DISCLAIMERS:
1) I am writing this on a separate thread from Gregg75 because unlike Gregg, I WILL read everyone's comment and will respond if need be.
2) This is going to be a long one but I will break it up nicely (DJ Perry, giving you the heads up on this)
--------
Okay, here we go.....
Once again the topic of hip-hop in dance has come up and once again the arguments that hip-hop has no place in dance music has been brought up.
For those of you that have known me all these years, yes I am a purist regarding dance music, guilty as charged! For all of the posts that I have made, prior to the beginning of this year, you have seen my pro, staunch views regarding dance music and how the format CAN stand on its own two feet if more exposure occurred. However, after seeing a couple of things happen in New York City, right after the Pulse 87/Party FM mess, my views have changed and it's mainly because of a lot of ugliness that came out around that time.
I haven't seen SO MUCH bitterness and hatred going on during the time that Pulse had to shutter because of financial difficulties with the parent company, and the brand of sound that Party FM brought in whereas everyone who was used to Pulse basically "freaked out". I never forgot about that "John Pine" video that was placed on YouTube and that eventually raged my own personal anger at our community because of that. That is the point where I saw elitism "in my face" and thought to myself (since this person used a pseudonym and WAS a member of my coalition) that for what I've done, I've indirectly caused more harm than good. I was THISCLOSE to shutting the coalition down in disgust.
It was at that time, as I was taking a "time out" from everything I realized that dance music is NOT a strong product here as realized....even with airplay. Not on its OWN. And while the core fans will always love the dance music sound, it wasn't bringing in a new crowd in the process. And when someone WOULD come in, just getting into the scene, and want to know about the music but didn't know certain things (the "techno" argument, is (put pop artist here) dance?), those that are core in nature would quickly lambast such a person as being "ignorant" when in fact, that newbie really didn't know. That would bring in intimidation and in effect, we would lose a potential new fan.
Fast forward a couple of months. Dance music has started to receive some airplay on CHR stations (mainly thanks to artists such as Lady Gaga and producers such as David Guetta). Things are looking up. At the same time, hip-hop is on a downturn whereas some hip-hop artists are going the dance route with remixes of their tracks. To say that they shouldn't be involved in dance.....IS WRONG.
Granted, I certainly don't want the hip-hop "core" sound in dance music (aka what Hot 97, Power 106 or other similar stations play). But if a hip-hop/R&B artist wanted to cross over to our sound, do their thing so as they are respectful to what we are about, I see NOTHING wrong with that. If anything, I encourage it!
On my online show there are times I would play a dance track whereas you had a person rap on it. With that, there was positive feedback! Point is, yeah there was rap to it, but it is STILL a dance track and we have to start being acceptant of that instead of coming off as the "dance police", "elitist", "thumbing the nose" saying that rap (which is really what I consider it instead of "hip-hop") has NO place in dance music. In effect, we've lost our standing on all of these elitist thoughts.
I've often brought up that "20-something year old girl", the girl who has her 3 BFF's in a club buying up shots of Patron and bum rushing the dance floor because they are hearing a Rihanna remix that the DJ is playing. That is the crowd WE have to get over to our side. We need them because there ARE more of those girls than there are core dance fans. And if the R&B/rap material will get them to explore further into what is "pure" dance, then we have to embrace and welcome it.
It's not just about catering to the core fan because lets face it, we may have had dance stations come and go over the years but we still have only 4 DANCE STATIONS in this country! WE ARE NOTHING compared to other contemporary genres. And backhandedly, I think the elitist attitude that is out there hurt us more than helped. A post like Gregg, a few years ago, I would have embraced. Now I find it disgusting.
In New York, we have 92.3 Now. While mainly a CHR station, they have been adding dance music onto their rotation. They even have a Saturday night show. I think THAT'S what has been helping dance as of late as more CHR's realize that a potential crowd can be had. I don't expect (I take that back) I WOULD NOT WANT THEM...to change a thing. I think this time around things have to be "spoon fed" slowly but surely instead of just "shoving" things in. For a market like New York where it is rhythmic, you COULD get away with "shoving" because of the strong following but in other markets, in small cities especially, that will NEVER fly.
I will always LOVE dance music and consider myself as a "purist". But I also consider myself a "realist" and know that this time around as a community we have to do a "give and take". We've lost MUCH ground after the Pulse/Party mess and need to gain that back. And we cannot come in there with this "bravado" attitude of shoving our purist mentality to those that don't know...and if anything are TURNED OFF by it. This time, more than ever, BE HUMBLE. And for those that still want to remain purist and bash others that aren't, then you really have NO place in our community. I've banned people from the coalition because of that. We need to keep things positive.
I know this was long but there was SOOOO much I had to say, especially upon reading Gregg's post that he will never respond to. I wasn't going to discuss it in there because "why should I shout to deaf ears?" Point is, we cannot have that type of mentality anymore and as dance music fans that love radio, you all have a responsibility to "carry that torch" for the positivity of the music.
Welcome people in! So what if Jay Sean remixed a track. Better than having NOTHING AT ALL.
