Why Americans hate "electronic music"

If there's something you don't like about America(besides Iraq, Afghanistan, Israeli support & its hatred of soccer), is the fact that they hated electronic music. And it's very obvious. If you compared rock music of America with rock music from the UK, American rock music comprises only of guitars, drums & a vocalist, with the exceptions bands like Slipknot & Nine Inch Nails which totally endorses every electronic instruments. But in the UK, British rock music fully endorses electronic materials, starting from the birth of synthesizers, to the acid house drum machines & computers.

And here's another comparison: Give an American teenager a song from Tiesto or Sasha, and a reply would rather be like "Fuck this techno sounding shit". But give the same song to a Brit, and he'll reply "Woah mate, this is MASSIVE!"

So yeah, there is a difference in use of electronic music in both US & UK. But why? Why does Americans hate "techno? Why don't the majority of US rock bands use electronic instruments while the UK ones endorsed it?

Well, i've once tried to get some answers from folks at LowYat.net forums and there's no clear answer to it. But there is alot of reasons why. It all starts with "the soccer problem". America is the only nation that doesn't care about football aka soccer. Even if the US hosted the 1994 World Cup, America still doesn't give a shit. Why? Because football is not easy to follow. Baseball, American football and basketball have long since put down deep roots, claimed particular seasons of the year as their own (although they now overlap) and gained the allegiance of the sports-following public. One in particular of those three sports - basketball - poses a singular obstacle to the national acceptance of football. The two are too similar for them both to succeed. Each belongs to the family of games whose object is to put a ball (or similar object) in a goal. Because the two games are similar, they have the same kind of appeal. Both are easy to follow; you can immediately understand the point of each one. The rules and strategies of cricket, baseball, rugby and American football, by contrast, are less straightforward. The action of a basketball game and of a football match are easier to follow than that of other team sports as well because the ball is larger than in cricket and baseball and is never hidden in a tangle of bodies or a scrum, as it is in American football and rugby. And the same applies to electronic music. Rock music like Nirvana and ugh, the Jonas Brothers is easy to listen to, while trance, techno & House requires some melody, repetition & tranquility, three elements that is rare in American music culture.

The second reason is the disco-bashing culture. Americans, especially those folks outside Chicago & NY that hates disco. And it's true. There was a "Disco Sucks" movements which has faded the popularity of many disco entertainers like Larry Levan & Donna Summer. Why? Because disco is loved by the black, European, Asian & gay community, and these communities were despised by middle America. Also, blame it on the US radio conglomerates (Clear Channel, for example) that own and program almost ALL of the radio stations in the US. They don't play dance stuff anymore--except on certain Saturday night programs where they try to give a taste of club sounds to the folks at home or in their cars goin' to the clubs. So when an American listens to some nice house tracks from Hed Kandi or Pete Tong or David Guetta, there's a definitive chance that they'll hate it, since house was evolved from disco.

Another reason is because Americans are not raised with electronic music. If you look at the UK, they are completely raised with the electronic music culture. Shows like Doctor Who & Blake's 7 contains true electronic music soundtracks & theme songs, thanks to a lady named Delia Derbyshire(and using synthesizers are way cheaper than an fully-conducted orchestra). Britain introduced the world to synthesizers through musicians like Brian Eno. And when house DJs like Marshall Jefferson played at London & Manchester clubs, the British quickly endorsed the music, way faster than the Americans. Why? All thanks to Doctor Who & Brian Eno, since many Chicago house musicians used the same equipments by those in British electronic music. Only a small fraction of Americans were raised through electronic music, and this is because that they were either influenced by Doctor Who, or if they've grown up with synthesizers, drum machines & turntables. And it's kinda true. Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails admitted to liking Brian Eno, the Sex Pistols & Doctor Who, and so was Slipknot, Madonna and DJ BT.

I also find that Americans don't get used to a DJ or a synthesizer/drum machine player just standing there playing music & not moving his legs. If you compare a rave party hosted by Armin Van Buuren to a Miley Cyrus concert, many would rather go to a Miley Cyrus concert, because they liked to see a performer dancing & movies his/her legs. And most Americans can't dance, so they would rather see the singer & performer dancing rather than themselves.

