the word pop is indeed derived from a slightly longer word, "popular".
but i don't think that just because something is more popular than
something else automatically makes it "pop."
while i'll agree that Aphex and Autechre are certainly a helluva lot more
popular than Richard Devine and L'usine, i have a hard time applying the
term Pop to either of them.
I think the defining characteristic of Pop music is the intention of the
artist to appeal to The Unwashed Masses. The Spice Girls are Pop. Puff
Daddy is Pop. These artists (loosely applied term, heh heh) try very very
hard to make sure that their music challenges nobody, and appeals to the
widest demographic possible.
I guess you could draw the further boundary of 'Mainstream Pop' and
'Underground Pop' and in that case i suppose you'd probably wind up
catching about 1/3 of aphex's material in there ... but that's not my
point
My point is that the size of the audience doesn't dictate whether music is
Pop. It's the artist who dictates this by aiming their music at the
current tastes of the Mainstream.
I remember Balil, B12, Beaumont Hannant and many other artists that don't
start with the letter "b" and I think that if anything, most of the new
music discussed on this list is 10 times more challenging than what those
guys were doing five or seven years ago. I know that's an unfair
comparison for me to make, but I think that just because many of the
people on this list weren't kicking it old school with their Artificial
Intelligence compilations in 1993 doesn't mean that the music discussed on
the list is Pop.
--
String Theory : Digital Music for Humans
http://www.enteract.com/~yoshi/index.cgi
On Mon, 17 Jul 2000, Gause, Brian wrote:
quoted 84 lines Activated: Elite Filter V.1.2.2.2>>
> Activated: Elite Filter V.1.2.2.2>>
>
> For those of us who have been around this list for years, all this
> blubbering around, trying to collect skam and autechre in 2000 like it's
> going out of style IS pop. To those of us who remember Balil, B12, Beaumont
> Hannant, or RDJ when he was Diceman, IDM has BECOME pop.
>
> More than anything, pop culture is a matter of perspective. IDM may not be
> full-on pop a la britney spears or MTV-crud, but to many of us on this list,
> it IS pop.
>
> Deactivated: Elite Filter V.1.2.2.2>>
>
> Of course, I like what I like and I couldn't care less whether it's pop or
> underground. I don't listen for you, I listen for me.
>
> ---brian
>
> ----------------------------------
> Brian W. Gause
> Senior Technical Writer
> SECTORBASE.com
> 568 Howard Street
> First Floor
> San Francisco, CA 94105
> Direct: (415) 365-8203
> Fax: (415) 365-8263
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: isophlux [mailto:isophlux@isophlux.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 3:36 PM
> To: idm@hyperreal.org
> Subject: [idm] Six of one! 1/2 dozen of the other!!!
>
>
> Everything is Pop music. Some is just more Pop than others.
> >Anti-Pop eats itself.
> >It occurs to me also that anti-elitism quickly becomes yet another
> >form of elitism. One can never escape.
>
> Fuck that!!! Then everyone gets a free pass outta jail!!!
>
> I did not say Anti-pop or anything about anti-elitism. It's allot
> simpler then that. I just stated it's not Pop music!!! When this so
> called IDM music starts riots with 12 and 15 year girls and boys out
> side the M-TV studios, on total request live with Carson, then it's pop
> music. Or the next time your at the gas station and you pick up a new
> Skam release while you pay for your gas, then it's pop music!!!! Or when
> you go see IDM the Movie, then it's pop music. Or a NBC special on the
> making of a IDM artist, then it's pop music. So lets not go down the
> arty farty tip on what's pop music and what's the rating of IDM on the
> Pop-o-meter. So when I'm riding my ass in a new Mercedes SLK 55 down
> Broadway with a super model by my side sucking on my fingers, then I'll
> think different about the multi-shades/omni-ism of pop music. But for
> know we are just lucky to have as much distribution as we do.
>
> Oh!and about the time on tracks: Who cares about if what you make today
> is in style 6 months from now. The main reason artist make music is to
> suggest a mood, or a statement on the way they feel at the time. To
> produce something for themselves, and if it gets to see the light of day
> on a record,Mp3,CD-R or what ever, and they get to share it with 5
> people or 5 million people then good. As long as people can walk away
> with something from the music, then that's all that counts. So it's not
> about get it out quick before it goes out of style!! It's about making
> music that you can play two months or two years later and still fell
> good about it. So fuck that cashing in shit!!! If that's the case, lets
> all wait around and see what AFX or Warp or whoever does next so we can
> ride their ass to the bank and cash in our 50 cents.
>
> Isophlux
>
> Oh!! and thanks Willy B.
>
>
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