*sigh*
Thank you for your kind and witty sarcasm, Mr. Fresh. I'm personally
going to stop my participation in this thread after this message, because
I'm sure very few people here care about the opinions of curmudgeonly old
farts like Jon D and me (which is made all the more bizarre a statement
because Jon and I rarely agree about _anything_ having to do with music,
and I am _far_ from an old fart). BUT:
ph> Well so far Meat Beat Manifesto:
ph>
ph> 1) invented techno and dance music as we know it
No, but I will stand by my statement that they had a profound influence
on contemporary dance music. I can't state that as bald fact (there _are_
no facts when it comes to these matters), but I'm sure that if you ask
enough long-time technoheads, most of them will agree with me.
ph> 2) made a jungle record 5 years ago (1991), when Goldie was still
ph> tagging up walls. This means, of course, they invented jungle
Well, no. I don't know where Pete got that one from. ;) They did,
however, show a new direction for inventive rhythm programming in dance
music. And _don't_ tell me that you haven't heard the _Helter Skelter_
beats sampled all over the place.
ph> 3) brought trip-hop to new brilliant heights that none of the Ninja
ph> Tune compilation artists (DJ Food, Wagonchrist, Kruder &
ph> Dorfmeister) have come anywhere near
That depends on when you're willing to allow trip hop to date from, but
shit, take a listen to _Headz_ and then listen to _Storm the Studio_, and
then tell me a) whether you can hear the similarities and b) whether
_Storm the Studio_ still sounds fresh and interesting, whereas _Headz_ is
already beginning to sound somewhat dated. I can answer both of those
questions in the affirmative. You may not. *shrug*
ph> 4) make better distorted IDM than all of the rephlex crew (cylob,
ph> Mike P, RDJ). I assume we should include Autechre too, right?
When I listen to Mike P's _Metal Thing_ tracks, Cylob's crunchier bits,
and the crunchier funked-up Aphex Nuttiness (tm) (excepting the pounding
hard 4 on the floor masterpieces that RDJ used to crank out in which,
alas, he no longer seems to be interested), I hear echoes of _Dog Star
Man_. What Autechre and Freeform are doing is completely different, and
although I know that Jon's no big fan of theirs, I doubt that he'd lump
them in with the aforementioned three.
ph> 5) have done all this while wearing leather pants.
OK, buddy, enough with the leather pants. I've seen MBM many times since
1989, and I have _yet_ to see Jack Dangers, his bandmates, or his dancers
wearing leather (or even suede) trousers. Yeah, their original dancer had
him some goofy hair, but even he was far from your stereotypical
Goffed-Out Industrial Wheezer. Meat Beat have always pretty much followed
their own muse.
ph> Is there anything I'm missing? Oh yeah, they also also made alot of
ph> impressionable kids wear alot of bad clothes and funny makeup.
ph> hehe...
I think I just burst my spleen I'm laughing so hard. I've turned lots of
people onto MBM, and very few (if any) of them were industro kids. In
fact, MBM are one of the few bands (Skinny Puppy being another) in whom
I've remained interested since I graduated from being an experimental
industrial fan into being a technohead / DJ. And I think I've worn
eyeliner maybe three or four times, and all of those were when I was in
drag. Believe what you like, but my experience tells me that Meat Beat
are, have been, and probably will continue to be about far more than
industrial music or even techno. I believe that they're true innovators,
and to be completely honest, I don't even know why I'm bothering replying
to this letter, because I don't really give a shit what other people
think. *feral grin*
ozymandias
PS -- Am I sounding like an old fart yet?
. . . the self-reflecting image of a narcotized mind . . .
ozymandias G desiderata ogd@organic.com Desperate, Deathless
(415)278-5674
http://www.organic.com/Staff/ogd/ ::AOAIOXXYSZ::