This blog gave their take on the situation: http://blogs.lasvegascitylife.com/cityblog/2012/06/03/dj-mark-farina-bumped-off-at-marquee/
Then Farina asked people to discuss the situation here: http://forum.talknightlife.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19276
A similar situation occurred with House legend Dennis Ferrer at Miami's Mansion nightclub.
I remember back in February 2009, a guy from my school was promoting at Mansion. He was such a skeeze, but that is besides the point. In the small lounge, they played hip hop/R&B, and in the main room was Steve Angello. I didn't even know he was going to be there that night, we got in for free, and the hype around Angello wasn't there (it was a month prior to his altercation with Paris Hilton and the blowup of EDM). I could tell from my experience this was a fist pumping crowd. I had a great time, and Angello was amazing. But with three years passed, the scene is completely different now. And for the type of club Mansion is, it makes no sense to book someone like Ferrer without knowing what you are getting yourself into. http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2012/02/mansion_kicks_dj_dennis_ferrer_off_decks_not_commercial_enough.php
If I were a DJ, I would try to read the crowd, and sprinkle the different genres of house in. If your set is exclusively deep house, I can guarantee those used to 4/4 EDM are going to get bored. That is where a DJ needs to read its crowd. But I think a lot of ego gets in the way and DJs want to play what they want. Either way I still blame the promoters for booking people inappropriately.
Not sure what the climate is like in Miami, especially with Las Vegas constantly threatening to takes its title as house capital in the USA. I also remember in 2009 how I used to see huge billboards for Space nightclub and Oscar G's face staring down at the highway. He has gone on the record to say that he is no longer welcome there, which makes me think its the same story of "out with the old, in with the new." That attitude is going to come back to bite them in the tuckas once the EDM phenomenon hype dies down.
This leads to the good ol' debate of old school vs new school. The Detroit Electronic Movement Festival claims to maintain a sense of history and heritage of the music, but then has acts like Dillon Francis and Nadastrom perform. I understand what they are trying to do, but they are alienating people like Guetta and SHM who helped build the scene in the last decade, before "EDM" reached it pinnacle moment. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/genre/dance/why-skrillex-david-guetta-deadmau5-aren-1007160752.story I don't understand why everyone has some kind of point to prove. The only point or example they should be making is how they can all work together instead of becoming increasingly more divisive.
Guetta is also one of the biggest sellouts. ahem...Paris Hilton produced demo.
ReplyDeletevery nice post, although I must disagree with your last paragraph. Perhaps division is a good thing...
ReplyDeleteI propose that we officially call "celebrity djs' music" something else than House music. Just because their music share similar qualities to house music doesn't make it so. Fundamentally, their music is closer to the definition of "pop" than that of what we've all grown to know and love as "house" music. So why not just call their music "pop house." What does it really matter to the "celebrity djs?" They will still sell out their "pop concerts" and less confusion will be had when a club books a real house DJ.
Its so disheartening when you meet someone that tells you they're into house music just to name Guetta as their favorite DJ...Perhaps if a line is drawn and those artists officially call their music "pop" music, this sort of confusion won't happen. Everyone is entitled to like their own style of music, and if you're into SHM, fine, but when half of the scene believes that commercial stuff isn't "house music" by definition, wouldn't it make more sense just to call that music something else?
Pop music as described on wikipedia is "a genre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular (and can include any style), whilst the latter is a specific genre containing qualities of mass appeal."
This is true for modern commercial "house" music, thus make it "popular music" or "pop" by definition. It is "pop" music which contains qualities of 4x4 electronic music as well as mass appeal, it is NOT house music...
House music at its core comes from the underground. It is made in some unknown, non musician's makeshift studio, not for monetary or fame purposes, but to convey a message, a story of machine and soul. Many of us believe that therein lies the "magic" that is house music. Although commercialization of electronic music has led to better technology and more possibilities for the non musician to produce quality electronic music, many house enthusiasts believe making music for fame and monetary purposes to be in direct conflict with the fundamental values of house music. Making music for the masses strips it of its soul and magic made it so special in the first place.
As I said before, everyone has the right to like the genre they enjoy...SHM, Guetta, etc make their music and people love them, more power to them, but to publicly call yourself the "saviour" of electronic music (http://www.mixmag.net/words/news/guetta-reckons-that-staying-underground-killed-dance-music), and claiming staying underground killed electronic music when half the scene (and most likely the half that has been in the scene the longest) believes it should stay underground, you are kinda disrespecting and pissing on the visions the pioneers had all those decades ago when they invented house music and made it possible for you to one day become a celebrity "pop" star wanna be.
Simple solution, polarize the music even further. The underground must rise and let the world know "NO this is not house music, it shares similar qualities, of course, our shit rocks so pop music is taking ideas from us, but its still not "house" music."
Call that other stuff "pop" music which it is, people will still like it, sell out huge concerts and real "DJs" can go back to play real house in clubs without being asked to play that Rihanna house track...
Everybody wins...
