'Gateway' bands

[Gabba Flamenco Crossover]

say what you want about Bobby G being a wanker and all...

Oh I will, believe me.

but you just can't discount Screamadelica...(even with that piss-poor name)...one of the true zeitgist records of the 90's, the final bridge between indie and dance...

A few points here. Indie dance was really a media phenomenon, because it turned on indie journalists who prior to that had been a bit freaked by club/rave culture, and who then conveyed their new enthusiasm to their student audience. So it's important within that specific timeframe, but 16 years on it's influence compared to proper dance music of that period is very slight.

IMO indie dance has dated really badly. I havent listened to screamadelica in years. Loaded is OK but compared to full-on rave records of that era (Papau New Guinea, Aftermath, Anastasia) it's nothing special. And thats the cream of the indie dance crop, once you get into the soup dragons & candy flip you are talking about some truly dire music.

I'd take issue with 'the final bridge between indie and dance' for two reasons. Firstly it's a disservice to bands like New Order, ACR and 23 Skidoo who were engaging with dance music far more thoughtfully, and making far better records, 8-10 years before 'indie dance' came along. Thier sound is massively more influencial on bands today that PS circa Screamadelica, although I concede that's largely due to the shifting sands of fashion.

Secondly, Screamadelica was released at the tail end of indie dance, when journalists were getting bored with dance music and gearing up for 'rave's great parting of the ways' (copyright S. Reynolds) - which was also a parting of the weekly's student indie audience: a minority stuck with rave & never looked back, but most swallowed the line about rave being all washed up creatively (mugs!) and went back to guitar music (which is where britpop got it's audience from). So it was hardly a final bridge.

how many kids do you think got turned on to Thirteenth Floor Elevators, or the Beach Boys, or even bloody AR Kane with that record?...

Well exactly - i was one of them. But how many of those kids then stopped listening to or generally giving a toss about PS?

when was Weatherall better?...

See this thread we made earlier

other than "Smells Like Teen Spirit", did a single of that era make a bigger splash than "Higher Than The Sun"?...

HTTS is the exception to the rule cos it's actually quite good, although it would be much better if they'd wiped bobby 'I make ian brown sound like robert plant' gallespie's vocals off it. But it sold naff all in the UK, never mind anywhere else, and it wasnt an underground anthem either. So it really doesnt compare to Smells Like.. in terms of cultural reach.

And I'm not sure Jimmy Stewert would ever use the term 'wanker'.

 

[matt b]

A few points here. Indie dance was really a media phenomenon, because it turned on indie journalists who prior to that had been a bit freaked by club/rave culture, and who then conveyed their new enthusiasm to their student audience. So it's important within that specific timeframe, but 16 years on it's influence compared to proper dance music of that period is very slight.

it also seemed to 'allow' the most fey indie kids to finally get with the program, get a bit of sun and stop writing poetry- almost everyone else round where i lived were already raving. therefore in the scheme of things, not important at all.

 

[Omaar]

Ravey stuff - Altern8, The Prodigy Experience

Yeah someone at school gave me a tape of Altern8 and it really blew my mind. Were they really big in the UK when their album came out? I get the feeling they must have been laughed at by a lot of people. I guess the rave scene in NZ was pretty different to the UK.

 

[boosted]

Starting back in the early 1980's

Black Flag --> Bad Brains --> Bob Marley --> Lee Perry --> U-Roy --> Ninja Man--> Cutty Ranks--> DJSS --> DJ Hype --> Jonny L --> No U-Turn --> Turn U-On --> HoresPower Productions --> MJ Cole --> Wookie --> Zed Bias --> Bugz in the Attic ==> UKG/BrokenBeat/Dubstep Mashup

 

[matt b]

Were they really big in the UK when their album came out? I get the feeling they must have been laughed at by a lot of people. I guess the rave scene in NZ was pretty different to the UK.

in the charts and standing for office big.

very good though.



the shaman's synergy nights/ tours (1989-1990?) were a key entry point into dance music

minor threat and uk stuff like the stupids opened up the world of diy. life changing.

meeting (older) people with broad tastes through skating in the late 1980s was probably a bigger gateway than any single band- such eclecticsm seemed rare to the 16 year old me.

 

[Loki]

Various Threads I've been on:

The Jam >The Kinks > Beach Boys > Psychic TV > Throbbing Gristle > Coil > Nurse With Wound etc

The Cure > Bauhaus > Birthday Party > Nick Cave > Jonny Cash > Will Oldham > Jewelled Antler Collective

Paul Hardcastle > MAARS > Bomb The Bass > S-Express > Baby Ford > Forgemasters > Aphex > Orbital > Autechre > Venetian Snares

though in truth the links from MAARS onwards went in all kinds of directions but mostly allowed me to like the previously unthinkable...

 

[simon silverdollar]

ministry > DHR > aphex > warp > detroit techno > cologne techno > villalobos > perlon

DHR> dj scud > jungle > more fire > wiley > grime > finally properly listening to hip hop > finally properly listening to r n b.