And another reason is because of snobbery. Corporate snobbery. Corporate radio like Clear Channel despised disco & other forms of dance music because they believe it won't sell(The "Always Judge a Book by its Cover" mentality). And Gibson, a guitar company is one of the most popular guitar brands in the US, and they also the most snobbish. They quickly despised synthesizers & turntables, saying that both are "not real instruments". And since many American bands used Gibson guitars, many of them joined the bandwagon of hating Djs & synthesizer players. And that's a snobbish attitude presented in corporate America.

So how will Americans get into the electronic music thingy? Well, there's still some hope. In the late 90's, the Big Beat house movement comprising of DJs like Chemical Brothers, Junkie XL, Fatboy Slim & bands like Prodigy became totally popular, and influenced non-electronic bands like New Radicals, Linkin Park & Crazy Town. And this movement was popular due to its use of joining together guitars & DJing, as well as the rebirth of liberalisation thanks to Clinton & the Cool Britannia movement which exports Fatboy Slim & Paul Oakenfold to the US. And this is what America needs: Another electronic movement similar to the Big Beat movement. And it could be very possible. A new breed of electronic-oriented bands & DJs from the US, Australia & UK in the likes of Justice, Cobra Starship, Hot Chip, MGMT, Pendulum & Bloc Party are making waves in America, and this proves that electronic music is making a comeback to the US. So there is hope.

The National Fatwa Council deserves a facepalm

Coming soon: Fatwa on yoga

Oct 29, 08 4:08pm, Malaysiakini

The National Fatwa Council will be issuing a ruling soon relating to yoga exercise, which is deemed to be deviationist in nature for the Muslims.

An announcement on the matter is expected to be made soon by the fatwa council's chairperson Prof Dr Abdul Shukor Husin.

This was revealed by the deputy director-general of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) Othman Mustapha, reported Bernama today.

Yesterday, UKM lecturer Prof Zakaria Stapa advised Muslims who have taken up yoga - a widely popular exercise which has its roots to India and Hinduism - to stop practising it for fear that it could deviate them from their belief.

"Yoga originated from the Hindu community and it combines spiritual as well as their religious aspects. They believe it brings them closer to their god," he was reported as saying in Berita Harian today.

Zakaria was reported to have said that more Muslims were resorting to yoga exercise to find a balance in their hectic lifestyle.

He added that they should instead apply the Islamic teachings such as prayers to find peace and good health.

"If the Muslims want a healthy body, prayers are the right choice... why must we find alternate ways... a single mistake can deviate our teachings as yoga movements follow the style and tradition of Hinduism," he was reported as saying.

Ban on tomboys

The perils of yoga to the Muslims is learnt to have been discussed at the recently held fatwa council meeting in Kota Baru, Kelantan.

At the fatwa council meeting, the religious scholars have also decided to issue a fatwa against females from dressing or behaving like men and engaging in lesbian sex.

Council chairperson Abdul Shukor had said that many young women admired the way men dress, behave and socialise, violating human nature and denying their feminity.

"It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle including dressing in the clothes men wear," Abdul Shukor was quoted as saying.

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Idiocracy is coming. If the council really cares about guarding the sanctity of Islamic teachings and values, they should really go around and see what is really happening for themselves. Banning something that has no rationale only creates the notion that Muslims lack the strength of the Islamic faith and easily deviated. Now, that is a real shame. The International community will look at us Malaysians as shallow and narrow minded fools and this will carry some ramifications surely! Next, they will ban Muslims from going to the Gym, then swimming pools, then playing sports....

Inilah Karangan Paling Melampau yang saya pernah baca

Hari ini saya ingin menulis dalam Bahasa Melayu, kerana saya ingin mebuat satu telolz untuk makan hari ini.

