The Ovine File

By Mack & Tosh

Everyone older than 40--you'd better sit this one out, it won't make any sense.
What is this crap called Electronica.  I fail to see the importance of reifying muzak.
Since when did ripping off "black" music become profitable?  The 50's, you say.  Well if this issue is an indictment of the state of hip-hop, then so be it.  Rap has sucked for the better part of five years.
Remember when it was fun to listen to rap.  Remember being able to have fun dancing to rap.  Remember when it didn't matter what coast you lived on if you were a rap artist.  Remember when rap wasn't a fucking political statement.  Remember when rap was about being creative and having fun, and not relying on the sample to make the song fun.
Of course, it wasn't selling as well then either.  I don't mean to bag on the rap scene, but I used to love going to dances and clubs and listen to music that made you want to dance, not pose.  Everybody who's "keeping it real" needs to come over here and kiss my big pimpled ass.
N.W.A. had a breakthrough record with Straight Outta Compton.  It brought real issues and attitudes into the public arena.  It was a cornerstone for the "Gangsta" rap tradition.  It also carried a positive message with the single Express Yourself.
Why did this message get lost? Because it didn't sell.  The bullshit mentality of having to be "hard" sells,  Feeding your mind and soul doesn't.  Imagery of  kids beating the crap out of each other or the police strengthens the disempowered.  The hand that feeds fear grows stronger.
Remember the brown and black shirts screaming "Fuck Tha Police" in Munich in '38 and at the gates of the Reichstag.  "Colors" were there back in the 1930's. Gang wars involved continents ending with millions of people being brutally killed in the name of being the dominant culture.
We depend on leaders and communities of people for support in times of distress.  If our cultural leaders are seen living exorbitantly, perpetuating violence as a means to success, then why are we shocked when our culture reflects these messages.  How many rap songs/videos reflect strength of character and personal growth.  If keeping it real reflects a dialogue on socio-economic conditions that exist for the youth of today, why glorify the gang/drug myth?  Where are the songs of strength and conviction that young people can identify with, and from which can draw inspiration. 
How are communities served in which "I'm gettin' mine" is the dominant mental paradigm.  How much family stability results a hot tub/limo/boat full of young ladies.  Where's the external motivation to stay in school to get a good job to pay for the hot tub/limo/boat in the first place.  Oh "The Man" is holding us back, is he.
WAKE THE FUCK UP!
The Man has never helped educate anyone that didn't want it in the first place.  Where are the images of  us helping our kids, pushing them to be themselves, to accept personal control of their own destiny.  If we're going to make it, excuses and blame-throwing aren't going to get us there any faster.  By growing out of our cocoon of self-doubt and being stronger, we will soon become a more dominant voice in "the system", and it will begin to reflect what we want it to.  By bitching we do nothing except come across as not wanting to work for our own success.  What a shock, what is portrayed in most of our cultural outlets is not wanting to work for success.  The easiest way to screw up any machine (social change) is from the inside.  To get inside takes desire and persistence.
That's all for now of bitching about politics and economics.
Musically, sampling has become more prevalent and originality has withered on the vine. What recent song is known on its' own merits and not on the sample incorporated within the tune.  What recent rap isn't really a R&B song in wolves clothing.  Rap is more boring and predictable than fucking Country.  If this is, as one radio station proclaims," the hip-hop generation" then we're pretty fucking pathetic.  Where are the tunes that make us smile.  Oh I'm sorry, I forgot, we're not supposed to smile, unless it's going to get us laid.
Is the club scene that feeds a majority of the industry more about posing than having fun?  Why are we posing?  Is that who we really are? Is that keeping it fucking real?  Sheep are easily led and pose very well and they get slaughtered, or in the backwoods a lot worse.
Who's more interesting to hang with in a club: someone wearing what's "cool", copping a bullshit attitude, or someone who is having fun being themselves?  Who are you more likely to trust?  Who are you more like going to want to be in a relationship with?
This is not a call for people to blindly run out and try to "be different" as a means to "be different".  Take a look at yourself and try to find the things you really like doing, and go nuts.  If other people can't handle that, FUCK 'EM.  More importantly you'll be happy pursuing goals that you feel are important to your personal growth.  In the long run, more people will respect your conviction and sense of style.
Ok, now that we're all hugging each other, and glowing in our own personal growth, back to The Question: What is this crap called Electronica.
Clubs have always played different DJ mixes of popular songs, stealing from hip-hop culture, in the process, but when did this become more important than creating new, interesting material?  Club music is club music.  When did you have to take psychoactive drugs to "get" music on the radio. Why does "background music" need so many different labels: ambient, trip-hop, break-beat, blah fucking blah.  When did club music become cutting edge?
The last time this happened was the mid-1970's.  Most of you weren't born yet, but you're dressing like it now--sort of.
Have you ever heard of Disco?  It was going to be the future of music. Songs written with formatted beats played at clubs and parties that was written to make people dance.  To make the experience more fun people took a "new" drug--cocaine.  Everyone dressed the same, had the same hairstyle, did the same dances, and all played with their brand-new digital watches.  Hedonism (look it up in a dictionary) ruled the day. People had lots of unprotected sex, and a nasty STD (Herpes) was beginning to scare people.   Sound familiar?  What'd you do this weekend? That's what I thought.
The "rock" side of things was just as bad.  A bunch of has-beens playing self-indulgent 7 minute songs to crowds of people stoned out of their trees on pot or acid.  Baggy jeans, long-hair, stupid-looking sunglasses driving around in high-performance muscle cars.  More free love and VD.
As a recap, Dancers on one side, and Rockers on the other.
Punk came along and reggae grew in popularity, and three years later "Death To Disco" parties were being held everywhere.
Now "retro" is a cultural staple.  In the 80's when we ripped off the 50's, retro wasn't even in our cultural lexicon.  We elected Eisenhower again (sorry Ike) in "Uncles Ron and George the Protectors" to get us through a post-war (Viet Nam) recession.
Around 1989 we started reinventing the 60's, and in 1992 we elected JFK again (sorry Jack) in Bill Clinton--the Social Pragmatist. In 1994, the 70's began to rear their ugly head again, and we re-elected Tricky Dicky as played by Bill in 1996.
So disco is back  Fucking wonderful.  Does this sound familiar? A bunch of drugged-up self-indulgent morons who could give a shit about the future, preaching the virtue of pointless drivel.  Smoke some pot, drop a tab, plug in the keyboard and MIDI and record some music. Dub in a couple old R & B or rap samples, sell your soul to a record company and you've got a song.  The lapdogs in radio that are so hard up for "The Next Big Thing" will play the song every half-hour.
The sheep, hearing the dinner bell, will run obediently to the record store, and use the folks' credit card and buy the record.  The lapdogs find some other meth-head's song to be more relevant and throw the new song into the formers heavy rotation slot, and in the process instantly become a "modern-rock classic" seldom heard from except between  2:00-6:00 am.
Now we're once again on the cusp of  the 80's (or the 50's), so the techno movement maybe be able to last until it becomes retro next April.
Two words for all my ovine brethren who adore techno:
New Order
Two more words for people that think that Electronica is the most creative, inspirational music ever produced:
Beethoven's Ninth

Wolves Have Descended Upon The Flock

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