DHR > starting to buy the wire > lots of odd music > free-folk.


so, dhr have been pretty important to me. don't really listen to them now, though. that's a young man's game.

 

[Buick6]

did a single of that era make a bigger splash than "Higher Than The Sun"?...well, of course not!...of course not...

(my argument would sound much more convincing in Jimmy Stewart's voice)...

plenty:

Soon-MBV, Kinky Afro - Happy Mondays, Boys n Girls - Blur, Block rocking beats - Chemical borther, shit lets not forget FOOLS GOLD - STONE ROSES!!

I remember seeing Primal Dream @ the Big Day Out in 2000..He had his 'superindiegroop' with Kevin Shields and Mani from Stone Roses who were spectualary lame and out-dated compared to Bukem and Basement Jaxx and the Chemicals who came on soon after. But a mate of mine, this skinny 6'5 runt who now lives in New York, got up on someones shoulders and while Bobby-G was panting through 'rocks' - flashed his bare chest!

I saw his new single last night 'LA Girl' or some shit. He's trying to do this Libertines meets White Stripes kinda shit now. I mean, I could easily just listen to the Ponies for far superior post-mod distillation. Bobby-G should really spend his time writing for Mojo.

 

[Buick6]

ministry > DHR > aphex > warp > detroit techno > cologne techno > villalobos > perlon

DHR> dj scud > jungle > more fire > wiley > grime > finally properly listening to hip hop > finally properly listening to r n b.

DHR > starting to buy the wire > lots of odd music > free-folk.


so, dhr have been pretty important to me. don't really listen to them now, though. that's a young man's game.

DHR were drek. But apparently alot of the Chicago-acid stuff was recorded @ Minstry's WaxTrax studios or whatever. Not sure how true this rumor is though, but it sounds nice.

 

[soundslike1981]

Definitely have to be Talking Heads. Lead me back to Eno, re-hearing Velvet Underground, Fela, dub, Can, Faust, in turn to Reich, Riley, reconsidering electric-era Miles, Kraftwerk, Neu, African field recordings, Highlife, original ska, Gamelan, and on and on; which lead to me understanding that Talking Heads were part of a continuum and a scene, not an aberration--taking me to Pere Ubu, post-punk, no-wave, new wave, Wire, XTC, Giorgio Moroder (which lead to much else, as you can imagine), disco, Arthur Russell, This Heat, 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' (at around the same time as early Reich, connecting lots of dots), late-era Kraftwerk, electro, which opened up all kinds of electronic/dance music. . . Before them I'd written off "rock" and didn't know about weirder stuff, and was honed in 50s-early 60s jazz, 60s-early 70s Motown/Funk (which I came to understand better when propelled deeper by TH), late 80s/early 90s hip-hop, and stuff like the Carter Family. I love all of that stuff still--but the directions I went post-Talking Heads started me seeing/hearing so many more connections between "different" music--I stopped really separating by genre/era, and definitely quit caring about being ostensibly "where it's at," up-to-the-moment: why should I care about this one moment any more than all that have come before?

 

[Ness Rowlah]

Alice Cooper and Redbone for getting me into music in early adolescence . And for the theatrical/dressing up aspect in rock - ie Roxy Music, Steve Harley, Split Enz, Szajner, Cramps, Wayne County etc
Danish band Gasolin' as my first ever proper gig (Scandinavia's Thin Lizzy)
Sex Pistols and The Damned for blowing my mind when I was 14
Kraftwerk for getting me into electronic music - although there were things like "Popcorn" and Arne Nordheim (or pling-plong music as I would call it) to tingle my interest on the radio and telly before that.

---
I love Talking Heads to bits - but it wasn't a personal gateway (too old?) - Pistols led me to Talking Heads. And punk/Kraftwerk led me to all that other stuff like Iggy and Bowie and then you just go off forever ...

But Talking Heads' first single "Love Goes to Building on Fire" did feature on the first punk album I ever bought myself (The Philips "New Wave" collection from '77 - slightly different tracklisting than the British Vertigo one - http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=304135), I guess that in the early days of punk there weren't that many "proper punk" singles out so they filled up with stuff like the Flamin Groovies and Runaways), so I ended up bying "' '77" in 78.
Just like Ultravox!, Wire, Magazine, PiL it was music you sort of grew into along with the bands themselves (and out of as they started to fade - ie when Simple Minds had collective brain transplants).

---

Before your own personal gateway artists there's the music playing in the background before you really started listening yourself - the stuff of your parents or elder sieblings and friends, the music on radio and telly.

Stuff you would either revolt against (in my case "danseband" or "svensktoppar". I still hate it. This sums it up nicely "Swedish dance music ... It sucks so bad that I can't express it properly! You have to experience it yourself, if you're not afraid of puking to death!") or end up liking for life (steel guitar - the c&w and a readers digest 3xLP Hawaii-music collection of my parents must have made a serious impression (dissensus thread). But with artists like Ry Cooder, Holger Czukay and Eno (ie "Deep Blue Day") all using the sound I feel vindicated).

