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"out" is out itself



I don't think the term "out" that we're talking about has anything to do with "outsiders" in this sense.  "Out" has to do with whether something is no longer being designated by (often self-appointed) critics as "hip", "cool", or otherwise interesting to them - and since such people always have some claim to the pulse of the public, we should all bow down, admit how right they are, and follow their "hip" example/instructions.  Bullocks!  Bolshoi!  (expletive debated but deleted)
 
I think that in many cases the wonderfully vague (and to middle-of-the road folks, often discouraging) term "new music" was only used after the established music biz' sales/distribution centres' dismal failures at attempting to categorize this broad creative swath we and others continue to paint.  I think a great example of this is the migration path seen in mainstream record/cd stores that Eno's material took after his departure from Roxy Music:
 
    Stage 1: no appearance
    Stage 2: Experimental section
    Stage 3: Electronic section
    Stage 4: New Age section (this was around 1987)
    Stage 5: New Music
    Stage 6: Rock A-Z (after the cigar-chompers figured out he'd produced U2)
 
So which of the above actually applies?  I think the above is more reflective of the increasing lack of comprehension on the part of sales/distribution people - and their cheerleaders in the press - than anything else.  If Eno had produced Nirvana as well, they'd have probably shifted him over to the frigging "Alternative" section.  I really hate having to come up with a label for what I do - and having settled on "Ambient-situational" I now find the so-called rules of definition changing yet again.  Oh, if I had a drum n' bass behind it, it'd be "Hard Trance" huh?  I suspect the answer for us as artists lies in being true to our own muses and music, and while keeping an eye on what people are calling it, not allowing such corn/pigeonholing to divert or distract us from What We're Doing.  If we're interested in Marketing and Sales figures getting bigger, that's a separate issue altogether.
 
And now the separate issue.
 
On the rec.music.gdead newsgroup (Grateful Dead, remember them?) (sarcasm inserted for the under-25 set) someone had been told how Phish was a bit like Little Feat and Frank Zappa combined with the Dead's jamming sets.  (Whether or not this is true is irrelevant)  He'd gone to the store and looked up Little Feat, picking up the few collections that exist, but was obviously daunted a bit by the huge numbers of releases (thank you Ryko!).  So he went out to the newsgroup and asked for suggestions from the denizens therein as to which Zappa albums were the best for him to start with.
 
Believe it or not one wag, who'd probably never heard Zappa beyond the sparce airplay he got, popped up with a comment along the lines of "well, if you're interested in a guy who eats sh#t on stage..."  I therefore had to take issue and set him straight about where THAT so-called legend came from (many consider John Scher's thug "security" men to be the source, after having been dressed down by FZ at a show - a kid lit up a joint, only to be pounced upon and beaten by two of Scher's nazis, whereupon Frank stopped everything on stage and yelled at them to let him alone).  I also recalled the Alice Cooper "chicken incident" - the time someone in the audience threw a poor pullet up on stage, Alice tossed it back into the crowd, and the band watched in horror as the crowd tore the bird apart.  The next day the papers read "Alice Cooper beheads chicken" - and worse - and he got a phone call from Frank, wherein he asked "Did you do it?", and advised "Don't tell them you didn't."  The publicity seemed shocking to most at the time, and boosted sales through the roof.  Most Alice Cooper listeners knew this hadn't really happened, but it sure made for fun boast-sessions, if not also a means to shock people who probably would never listen to him anyway.  Hell, I remember when all one had to do to get certain people to leave a party was play Pink Floyd, and tell them you were doing so (these folks didn't know much more than a few pieces anyway). 
 
So what's my point?  Just about any publicity is good unless people believe it enough to stop you from creating your art.  Again, Perception is often Everything to most folks.  Ask Eminem - he popped a few Smints while walking onstage at a show, and the next day the UK press was going on about him popping Ecstacy in front of his fans.  To quote Foghorn Leghorn, "It's a joke, Son."
 
Stephen Goodman
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