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Why does dance music do so poorly in the U.S., but not in Europe? (and more)

K

kc0ltv

Why do Americans tend to be so dance music-averse?

That's the first question. Answer it the best you can. I want to know.

Electronic dance music is obviously very popular in Europe, as well as in parts of the Middle East. It seems to do better in Canada, Japan, other parts of Asia, and perhaps even Latin America than in the U.S. I'm wondering what people's personal experiences are with parts of the world other than North America and Europe - where else is dance music big?
 
[EDIT]
I actually did nine paragraph epics on this years ago, no real stars in dance, an aversion to pop success by the tastemakers, the boom boom din of house music,subject matter being totally out of touch with the u.s. audience but...
we'll stick with [EDIT]


[EDIT-offensive content]
 
The stars are there, the music is there. The promotion to the mainstream isnt. Plus Top 40 PD's dont have the marbles to program from their hearts anymore
 
What stars? I'm a fan of dance music, you'll hear it every chance I can squeeze one on the air, but besides Natalie from Cascada, who out there right now has the looks and star quality to really hit a homerun with the young Top 40 crowds.

Unfortunately most of my favorites are aging, some better than others and none really scream Top 40 potential anymore...
 
September, Jupiter Rising, Lucas Prata, Danielle Bollinger, Kim Leoni and I could go on. Are they stars in the eyes of the mainstream but they are there. Its a matter of promoting the music. You get in front of people and there is a reaction. Not to mention that hip hops BPM's are going up. twice in the last 6 months my station has been involved with a show that featured 2 of these artists. Both times we sold out the clubs. At least 2000 in each place with a line trying to still get in. The music is there, we all just need to keep up the cause.
 
The biggest star the genre has had this decade is a certain DJ/producer known as Tiesto, even moreso then Oakenfold. Tiesto is the only Dance artist right now whose able to sell out venues in places like St. Louis and Winnipeg, alongside all the places Dance artists usually try to swing through. Hell, tickets to see Tiesto in Aspen, Colorado (in the summertime no less) start at $90. Even most Pop stars can't charge that kind of amount. Personally I think it's an outrageous fee, but it proves what a huge pull this guy has, and many of his events sell out months in advance
Tiesto is going to be playing at a venue that holds 5000 ppl in Atlanta, 8000 in Washington and San Francisco, and 15,000 in L.A. (at the sports arena). He's even playing at GM Place in Vancouver (which can hold 20,000 people). Back in Europe he's played for crowds of over 25,000 people a number of times, and it wasn't at a Dance festival - it was at Tiesto events. He's also played in front of close to 20,000 people in Johannesburg South Africa.
Lastly, he's also the only DJ whose ever played at the Olympics.
 
he's a DJ star, not percieved as a recording artist per se, and that don't fly in the USA,just the way it is, in the same way that people who hear "world Hold On' announced as Bob Sinclar assume that that is who the vocalist is; America is very anal about such things, and I can't imagine what might ever change that, especially as EVERYONE is a dj now, thanks to Myspace and Youtube, the reverence for DJ as recording/performance artist, in America, is a series of isolated situations(usually at mass audience 'raves',where it's as much about socializing and drugs as it is about the name on the poster), at best, east and west coast, and even that syndrome has peaked in the last few years...
 
Definitely not going to argue with that statement Lalumia b/c there's a lot of truth to it, but the guy's got quite a pull.
It's weird how mainstream America largely doesn't get DJ culture even though the first legendary DJs were all based in NYC and Chicago. Go figure.

It's also true what you wrote about people perceiving Bob Sinclar as the singer when in actuality, like Tiesto, he's a DJ and producer (as a producer one can definitely regard him as a recording artist). Hell, I remember that even when DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince came out everybody though it was Jazz on the vocals and not Will Smith.
 
X ft. Y in my opinion needs to go. If a DJ produces a track just get the production credits. It makes it harder for the vocalist to get gigs. The Roc Project when they hit it big became a problem with the Tina Arena and Tina Novak situation.

Again I a convinced the music is there and so is the artist. Give them the exposure and doors will open.
 
x feat. y became a vanity situation for producers, and completely destroyed the dynamics necessary for the way hit radio works in America.

very often, an armand van helden or sinclar will show up at a gig with a vocalist who is clearly not the person on the original record, and while that may work in europe, in america, an audience would take the imposter outside and you'd never see them again;
the cultural divide has been the perception problem for years,and the fact that a sinclar didn't get shoved onto MTV's TRL or the morning CHR chat shows, the way Mandy Moore or Snoop Dogg does, is all defeating any chance of a break through....
also, unlike vocalists, the producers are so dry and un-fabulous that they make for a very dry, snore inducing interview, only of interest to the already converted...
 