 

[Edward]

Steve Silk Hurley - Jack Your Body at number one in 1986 (i think it was).
that did it for me, also mantronix "bassline" video on old grey whistle test and gary byrd "the crown" on chart hits 83 cassette (also this tape had herbie hancock "rock it")

I was never into indie music although I didn't mind it when Happy Mondays etc did a few dancy tracks but it definitely didn't lead me into listening to jangly guitar music.
indie dance as a "gateway" definitely only led in one direction!

I think the whole indie dance thing was more than a media phenomenon cos it led to the whole club dog/crusty rave thing (am i right in thinking this? or was it more to do with new age travellers returning from balearics, goa etc?)
indie dance and crusty raves made raving less intimidating for the shy/middle class/poetry-loving types. or is that just me being a fascist?

i think without indie dance you wouldn't have got shops like sister ray and slelectadisc in london selling dance music, and maybe not HMV & virgin either and the whole dance music explosion would've not happened or happened differently, cos dance music was too black / too strong for the masses.
or maybe someone else instead of indie bands would've made the watered-down version for the masses?
i am just musing aloud, not giving you my strongly held theory.

 

[Sectionfive]

One of the most dangerous ways Homosexuality invades family life is through popular music. Parents, please keep careful watch over your children’s listening habits. Especially in this age of Internet mp3 piracy.

There are multiple levels of Gay Music. Some bands are what we like to call Gateway Bands.

http://www.lovegodsway.org/GayBands

Bands to watch out for

• Lady Gaga (tricks girls into lesbianism)
• Ween (Rainbow)
• Lil'Wayne
• P!nK (gay family)
• The Black Keys
• Coldplay
• SlipKnot (make-up)
• RadioHead
• Michael Jackson
• Justin Bieber (gay bullying)
• Boredoms
• School of Seven Bells (gay twins)
• Jason Mraz
• Jonas Brothers
• Rilo Kiley
• Death Cab for Cutie
• Sarah McLachlan
• George Strait
• Cold War Kids
• Toby Keith (cowboy)
• P-Diddy
• Black People
• Vampire Weekend
• King Crimson
• Kate Bush (kissed a girl)
• Bob Dylan
• Fleet Foxes
• Sigur Ros (nudists)
• Twisted Sister
• The Spores (endorse suicide)
• Scissor Sisters
• Turbonegro
• Rufus Wainwright
• Merzbau
• Ravi Shankar
• The Butchies (lizbians)
• Wilco
• Bjork (mb)
• Tech N9ne
• Ghostface Killah
• Bobby Conn
• Morton Subotnik
• Cole Porter
• The String Cheese Incident
• Eagles of Death Metal
• Polyphonic Spree
• The Faint
• Interpol
• Twisted Sister (jj)
• Tegan and Sara
• Erasure
• The Grateful Dead (drugs too)
• Le Tigre
• Marilyn Manson (dark gay)
• The Gossip
• The Magnetic Fields
• The Doors
• Phish
• Queen
• The Strokes
• Morrissey(?questionable?)
• Metallica
• Judas Priest
• The Village People
• The Secret Handshake
• The Rolling Stones
• David Bowie
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• Man or Astroman
• Richard Cheese
• Jay-Z
• Depeche Mode
• Kansas
• Ani DiFranco
• Fischerspooner
• John Mayer
• George Michael (texan)
• Angel Eyes
• The Indigo Girls
• Velvet Underground
• Madonna
• Elton John
• Barry Manilow
• Indigo Girls
• Melissa Etheridge
• Eminmen
• Nirvana
• Boy George
• Jon Brion
• The Killers
• Lou Reed
• Lil' Wayne
• Motorhead
• Jill Sobule
• Wilson Phillips
• DMX
• Wesley Willis
• Lisa Loeb
• Ted Nugent (loincloth)
• Dogstar
• Thirty Seconds to Mars
• Lil' Kim
• kd lang
• Frank Sinatra
• Hinder
• Nickleback
• Justus Kohncke
• Bob Mould
• Clay Aiken
• Arcade Fire
• Bright Eyes
• Corinne Bailey Rae
• Audioslave
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Panic at the Disco
• The Cure (makeup)
• Spin Doctors
• The Deers
• Lindsey Lohan
• The Smiths
• Beck
• Tom Waits
• The Cramps
• Cannibal Corpse
• Britney Spears(kissed Madonna)
• Perfect Sin
• The Queers
• NoFx(gay punk)
• Soup Dragons
• Elton John(really gay)

In Our effort to keep this list up to date we'd appreciate your help. If you know of a band that is Gay or propogating a Gay message please email us so we can update.

 

[Lichen]

The Soup Dragons!

 

[mistersloane]

http://www.lovegodsway.org/GayBands

Wesley Willis made me laugh the hardest in that one, he's well placed.

 

[zhao]

Ghostface Killah makes your children gay?

 

[Leo]

boredoms? morton subotnik?

always did have my suspicions about vampire weekend, however.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I love this one:

George Michael (texan)

George Michael is gay not because he's gay, but because he's from Texas. And as we all know, only steers and queers come from Texas, and he don't look much like a steer to me.

Edit: wot, no Revolting Cocks?