Paris Hilton, who makes my skin crawl, did say that track Guetta allegedly produced was not hers. I've said something similar to this in another post: you cannot separate the guy that was part of Africanism All-Stars from the guy that produced "Titanium." Call him a sellout but Cathy and David Guetta started their FMIF nights long before the “EDM” scene, and promoted underground house. Why doesn’t MK get this abuse? He produces for Pitbull!
ReplyDeleteWell first of all Guetta doesn't "produce."
ReplyDeleteHe pays ghost writers to do all the hard work which is fine and dandy for pop music, but as stated before, that is not what house music is about. Think of people like DJ Pierre who tweaked obscure gear (themselves) and made music that was new and differnent to everyone's ears. Do u think his thought was "I'm gonna use a 303 and will be able to jetset around the world with Paris hitlon, Fuck me I'm gonna be famous, I'm the savior of electronic music.". No he did it because it sounded different, cool, innovative, he started a movement and most people don't even know who he is. can u say that about Guetta?
I'm sure Guetta came from a good place at some point in his life. House music reached his ears and changed his life like it did all of us, but somewhere down the line the evil fame bug bit him and it became more about getting famous than spreading the love and the music, which is pretty clear by the name of his parties. (Btw I remember hearing the first FMIF cd almost 10 years ago and it was not underground house music. It was mostly commercial electro, with a few underground "hits" which is kind of an oximoron). Also "electronic dance music" has been around since the 80s, are you saying they were throwing their "Edm" parties before that?
Honestly, when you're the poster child for everything that is wrong with consumerism and the music industry and singled handedly responsible for the exploitation of one of the last pure genres on the globe that had until now escaped the evil hands of corporate America and POP sensualism, of course you're gonna get abuse from those who disagree with your selfish ways. Especially after outright yourself in the public eye by calling yourself some sort of "savior."
Anyway, I'm not here to hate on Guetta. I have a lot of respect for anyone with half as much success in anything. He does his thing and spreads the music that he loves to many who love it too. That is a beatiful thing. But when Guetta states on an article that he "saved" electronic music, all the while someone like Farina gets booted for playing too "housey" at a house event, its pretty clear electronic music is actually suffering, not being saved...
With being famous and in the public eye comes responsibility, and if you claims to love electronic music and want to "save" it, as an "artist" its your responsibility to educate the masses about its history and culture that made YOU fall in love with the music in the first place.
He claims in the article that staying underground killed electronic music and that its culture has died, which shows he doesn't live and breathe the culture, because it is very much alive, and has been since the 80s, and the fact that "the masses" haven't heard of electronic music till 2011 doesn't mean it was dead, in fact being underground is what kept it alive and allowed it to be so magical these last 30 years.
Loic, I want to say first and foremost thank you for not being nasty and engaging in enlightening discussion! Some people can be so mean but you are very respectful and I appreciate that!
ReplyDeleteI understand Guetta is not the sole producer of his music, but to say he does not produce at all is probably incorrect. House music has become POPular, therefore now being branded as pop music. I get that the pioneers of house like DJ Pierre made huge impacts on the industry in the past, but that has allowed for what we now see in the present times. Things change. I'm not Guetta's publicist but I feel his words often get misconstrued. I don't think he thinks of himself as a saviour, but people tell him how he has changed the scene by collaborating with artists of other genres, so he runs with it and says that it doesn't need to remain as "underground" music. The FMIF compilation was "commercial" to our ears but those tracks are not what "commercial dance music" of today is. Have you seen the Nothing But the Beat documentary? The tears Cathy Guetta has describing how far they've come, from their mid 90s FMIF dance parties to becoming a global brand, that is a real sentiment. I applaud their success. I've heard both Kelly Rowland and David Guetta recount how she went to one of those parties and approached him. She wanted to infuse dance into her sound...and it caught on. When he says the culture died, you have to admit it kind of did in the sense that in its birthplace of North America (Chicago, NYC, Detroit, etc) it lost its momentum in the late 90s, early 00's, but still thrived in Europe, and has come "home" meaning the genre is popular again in America, but this time people are eating it up like a commodity, and critics use that as an opportunity to call it a business rather than a music culture with a soul. I think that there has to be people who sincerely love Guetta enough to dig deeper than "When Love Takes Over" and discover what influenced him over the years. I always see him smiling and excited to talk about house music, I'm probably biased but I really hope that it is sincere. I wrote about him here, http://jackhadagroove.blogspot.ca/2012/04/david-guetta-vs-house-world.html so I doubt I could ever agree with you. I understand what you are saying but I just cannot agree.
As for Mark Farina, check out this interview he did. I believe we are in agreement that what happened to him was wrong. http://www.5chicago.com/features/june2012/mark-farina-what-happened-in-vegas/index.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter He is playing in LV as part of the uber commercial EDC festivities. I applaud him for embracing the commercial and bringing the underground to it, instead of a putting up a resistance. It was the bottle service bottom feeders that didn't allow him to play, once again pinning the blame on the establishment, not the DJ!