I spent my truly formative years in the 1980s. I danced around to Depeche Mode and The Thompson Twins and New Order, and I went on to become a classical voice major in college. Go figure.
Even though I have done fuckall with my degree from a Semi-Prestigious University™, music has long been my passion. When I'm not writing or parenting or generally being obnoxious, I listen to/sing to/breathe in music. It's how I roll.
Given that a singer like me should love electronic music is rather curious, and probably a bit unusual. So I thought I'd explore the deeper questions, and ask the "who?"s and the "why?"s and the "how?"s.
Because, even though electronica/techno/trance/drum-n-bass/house/dance/hip hop/trip hop/ambient/chill seems rather uniform in nature, and not at all personal, I've often garnered a very specific meaning from it. Electronic music makes me feel alive!
Technology willing, the 1960s provided us with the first glimpse into what can we commonly refer to as modern "electronic music". In 1964, a dude named Robert Moog created the Moog synthesizer. Bob Moog did some early work in developing it at the then-named Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, and went on to own his own company, the aptly named Moog Music. In 1971, the Minimoog came out, and it was rockin'! It was both affordable and portable, and people thought it was the shiznit!
I recall hearing and being aware of electronic music when I was listening to my parents' extensive music collection. They loved The Doors and The Beatles, even though my folks were not exactly thrilled with the Moody Blues or King Crimson or other 60s like-minded groups that incorporated new technologies. I, on the other hand, enjoyed this kinda music simply because it sounded cool! It was different, and I loved different back then. (I know this comes as a complete and utter shock to you, but please try to remember that nothing's changed, really.)
Defining electronica is difficult. Essentially, in the Shiz Version of things, electronic music can simply be defined as all instruments (save possibly one, but no more than that) being electronic and/or amplified. The guitar is electric, the bass is electric, the rhythm is electric, the synthesizer is certainly electric, the vox is electric, and (mostly) the drums/percussion are electric.
In 2011, the easiest way to tell electronica music from other types of music is specifically by the drums/percussion. Do the drums sound real? Cool! Then it's not electronica.
Do the drums sound fake? Cool! Then it is.
An early example of this is apparent in Iron Butterly's "In-a-gadda-da-vida" (which was supposed to be entitled "In the Garden of Eden", but the guys in the band got rip-roarin' stoned in the studio. Heh.) While the song still has live drums, many 1960s groups incorporated either electric piano or electric organ into their shit, which was certainly the case with Iron Butterfly.
Back then, faking the drums was not yet a viable option, but that didn't last for very long. While electric drums were popular for a bit in the 1980s, computers and synthesizers made it quite easy to program drum sounds instead of using live drums. Unfortunately, we had to experience the 70s to allow programmable drums to become reality. To wit:
Yeah. Heh.
;)
Anyway.
In the 1980s, electronica came into its heyday. The 80s saw a dramatic increase in electronic music, as well as the rise of 3 distinctly different types of it:
1. new wave/synthpop,
2. electronica mixed with heavy metal, and
3. electronica mixed with R & B and/or hip hop.
I blame the Brits. British pop music became extremely, well, popular in the United States, which gave way to more and more experimentation, and all of us were then subjected to Flock of Seagulls Hair.
New Order was my very favorite band in the 80s, and while no one yet called this type of music "electronica", music critics often referred to the period as "post-punk". MTV kept going on and on about "The Second British Invasion". The rest of us schmucks simply called it "new wave", which might have had more to do with the freaking weird hair than anything else.
Here's a good example of new wave proper:
In the late 80s, the experimentation I spoke of earlier permeated the mainstream, and groups like Faith No More began to chart the Top 100. Traditionally, heavy metal has no accompanying keyboards, but new wave changed that for awhile. One of my favorite songs still:
Of course, R & B has always had a strong blues, jazz, and gospel influence, but 1980s saw it merge with electronica in a fairly awesome way. It was a pretty cool fusion, and it still features prominently in 2011. (Can you say "Beyonce"? I know you can. :P) This leads us right into the 1990s, where groups like En Vogue kicked some serious ass. Sampling started gaining a lot of traction, and I remember everybody being pissed off about it for awhile.
I have a particular song in mind that I still heart. I know all the words. :)
Dear People in Music Videos Who Pretend to Play the Drums: we know you are faking! Fucking quit it. Oy.
The 1990s saw a complete and total hodge-podge of electronica, and it's when the word "electronica" started being used in earnest. Raves also started becoming popular, so the music changed to suit the culture, once again. The beats were harder, more fierce, unrelenting. The songs went on forever and a day, like jam bands. (And don't get me started on jam bands!) The partying was ferocious, the ecstasy was popped, and instead of Flock of Seagulls Hair, we began to bear witness to Bjork Hair.
This video (from the beginning of the movie Go, which is actually a pretty good flick) summarizes rave culture. There are at least two instances of Bjork Hair, see if you can spot 'em:
I've only ever been to two raves in my life and I was sober for both of 'em, which is a damn shame. Plus, I love to dance, and maybe that's why I love techno as much as I do. Like the word "electronica", "techno" (also known these days as "EDM", an acronym for "electronic dance music") is also eminently hard to define. Essentially, techno is any number of happening electronica styles with which the masses use to regularly boogie down. There are so many types of techno that I actually asked a friend of mine, a school teacher and ex-DJ, if he could tell me the type I liked best. Based on the CDs I own and the music I like, he determined it to be trance.
From La Wiki:
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s; generally characterized by a tempo of between 120 and 145 bpm, repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track.
(snip)
The trance-oriented artists are considered as the most popular DJs in the world. Indeed, in 12 of the last 13 years, trance DJs always ranked #1 in the world in the DJ Mag ranking : Paul Oakenfold (1998-1999), Sasha (2000), Tiësto (2002-2003-2004), Paul van Dyk (2005-2006), and Armin van Buuren (2007-2008-2009-2010).
Aha! That explains why I love these guys with every fiber of my being:
1990s techno has morphed into 2000s techno, with more psychadelic influences in the later years. In the 2000s as well, new wave saw another resurgence and, I dunno about you, but I am absolutely enjoying this. It is way cool!
I have come to the conclusion that the reason I love electronica is not because it touches my heart, but because it makes me move! Like I said, I absolutely love to dance, almost as much as I like writing and singing, and I have been getting up and oak tree-ing (look it up!) around the room like a madwoman! Electronica makes me all warm and giddy inside, and that's not a bad thing.
I wanted to touch on so much more in this diary, but it's impossible to cover everything all at once. I'll do a follow-up diary, if the need arises.
Oh and, btw, if you're writing a long diary, save your work in Word. :)