RE: What the heck is happening to "ALTERNATIVE" music???

I Find Karma (adam@cs.caltech.edu)
Fri, 18 Apr 97 17:18:48 PDT


> Who cares what MTV thinks is or will be in? Who cares what gets labeled
> as "Alternative"?

I care, for 3 reasons:

1) When something has MTV & Record Company support, it is largely
inescapable in most forms of mass media.

2) When something doesn't have support, the likelihood of its
surviving is small in this day and age.

3) If you can even hope to have a hand on the pulse of pop culture,
you have to know what's popular. This means listening to it,
deconstructing it, and figuring out why it became popular.

> The only real reason to care is to make sure that KUCI
> or KFJC (where I live) or whatever doesn't duplicate what's already
> being played to death on other stations (in other words, so they can
> actually provide a little-a alternative to the commercial stations).

I'm saying the mainstream Alternative could squash the little-a
alternative if it wanted to, so we should all be careful to support the
little guys.

> I listen to the radio mostly just to add to my knowledge of what's out
> there, so that I know what to buy. Most of my time I spend listening to
> CDs in a somewhat ahistorical fashion. This week I'm listening to a lot
> of Robin Hitchcock and Skinny Puppy and Bongwater. Last week it was Ella
> Fitzgerald and Wire. This probably labels me as a musical retard,
> especially because I'm listening to way too much OLD music. Oh well.

Retarded or not, old music doesn't get made anymore. By definition.

----
adam@cs.caltech.edu

Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.
-- the Specials