X Feat. Y has always been a strong component of House music, and you can trace it back to its first success stories in the mid to late 80s.
Farley Jackmaster Funk's "Love Can't Turn Around" was huge in Chicago, and a Top 10 hit in the UK back in 1986. Farley was one of 3 Chicago DJs who produced the track, and the vocals were sung by Darryl Pandi.
How about Ralphi Rosario's "You Used To Hold Me"? Or Frankie Knuckles & Satoshi Tomiie's "Tears", which featured the vocals of Robert Owens.

Two of Hot 97 New York's popular mixshow DJs also dabbled in production. First gaining fame via remixes to Noel, then working on an album for Seduction that spun 3 hits, Cole & Cliviles had a few big hits of their own in 91 under the name C&C Music Factory. C&C had a singer and a Rapper, but it was the producers who were at the forefront. Similar to Dance projects like Snap or 2 Unlimited, or even the Todd Terry Project, where singers and Rappers would change over time, but it was the producers who would stay the same.

With that kind of history I don't see the concept of X Feat. Y changing anytime soon. Besides, guys like Tiesto and Bob Sinclar have had plenty of releases that didn't feature any vocals, or maybe a few snippets and samples (like Bob Sinclar's "Feel For You").
 
Oh I got to agree on the producers being boring. I cant say all of them but PVD was the worst interview I have ever done. Im not just talking musically either. Ive interviewed politicians, pro athletes, movie stars and the list can go on. I thought it was me, then I met him at WMC and I was like he is as dry as the Sahara
 
Farley Jackmaster Funk's "Love Can't Turn Around" was huge in Chicago, and a Top 10 hit in the UK back in 1986. Farley was one of 3 Chicago DJs who produced the track, and the vocals were sung by Darryl Pandi.
How about Ralphi Rosario's "You Used To Hold Me"? Or Frankie Knuckles & Satoshi Tomiie's "Tears", which featured the vocals of Robert Owens.

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great stuff, but i think we're talking about mainstream success in America; none of those records were anything other than Club hits,perhaps local regional airplay on their local dance station(when such a thing still existed)...
 
Fairly simple reason, I think - in the US outside of a few (although major) cities there's no dance music culture beyond a few clubs. In many countries in Europe it's all over the place.

In much of Western Europe (barring most of France, where the situation is much more similar to the US), dance music is the music of the urban poor, occupying a similar position to hip-hop in the USA. It's much less pop-oriented (at least since the trance/europop craze in the late 90s), and crosses over with hip-hop and reggae much more than pop. A defining feature of any UK town of any size on a Friday night is heavily modified cars driving around with loud garage, house or hardcore music booming out. The image of dance music is pretty aggressive, in contrast to the USA.

This is not the case in America - from what I can gather dance in the US is much more upmarket, and often primarily female-oriented. The urban street culture is generally hip-hop.
 
I feel the reason why dance doesn't do as well in the United States as it does in Europe is because of the some of the U.S.'s association with it being "gay." You still have a lot of homophobia in the United States and anything that is tied into the gay culture isn't going to be accepted, dance/house music is one of those things. The unfortunate part is not every place in the U.S. has Chicago, New York, L.A., San Francisco culture so the dance culture isn't going to "fit in" to a lot places in the United States.
Also, the United States (outside of the big cities) is very traditional and not very open-minded when it comes to anything different, that includes music. It is still very Rock (and very recently Hip-Hop) music oriented. The irony about the Hip-Hop thing, is that when Hip-Hop first began to surface, it was DANCE oriented. If you listen to some of the earlier music, a lot of the beats were taken from disco records.
 
"I feel the reason why dance doesn't do as well in the United States as it does in Europe is because of the some of the U.S.'s association with it being
"gay." You still have a lot of homophobia in the United States and anything that is tied into the gay culture isn't going to be accepted.
"

Great post. Same thing I've thought for a long, long time. There's a distinctive type of "closed off" culture with music and the United States. There's this prevailing image of dance/house/trance being femanin and gay. Complete opposite to Europe and the UK, where the culture's a lot more open. Over the past hour I've been listening to London's Kiss100, a wonderful station, IMO. However, If you think something with the lyrics like "What are we supposed to do/now that the love is gone" over and over again(David guetta), or "I want to fly over the rainbow so high(Yves LaRock)" over a dance track are going to cut it with America's culture, you're sadly mistaken.

There are huge differences between the culture's of countries, for example the UK and USA. The music is only the start; it goes deeper. I could ask a similar question about music: why isn't London's capital radio playing American wimpy emo poprock like Fallout Boy? Like I said, it's NOT just music. It's culture.
 
Interesting you mentioned Kiss 100 London - the station recently beat Capital Radio in the London ratings for the first time.
 
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