What happened to the Chemical Brothers\Fatboy Slim\DaftPunk

[martin]

As per blunt's quote in the Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music thread, this says everything I ever thought about Fatboy Slim:

"Ahh, Big Beat. This is the genre that finally made the homephobic frat house crowd finally accept that pussy electronic music at their Saturday night kegger parties. I mean, they still thought it was gay, but not as gay as that faggot trance shit."​

I can't understand why people assert that Big Beat left this legacy, it's becoming a well-worn mantra now - true, there were a lot of awful FBS copyists, and there's only so much old 60s groove / kitsch you can stick beats over before it burns itself out. But the constant myth that BB was just lapped up by lager louts isn't accurate, it was quite a mixed crowd actually. I just liked stuff like Cut La Roc and FBS when they broke because 'drum n bass' had become an almost exclusively male circle of chin-stroking and Blue Note sampling - as for rock, sorry but 96/97 were absolute rubbish, I mean Jon Spencer Blues Explosion were actually seen by some critics as an exciting raw garage act, that's how stifling and moribund the whole rock scene had become. Big Beat was just a kneejerk to all that. Anyway, even if FBS is a joke now I'll eternally forgive him for his remix of 'Renegade Master'. Having said that, maybe the BB 'scene' was different in the US.

 

[john eden]

My take on Big Beat is here. Which is basically the same as Martin's. This bullshit about fratboys was completely absent from all of the big beat nights I went to in London in the mid to late 90s.

I've seen frat boys at Jah Shaka soundsystem nights though, but nobody is going to hold that against him are they?

 

[martin]

The other thing to remember is how exclusively fashion-orientated most dance clubs were, you couldn't get into MoS or Gatecrasher in jeans, or if you weren't deemed trendy enough, there was this big excuse about 'attracting the right kind of people' (ie- the mythical 'beautiful people') and screening potential 'trouble makers' as if some megaplex club in Sheffield was Studio 54. Whereas the people at The End didn't give a toss what anyone wore. Who honestly listens to those Gatecrasher compilations now anyway?

 

[D84]

Well, that's my take on the Big Beat fans as I knew them in the mid-90s in Sydney and at that time my head was in a different place - and still is. Yeah maybe it was different elsewhere.

I just thought it was cheap thrills with lots of climaxes but with no build up etc.

Yeah Rock (imo) was really crap around then too and the rot set in with the grunge copycats such as Bad Mother Love Bone (?) and Alice in Chains et al. Rock seem to lose its sense of rhythm about then.

I never go to clubs with a dress code or a queue outside.

I'll check out your link tomorrow, John.

 

[john eden]

I just thought it was cheap thrills with lots of climaxes but with no build up etc.

BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!

I'll check out your link tomorrow, John.

Hey nice one - I can well believe the experience was different elsewhere - I'm sure it was different if you went outside of London or went to Student discos here at the time...

In fact I'd better check that link again too to make sure I'm not contradicting myself.

 

[Grievous Angel]

Martin and Eden are, as ever, right.

See also the recent Guardian review of the chems live. From the descripition it sounded smashing.

The idea of faggot trance is somehow appealing.

 

[Buick6]

My take on Big Beat is here. Which is basically the same as Martin's. This bullshit about fratboys was completely absent from all of the big beat nights I went to in London in the mid to late 90s.

Yes I'd add to this total CROCK, obviously posted by a tosser waving a freak flag for something he knows nothing about - he might hafta check his Internerd references over his life references to get his FACTS STRAIGHT.

On the contratry there are more *HOMEOPHOBIC JOCKS* getting into the progressive house *choons* coz there's always hot chicks there and if they act gay and metrosexual enough the girls might notice them. IN FACT a well known and generally MIXED gay/straight house club here in Melbourne recently was approved to POSITIVELY DISCRIMINATE against letting too many straight blokes into the club to harass the girls for sex and gays for being gay. I mean if there are no girls in a club how are they gunna get business? (unless its a gay one?)

 

[k-punk]

If you're going to be homophobic, maybe you could learn to spell the word?

 

[D84]

BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!

Ha! ha!.. fair enough - what was I thinking!

Hey nice one - I can well believe the experience was different elsewhere - I'm sure it was different if you went outside of London or went to Student discos here at the time...

Well that's it: as I was a uni student at the time, my opinion was totally informed by the student discos and student "music politics" of the time, which disappointingly lingers in many places, such as drum machines are "gay"/ guitars and "real" intruments rule etc.

It's a little irritating when some such student friends ingnored every other form of dance/electronic music but once Big Beat came along sampling all their favourite stuff it suddenly became "cool" but the student disco ethic, for want of a better term, remained the same. I see something similar with electroclash etc these days and my "trendy" friends who are into that (and I'm not about to ditch any friends on the grounds of musical taste).

