hofmann@NRL-CSS.ARPA (Jim Hofmann) (10/27/86)
The wavo grunts: >From: wicinski <wicinski@nrl-cst.arpa> Status: R >>but Elvis Costello is "mainstream" rock and so is Pete Gabbyreal and even, >>yes, after "running up dat hill", kate bush. >>come on... mr "flame on" - they get "mainstream" mersh play - they get on >>mtv - they are "mainstream" rock. >hey then by that token half japanese, black flag, minutemen, henry >rollins, and clitia lunch are mainstream artists. Where do they get "mainstream" mersh play? I wanna hear it... and being on the "Cutting Edge" on MTV doesn't mean they are mainstream. When I walk down the street and hear somebody whistling "Parnoid Time" then maybe I'll believe you. It's safe to assume that you can hear "Every Day I write the Book" or "Sledgehammer" or "Running up that Hill" all around the commercial dial and on MTV and on USA TV and even on V-TV (or whatever that light listening TV channel is called) >don't listen to hofmann - he's a dink. he is right, elvis is on >columbia, therefore he is mainstream. he sucks their dicks, and they >release his records. Typical, Wicinski, typical... >"No more tough guy shit/I hear your mommy call, ohh ohh" -Embrace "Closer.... do you want to hear a secret..." p.s. to Sue, sorry about the Woodentops but they ARE primarily a studio band (and didn't Adrien Sherwood produce their last album as well as that AWFUL 12"...) but they seem to be getting worse and worse in the unholy name of "accessibility" (pop rock crits favorite words besides "maturity")...
nessus@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/29/86)
I disagree with Hofmann's definition of "mainstream". I think that
mainstream does not mean "popular", but rather "conventional".
Unconventional music usually isn't very popular, so it might seem easy
to confuse the two, but I'm sure there's mucho mainstream music that
isn't all that popular. Thus, we can't equate "mainstream" with
"popular".
The reason Peter Gabriel's *SO* is mainstream is not because it is
popular. On the other hand, one of the strongest reasons for its
popularity compared to his previous albums, is certainly *SO*'s
mainstreamness. *SO* is mainstream because the music is largely
fairly conventional. Gabriel even said in interviews that on this
album he was trying for much more conventional song-writing.
I think that it is indeed possible for something to be popular and not
be mainstream. I'm convinced that with the proper advertising,
*anything* can be made popular, at least for a while. And sometimes,
things that aren't mainstream become popular for various reasons. If
they stay popular for long enough, they become mainstream because they
have *defined* conventions.
Kate Bush has always been *very* popular (though a lot of people also
thought her music very strange) in England, but until *Hounds of
Love*, her music was usually pretty non-mainstream (though, of course,
she did always have mainstream songs like "The Man With The Child In
His Eyes") because most it wasn't very conventional. It can't be the
popularity of *Hounds of Love* that makes it more mainstream, because
she's always been popular.
>ougwicinski@NRL-CST.ARPA (wicinski) (10/30/86)
>I disagree with Hofmann's definition of "mainstream". I think that >mainstream does not mean "popular", but rather "conventional". >Unconventional music usually isn't very popular, so it might seem easy >to confuse the two, but I'm sure there's mucho mainstream music that >isn't all that popular. Thus, we can't equate "mainstream" with >"popular". yea we can, we're assholes and we can say what we like. YOU on the other hand, are lost in a mass of medicore whining. >I think that it is indeed possible for something to be popular and not >be mainstream. I'm convinced that with the proper advertising, >*anything* can be made popular, at least for a while. And sometimes, >things that aren't mainstream become popular for various reasons. If >they stay popular for long enough, they become mainstream because they >have *defined* conventions. who wants to be popular ?? YOU ?? why, so armpit-festering wavos can come over to your sleazy little apartment with you kate bush blow up doll and blow your brains out ?? your talking in circles in a VAIN attempt to rationalize gabriels and bush's rise to whatever place in they are. She's not popular in Beltsville, Motorhead is. They think kate won't be popular until she sounds like Lemmy. or at least sleeps with Lemmy (which i have heard is alreadry true). I think the Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Meatmen, and Volcano Suns are mainstream acts. prove me wrong, cause i gotta go see lesbo's in action. dickhead