Kita biasa dengar tentang meringkaskan karangan. Begitu juga membuat karangan. Tetapi pernahkah anda mendengar ataupun membaca satu karangan yang dipanggil sebagai karangan melampau? Karangan ini ditulis dengan begitu kejam sekali sehingga orang yang membacanya sukar untuk membayangkan sesuatu keadaan yang cuba digambarkan. Sebagai contoh disertakan karangan tersebut di bawah yang bertajuk

’KEMALANGAN YANG PALING NGERI YANG PERNAH SAYA LIHAT'
Pagi itu pagi minggu. Cuaca cukup sejuk sehingga mencapai takat suhu beku. Sebab itu saya tidak mandi pagi sebab air kolah jadi air batu dan air paip tidak mahu keluar sebab beku di dalam batang paip.Pagi itu saya bersarapan dengan keluarga di dalam unggun api kerana tidak tahan sejuk. Selepas itu emak saya mengajak saya menemaninya ke pasar. Tetapi saya tidak mahu. Selepas emak menikam perut saya berkali-kali dengan garfu barulah saya bersetuju untuk mengikutnya. Kami berjalan sejauh 120 kilometer kerana pasar itu letaknya 128 kilometer dari rumah. Lagi 8 kilometer nak sampai pasar saya ternampak sebuah lori kontena meluru dengan laju dari arah belakang. Dia melanggar emak saya. Emak saya tercampak ke dalam gaung. Dia menjerit ”Adoi!”. Lepas itu emak saya naik semula dan mengejar lori tersebut. Saya pun turut berlari di belakang emak saya kerana takut emak saya melanggar lori itu pula. Pemandu lori itu nampak kami mengejarnya. Dia pun memecut lebih laju iaitu sama dengan kelajuan cahaya.

Kami pula terpaksa mengejar dengan lebih laju iaitu sama dengan dua kali ganda kelajuan cahaya. Emak saya dapat menerajang tayar depan lori itu. Lori itu terbabas dan melanggar pembahagi jalan lalu bertembung dengan sebuah feri. Feri itu terbelah dua. Penumpang feri itu yang seramai 100 orang semuanya mati. Pemandu feri itu sangat marah. Dia pun bertukar menjadi Ultraman dan memfire pemandu lori. Pemandu lori menekan butang khas di dalam lori dia..lori itu bertukar menjadi robot Transformer. Mereka bergaduh di udara. Emak saya tidak puas hati. Dia pun terus menyewa sebuah helikopter di Genting Highlands dan terus ke tempat kemalangan. Dia melanggar pemandu feri yang telah bertukar menjadi Ultraman itu. Pemandu feri itu terkejut dan terus bertukar menjadi pemandu feri semula lalu terhempas ke jalanraya. Pemandu feri itu pecah. Pemandu lori sangat takut melihat kejadian itu. Dia meminta maaf dari emak saya. Dia menghulurkan tangan ingin bersalam. Tetapi emak saya masih marah. Dia menyendengkan helikopternya dan mengerat tangan pemandu lori itu dengan kipas helikopter. Pemandu lori itu menjerit ”Adoi..!” dan jatuh ke bumi. Emak say menghantar helikopter itu ke Genting Highlands. Bila dia balik ke tempat kejadian, dia terus memukul pemandu lori itu dengan beg tangannya sambil memarahi pemandu lori itu di dalam bahasa Inggeris. Pemandu lori itu tidak dapat menjawab sebab emak saya cakap orang putih. Lalu pemandu lori itu mati.

Tidak lama kemudian kereta polis pun sampai. Dia membuat lapuran ke ibu pejabatnya tentang kemalangan ngeri itu. Semua anggota polis di pejabat polis itu terperanjat lalu mati. Orang ramai mengerumuni tempat kejadian kerana ingin mengetahui apa yang telah terjadi. Polis yang bertugas cuba menyuraikan orang ramai lalu dia menjerit menggunakan pembesar suara. Orang ramai terperanjat dan semuanya mati. Selepas itu emak saya mengajak saya ke pasar untuk mengelak lebih ramai lagi yang akan mati. Di pasar, emak saya menceritakan kejadian itu kepada penjual daging. Penjual daging dan peniaga-peniaga berhampiran yang mendengar cerita itu semuanya terkejut dan mati. Saya dan emak saya terus berlari balik ke rumah. Kerana terlalu penat sebaik saja sampai di rumah kami pun mati. Itulah kemalangan yang paling ngeri yang pernah saya lihat sebelum saya mati.