I don't really want to get into gay politics/homophobia etc. I read the Ishkur definition as short-hand for the uni student music politics etc and its related back-packer culture (i've lived in touristy areas of Sydney and I was one once) - lagered up lads etc.

 

[alo]

AC suck shit. AP sucks cox and is a Ween ripofist.

Rave is shite. Jungle has it's moments.

I always thought fags listen to house, which for all intent-and-purposes is 'their' roots music listerally, figuartively, politicaly, sexually. Isn't Trunce for rich-Jewish kids and their Israeli drug-dealers?

Such an eloquent argument. Are you Stephen Fry in disguise?

 

[bassnation]

If you're going to be homophobic, maybe you could learn to spell the word?

maybe its all a joke, but its too near the knuckle for my liking.

 

[marke]

hello.

just joined and i see this thread of all threads. big beat.

wonderful.

in the last 2 days i have dug out my Skint cds and had a great time, those Boutique mixes are totally fantastic and prove just how varied the party noise could be. unfortunately, i never managed to get to go to a Big Beat club, as i was well into parenthood at that stage, so the whole 'beers-n-beats' association was never something i suffered from. instead, i just fell into the whole fucked-up-and-we-love-it ethos of the records. it sounded fresh and vital with little regard to the possibility of sales. in fact, i would say that the cut la roc, midfield general, and even the space raiders (glammed up dance grooves - oh it'll never work !) albums still have moments of excellence that definitely deserve another listen.
there is obviously some folks who are redoing the whole carboot groove thing again :

http://www.sugarbeatclub.com

which is basically the Utah Saints boys proving how great their record collection is, the mix they have relased is fantastic and worth tracking down if you like ragga/trance/hiphop/dub/mashes etc all thrown together.

oh, and the best thing about the whole thing - the Skint cds are bloody cheap in all the bins these days. bargains galore and so much more.

thanks for the memory, now, back to lurking/settling in ..
mark e
ireallylovemusic

 

[Tomtefar]

I mixed Loop da Loop's "Hazel" into "Shake a Leg" this Saturday - it cleared the floor Freestylers' "Ruffneck" worked well though.

 

[kennel_district]

Yeah Rock (imo) was really crap around then too and the rot set in with the grunge copycats such as Bad Mother Love Bone (?) and Alice in Chains et al. Rock seem to lose its sense of rhythm about then.

Surely Mother Love Bone were earlier? Glad you reminded me of them - going to play 'crown of thorns' tonight.

 

[Diggedy Derek]

I always thought fags listen to house, which for all intent-and-purposes is 'their' roots music listerally, figuartively, politicaly, sexually. Isn't Trunce for rich-Jewish kids and their Israeli drug-dealers?

"Fags" is totally unacceptable, just as "nigger" or "paki" would be. I don't know if you're trying to use it humourously, but the broad brush "fags listen to house" isn't particularly funny ("Pakis listen to 50 Cent").

If you want to discuss what music Jewish kids or gays like, then MAKE YOUR POSTS MORE STRUCTURED as they are all over the place. If you were shouting this random assortment of religious/ethical cliches in a public place, you'd probably have got punched, which would have been fair enough.

 

[henrymiller]

As per blunt's quote in the Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music thread, this says everything I ever thought about Fatboy Slim:

"Ahh, Big Beat. This is the genre that finally made the homephobic frat house crowd finally accept that pussy electronic music at their Saturday night kegger parties. I mean, they still thought it was gay, but not as gay as that faggot trance shit."

such a load of shit.

 

[john eden]

"Fags" is totally unacceptable, just as "nigger" or "paki" would be. I don't know if you're trying to use it humourously, but the broad brush "fags listen to house" isn't particularly funny ("Pakis listen to 50 Cent").

If you want to discuss what music Jewish kids or gays like, then MAKE YOUR POSTS MORE STRUCTURED as they are all over the place. If you were shouting this random assortment of religious/ethical cliches in a public place, you'd probably have got punched, which would have been fair enough.

I agree with this, but had assumed that Buick6 was banging on about "fags" so much because he was gay himself. Is that not the case? It would be a bit odd otherwise, at best.

 

[henrymiller]

i'm glad someone mentioned space raiders. 'glam raid' is clearly a major link in the chain.

 

[Diggedy Derek]

I agree with this, but had assumed that Buick6 was banging on about "fags" so much because he was gay himself. Is that not the case? It would be a bit odd otherwise, at best.

Perhaps it is. That would make more sense. But he was also throwing out odd comments re: Israeli drug dealers, so I didn't know where he was coming from. Sarcasm or self-deprecation doesn't really come across on the internet, so from here it looks more or less like a torrent of abuse/cliches.

 

[Tim F]

I suspect the more likely explanation is that Buick spends too much of his energy coming across as sneerily unimpressed with every style of music and every social group who might be into them, and not enough energy self-censoring (or, indeed, coming up with anything worthwhile).