse artists, and
definitely some lame-assed indies out there putting out garbage. But when
the average mall and/or chain record store can't even GET the good stuff,
because the big distributors don't carry anything but major-label stuff,
then you've got a problem. But you know more about this than I do; if I'm
wrong please correct me.
> Rereading your post (again) I wanted to point out something else..dance
> music isn't unique when it comes to pushing "marketable" bands
> over musical
> merits.
Certainly true. But the dance music genre is unique in that its records do
not necessarily have a "performance" equivalent that other musical genres
have. Many dance records are pure studio creations, and the artist cannot
or will not perform live, appear in videos, etc. So what you find is that
artists who DO perform live and make videos often become successful over
those who do not. In my opinion, music should stand or fall on its own
merits, not on ancillary factors like concerts and videos.
> [Njoi story deleted]
>
> Maybe what makes a "great entertainer" is different from what
> makes a "great
> musician" and the problem is sometimes we confuse the two?
Yes, entertainers and musicians may overlap but those are two different
skill sets.
> Maybe in some
> sick, twisted way Britney Spears is "better" than DJ Shadow--not as a
> musician, but as an entertainer....hhhmmmmmm
Well, if we could just get DJ Shadow to remix Britney Spears, then we'd have
the best of both worlds. :-)
______________________________________________
Mark Turner nugroove@pacbell.net
Hear "Jazzadelica" with Rocky Rococo on KFJC
Sundays 10pm-2am, 89.7 FM, Los Altos Hills, CA
Web: http://home.pacbell.net/nugroove/
______________________________________________
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