I Sure agree with that , Old School Hero. People still think , if it does'nt have a drum machine , you can't dance to it. Even people who LIKE Gararge Punk from the 60's , 70's Punk , Rockabilly , stuff like that , will argue that it is'nt danceable , or that you can only dance a certain , choreographed way to it.
Now , I like Soul music , too , but , I've always had a short attention span for it. Unless you're talking James Browns' Double LPs from the early 70's , but , it's becoming politically incorrect to play James Brown , if you're DJing.... The softer the rhythms , the more danceable people seem to find it.....But , not always.
I first got into Punk , and , yes , New Wave (WHICH HAD YET TO BE CO - OPTED BY THE MASS MEDIA , AND TURNED INTO THE HORRID 80'S DANCE HITS THAT ARE NOW SO POPULAR AMONG THE PEOPLE THAT DID'NT HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT ON A DAILY BASIS.) because for people who were awkward trying to dance to the popular stuff , and did'nt have the attention span for dance lessons , Punk was easy to dance to. Plus , there were'nt so many attitudes. You could just ask someone to dance , or they'd ask you , and , just like that , you were dancing to Rock'n'Roll , for a change. I've been told , Bass is everything. I don't discount it's importance , but , I always followed Guitar and Drums , which is why I still find The Sonics AND The Ramones , and the zillion , now easily obtainable (For the most part ), bands in between , far more danceable that what is considered hip.
I did a Glam Rock set at a club , here , recently . People went nuts. I had'nt seen so much enthusiasm since the yearly "O'Banion's " and "La Mere" nights (Those were the first two Punk clubs in Chicago. Every year , there's a night dedicated to either or both , and people ( ulp !) dance to Rock'n'Roll . ).John
"It's not Punk Rock , it's New wAVE. It's a totally different head !" - Johnny Slash , Our Fearless Leader.
John Battles said:
John , You reminded me of a funny story. In my 20's , I'd already been into Garage and Rockabilly for a few years , but , that was in the 80's , when we had to find and buy our own shit . I had a small income for records , not much. Now people can obtain really rare stuff for free , but , regardless of age , they tend to glom on to three or four bands and leave it at that. Anyway , I used to know a woman about my age , she was into this stuff that was already dead , The Cure , The Smiths and so forth . I was'nt very enlightened back then . If I did'nt like something ,I would'nt shut the Hell up about it . But , she asked me "OK , If The Cramps became a big group tomorrow , and were all over MTV , would you no longer LIKE them?". I said , "That's a good question. I really don't see how they could become big , unless they turned themselves around completely , and started to sound like U2....which I don't think is possible. But , if that happened , I think I'd still like their old records , just not whatever could have made them big."
There are people in Micronesia who know The Cramps were Garage before the GARAGE TREND of a few years ago
, but , that was because they took all their favorite , yet unpopular, trash culture sounds , and added "The junkiest element of them all: Themselves". The thing was , this young lady got tired of my criticisms (She had a right to. Did'nt mean she had very good taste in music.) , and told me to play something I like , for HER to evaluate. So , I put on a tape that I had with me . She said "This just sounds like what everybody else is doing!" . I told her "This album is (was) about 20 years old!". It was The 13th Floor Elevators' "Easter Everywhere".
John Carlucci said:
I totally agree with this part of your post. I've always hated labels. I feel that having preconceived notions and rules in any specific genre stifles creativity. Think about it, if the 13th Floor Elevators were a new band starting out today, how many people would say, "You can't have a jug player in a Garage Band!" lol!
Old School Hero said:.
On a side note: I do think it could go big in a real and honest way. I think this because there are a ton of people who can't stand rap or techno..and that's all you have a choice to dance to these days. I find that pure Rock 'n Roll is quite dancable and could make a huge comeback if done by the right bands, with the right DJ's, and the right people starting it.