Our scene

Dance is dead. That's right. It is. You heard it here first. Well, not really. You probably heard it here for the five billionth friggin time. I mean, isn't it obvious- All the world's best Djs are 30+, they're all playing the same shite, with not much defining them from the hordes of wannbes other than their age, playing to a bunch of former high-school dropouts who love nothing more than going out on the weekend, getting fucked up, talking 'codshit to strangers all night' and 'going on a fucking journey, man'! Fuck off, get over yourself and for God's sake, get a real fucking job.

In case you've been under a rock for the past eighteen months or so, dance music is in a recession. And the reason, well according to the mainstream press anyway, is because there is no 'next big thing'. No one is reinventing the wheel, taking the risks they used to take, redefining what dance music is. And why- Because it's not commercially viable to do that these days and still afford your weekend drug habit.

To anyone that has publicly said the above and actually meant it, I say 'Get fucked'. And get the fuck outta our scene too. Dance music isn't dead it's rebuilding itself. It's telling all you pretentious wankers who came into the scene expecting to be able to make billions of dollars out of us punters to piss off and let the people who are actually dedicated to the scene hold the reigns for a while. I mean, Christ, those are the people that made dance music into what it is today. Sure, some clever marketing types came in and polished it up a little, but the core of the scene remains with those who give a damn about what direction it takes, not how many dollars it can make.

These people aren't here to out do each other on drugs each weekend, they're not here to 'be seen' and they're not here to rip off people just to enter a club. These are the people who should be telling people what they want, instead of being spoon-fed the same trollop that we've been seeing every weekend for quite some time now. They should be the ones encouraging the DJs to take risks, experiment with sounds, take it to the next level, so to speak. And when the DJs respond, they should be applauded by the media, instead of shunned as obscure types who will never amount to much simply because they can't be pigeon-holed by genres.

I'm talking mixing breaks, techno, prog and gabba. And why the fuck not- The genre-kings will probably dub it something like electrobreakcore or something, just so they have a word to describe it. Well, here's a fucking word for ya, MUSIC. Hell, have two, DANCE MUSIC. I mean, I'm really getting sick of all these people supposedly into 'dance music' but only if it has a broken beat, for example. People who will only listen to progressive and nothing else because the rest is just 'fuckin cheesy, man'. I'm not saying that everyone should like every single form of dance music. But some of these 'purists' should seriously look at why they got into it in the first place.

There is good and crap music in every genre. Drum and Bass has had quite a number of tunes more recently that have blown me away. Most DnB tunes I've heard have sounded like noise in a particular key for me, but a handful have really resonated with me of late. The same is true for breaks, prog, trance, hell if I dig far enough, even hard house has had some moments. The point I'm making is that all forms of dance music can create the vibe and emotion that brought most of us to it in the first place. All you have to do is look for it. Try something you wouldn't normally. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Cranky Phil can be contacted at philiscranky@hotmail.com
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