Thank you for your time,
TS
1) I am writing this on a separate thread from Gregg75 because unlike Gregg, I WILL read everyone's comment and will respond if need be.
2) This is going to be a long one but I will break it up nicely (DJ Perry, giving you the heads up on this)
--------
Okay, here we go.....
Once again the topic of hip-hop in dance has come up and once again the arguments that hip-hop has no place in dance music has been brought up.
For those of you that have known me all these years, yes I am a purist regarding dance music, guilty as charged!
For all of the posts that I have made, prior to the beginning of this year, you have seen my pro, staunch views regarding dance music and how the format CAN stand on its own two feet if more exposure occurred. However, after seeing a couple of things happen in New York City, right after the Pulse 87/Party FM mess, my views have changed and it's mainly because of a lot of ugliness that came out around that time.I haven't seen SO MUCH bitterness and hatred going on during the time that Pulse had to shutter because of financial difficulties with the parent company, and the brand of sound that Party FM brought in whereas everyone who was used to Pulse basically "freaked out". I never forgot about that "John Pine" video that was placed on YouTube and that eventually raged my own personal anger at our community because of that. That is the point where I saw elitism "in my face" and thought to myself (since this person used a pseudonym and WAS a member of my coalition) that for what I've done, I've indirectly caused more harm than good. I was THISCLOSE to shutting the coalition down in disgust.
It was at that time, as I was taking a "time out" from everything I realized that dance music is NOT a strong product here as realized....even with airplay. Not on its OWN. And while the core fans will always love the dance music sound, it wasn't bringing in a new crowd in the process. And when someone WOULD come in, just getting into the scene, and want to know about the music but didn't know certain things (the "techno" argument, is (put pop artist here) dance?), those that are core in nature would quickly lambast such a person as being "ignorant" when in fact, that newbie really didn't know. That would bring in intimidation and in effect, we would lose a potential new fan.
Fast forward a couple of months. Dance music has started to receive some airplay on CHR stations (mainly thanks to artists such as Lady Gaga and producers such as David Guetta). Things are looking up. At the same time, hip-hop is on a downturn whereas some hip-hop artists are going the dance route with remixes of their tracks. To say that they shouldn't be involved in dance.....IS WRONG.
Granted, I certainly don't want the hip-hop "core" sound in dance music (aka what Hot 97, Power 106 or other similar stations play). But if a hip-hop/R&B artist wanted to cross over to our sound, do their thing so as they are respectful to what we are about, I see NOTHING wrong with that. If anything, I encourage it!
On my online show there are times I would play a dance track whereas you had a person rap on it. With that, there was positive feedback! Point is, yeah there was rap to it, but it is STILL a dance track and we have to start being acceptant of that instead of coming off as the "dance police", "elitist", "thumbing the nose" saying that rap (which is really what I consider it instead of "hip-hop") has NO place in dance music. In effect, we've lost our standing on all of these elitist thoughts.
I've often brought up that "20-something year old girl", the girl who has her 3 BFF's in a club buying up shots of Patron and bum rushing the dance floor because they are hearing a Rihanna remix that the DJ is playing. That is the crowd WE have to get over to our side. We need them because there ARE more of those girls than there are core dance fans. And if the R&B/rap material will get them to explore further into what is "pure" dance, then we have to embrace and welcome it.
It's not just about catering to the core fan because lets face it, we may have had dance stations come and go over the years but we still have only 4 DANCE STATIONS in this country! WE ARE NOTHING compared to other contemporary genres. And backhandedly, I think the elitist attitude that is out there hurt us more than helped. A post like Gregg, a few years ago, I would have embraced. Now I find it disgusting.
In New York, we have 92.3 Now. While mainly a CHR station, they have been adding dance music onto their rotation. They even have a Saturday night show. I think THAT'S what has been helping dance as of late as more CHR's realize that a potential crowd can be had. I don't expect (I take that back) I WOULD NOT WANT THEM...to change a thing. I think this time around things have to be "spoon fed" slowly but surely instead of just "shoving" things in. For a market like New York where it is rhythmic, you COULD get away with "shoving" because of the strong following but in other markets, in small cities especially, that will NEVER fly.
I will always LOVE dance music and consider myself as a "purist". But I also consider myself a "realist" and know that this time around as a community we have to do a "give and take". We've lost MUCH ground after the Pulse/Party mess and need to gain that back. And we cannot come in there with this "bravado" attitude of shoving our purist mentality to those that don't know...and if anything are TURNED OFF by it. This time, more than ever, BE HUMBLE. And for those that still want to remain purist and bash others that aren't, then you really have NO place in our community. I've banned people from the coalition because of that. We need to keep things positive.
I know this was long but there was SOOOO much I had to say, especially upon reading Gregg's post that he will never respond to. I wasn't going to discuss it in there because "why should I shout to deaf ears?" Point is, we cannot have that type of mentality anymore and as dance music fans that love radio, you all have a responsibility to "carry that torch" for the positivity of the music.
Welcome people in! So what if Jay Sean remixed a track. Better than having NOTHING AT ALL.
Thank you for your time,
TS