D++



Terima Kasih kepada Obefiend yang menulis karangan ini kepada saya

I'll punch anyone who listens to these 5 bands:

What's worse: Today's music or those who listens to today's music? Well if you choose the latter, you're correct. While Hollywood, Hong Kong & The Music of Britain(The MOB) keeps on releasing crap, these two knows how to make their fans look crappier than the crap they're listening two. Here are some 5 bands whose fans i'd like to punch at:

5.The Fray

Music: Sleepy indie music made irritating by mainstream media & Grey's Anatomy. "How to Save A Life" created a new form of torture used in Guantanamo Bay: Irritating Sleep Torture, currently being used in Guantanamo Bay & Kamunting, Perak.

Fans: Anyone who watches Grey's AnatomY. As much as i hate that show, i hate any GAY(Grey's AnatomY) fan who has "How to Save A Life" on their iPods. This song should have been made by Brian Eno and be used for the soundtrack to a Bruce Lee film, not by a bunch of Colorado kids whose song has been used in a shitty overrated drama series.

Better alternative: Radiohead, Brian Eno, Coldplay & any sound that is made by scratching your balls.

4.The Klaxons

Music: Crappy indie music which is considered by the NME as "Nu Rave", eventhough it doesn't sound like rave music at all.

Fans: "Nu Ravers", aka C U N T S. These guys wear shiny rainbow hoodies from Topman and has the personality of bad British yob tourists. They go to Klaxon concerts aka "Nu Raves" where the only sign of a "rave" is basically lots of glowstix and less pops of "e". Actually, to be more clear, a "rave" basically consists of youths like me going to MOS and Global Gathering or even islands like Ibiza where we basically pop Es, watch some glowstick dances and shuffles, and sleep in the middle of the road at night. If anyone calls themselves a "nu raver", i will punch their face, and take a knife and cut off their balls(which is the only good thing about knife crime).

Better alternative: Hadouken, Hot Chip, Nine Inch Nails or any acid house/hard rock fusion bands like New Order or Happy Mondays.

3.The Jonas Brothers

Music: Here's a word: Disney. Therefore, it's basically a boyband trio disguised as a "rock band". If you heard songs like "Mandy" or "SOS" right now in the radio, turn it off, NOW!

Fans: Two words: teenage girls. And since most teenage girls are Jonas Brothers fans, here are some "quotes":

OMG THEYR LYKE SO HOTTT!!!!

OMG YOUR GAY AND JEALOUS BECAUSE JOES & NICK JONAS IS HANDSOME AND YOUR NOT!!!

OMG JOE JONAS, MARRY ME!!!!

OMG (ADD SOMETHING)

If you're an MP reading this right now, please pass a law that will send every female Jonas Brothers fans to the ISA jail in Kamunting. We have learnt fromt he torture of Hanson, should we suffer enough?

Better alternatives: A rant from Khairy Jamaluddin is more listenable than this piece of shit.

2.Any fucking Chinese/Taiwanese/Fuckinese Boy Band

Music: Rap & R&B in Chinese with music videos featuring them doing dances way douchier than New Kids on the Block

Fans: lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs,lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas, ah bengs, lalas and fucking ah bengs!

Better alternatives: A Beijing Soap Opera.

1.Fall Out Boy

Music: Let's see, we've got a closeted gay man and a fat kid singing in a band together, with songs like "Thanks for the Memory" bleeding more ears than a 15 Million BPM Splittercore Track.

Fans: Anyone who's "mainstream" by anyone's definition. Go to a mainstreamer, check out their iPod and if they have "Fall Out Boy" in their playlist, destroy it immediately! Then abduct them and torture so hard that you could make a sequel to Saw or Salo out of it!

Better alternatives: Arctic Monkeys. That's as far as it goes.

If you're offended, then you can go fuck yourselves. Yes, there is a thing called "taste", but in my opinion my taste is better than yours, and your opinion is shit. Thank you.

Let's Stop Scaring Our Kids, says New York author

It's 7:35 on the Today show-the time reserved for big, national stories. (George Clooney isn't scheduled till later.) Ann Curry is speaking directly to the camera, her face friendly but concerned because her next guest just may be insane. "So," she asks her six million viewers, "is she an enlightened mom or a really bad one?"

The shot widens to reveal … me.

My son, Izzy, is by my side, stuffed with NBC's free cookies, both of us here because I'd recently left him, deliberately, in the first-floor handbag department of the Manhattan Bloomingdale's.



