> Over the past day, I've listened to, among other disks stacks on > top of my monitor, Terry Riley, Sigur Ros, Jaco Pastorius, Patti > Smith, James Blood Ulmer, John Zorn, and Kodo. All of these were > purchased at major chain record stores. Because you knew what you were looking for? I don't think there's a lack of CDs out there - its easier to make one than ever. But those CDs just won't get the marketing of the mainstream stuff. I think there's always been a two-tier music audience, one listener driven, one marketing driven. The problem is that the marketing driven stuff is so pervasive that it crowds out the rest, even though we have so many more ways to listen now. There was a live debate on this very issue last night on BBC Radio 2. Indie labels complained that when they take a new release to the radio stations (in the UK) the station management is more interested in the marketing 'plot' than hearing the music. In other words, if your song has got money behind it, it will get on the radio. I suppose the problem (as in so many other fields) is that we've allowed the accountants and lawyers to take over from the people who really care about what they do for a living. > What we may be seeing here is an instance of the fallacy of > nostalgia: sure, to reference Theodore Sturgeon, 90% of everything > is crap, but 90% of everything always *has* been crap. Maybe. > Most of the > older stuff has just been forgotten. This might explain why so much music around in the UK at the moment is derivative. If you know your music (either because like me, you own a turntable and have lots of old vinyl, or because like everyone else I know, you use Kazaa a lot) you can pinpoint the exact source of a riff, or a vocal. Not samples, but pale imitations. I guess most people can't, otherwise they'd be buying the original instead. I loved the Pixies, but there's a lot of bands at the moment who imitate them so closely that they may as well be a tribute band. But since tribute bands are very popular in pubs and clubs these days, maybe that's the reason. Cheers Daniel