He was nine and had been begging me to please let him find his way home from someplace-anyplace-on the subway, by himself. After all, we live in New York City, and getting around by public transit is a basic part of life, like yelling at cabbies in the crosswalk. It's also a rite of passage, the first step toward feeling grown-up. So on that sunny Sunday, I gave him a subway map, a transit card, $20 for emergencies, and a couple of quarters in case he had to call me. (No, no cell phone. Nine-year-olds lose things.)

Despite a tiny twinge, however, I had no intention of losing him. New York today is as safe as it was in 1963, making it almost embarrassingly ungritty-but reassuring. So I waved goodbye and left in the other direction. After 45 minutes, he arrived home, far more tickled than your average commuter.

A few days later, I wrote about his adventure, or nonadventure, for my paper, the New York Sun. Little did I realize this would be the Subway Ride Heard Round the World.

Somehow the idea that a kid could navigate the city on his own, and that a mom would let him, was big news. Huge! It turned out the Today show interview was just the first of the day. After I dropped Izzy off at school, I sped up to MSNBC to talk about his ride again. When Fox News called, I turned around and grabbed him back out of school, and off we zoomed to Neil Cavuto. The segment got more feedback than the Bear Stearns bailout hearing.

Pretty soon, NPR was calling. Newsweek. The BBC. Malta. Bloggers were going crazy, so I started a blog, too, Free Range Kids, and letters came pouring in: "Bravo!" vs. "Why didn't child services come to your door?" Then came a call from the South China Morning Post: Izzy's story was perfect for Asia.

"But why?" I asked the reporter. "Isn't everyone there, like, outside together, riding bikes? Sort of the opposite of New York?"

Biking or not, she said, the people in China are much more fearful these days. They don't trust their neighbors the way they used to. They don't let their kids out as much. And that's when I finally realized why this was such a big story: Worldwide, we have become terrified for our children.

The things we did as kids without thinking twice-walking to a friend's house, playing in the park, staying out till the streetlights came on-have somehow morphed into acts of daring on a par with shark hunting in a hamburger suit.

One dad I spoke to won't allow his eight-year-old to play in his own driveway. Another suburban dad "lets" his 12-year-old walk the single block to her friend's house, so long as she calls him the second she arrives.

Even my best friend confided that when she and her own 12-year-old split up at the mall for the few minutes it takes to grab food from separate food-court restaurants, she's "nervous the whole time." My friend was a Harvard math major, so she is perfectly aware of probability and statistics and that the odds of anything bad happening to her daughter are tiny.

Doesn't matter. "I'm comfortable being nervous," she said.

Fear is hardly a new parental emotion, of course. It has kept us Homo sapiens cleverly running and hiding for millennia, and I certainly have my share of it ("Stop! That stick is way too short for toasting your marshmallow!"). But the fear of letting our children out of sight for even a second-that's new. And it feeds not only on legitimate angst but also on a steady diet of peer pressure. "Powerful cultural pressures incite parents to regard every childhood experience from the standpoint of the worst possible outcome," says Paranoid Parenting author Frank Furedi. "To do otherwise is to be seen as an 'irresponsible parent.'"

And so I receive an e-mail about a father who's contemplating following his daughter's field trip to make sure she's safe, even as a mom in an upscale Atlanta community admits that she won't let her daughter go to the mailbox alone because in her quiet suburban neighborhood, there would be no witnesses if someone were to snatch her daughter.

The upshot: Drive through most suburban streets and it's as if the kids have been vacuumed up with the lawn trimmings. How did this happen? How did it become too scary to let kids be kids?

"TV," says Trevor Butterworth, an editor at the media watchdog group stats.org. "Cable TV exists to scare the pants off you." That's how it gets you to stay tuned. And what is scarier than a kidnapped kid-no matter how far away?

Thanks to a steady stream of those stories, it starts to feel as if kidnappings are happening all the time, on a Schwinn near you. But they're not, says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. "Crimes against kids are down to levels we haven't seen since the early '70s."

"'Stranger danger' cases are the ones that make the big headlines," says Corwin Ritchie, executive director of the Iowa County Attorneys Association. "But that's not the typical child-abuse case. The typical case involves an acquaintance of the child."

The fact is, children are 40 times more likely to die in a car accident, and that doesn't stop us from driving them to karate. Car accidents, after all, are still considered exactly that-accidents. But we blame parents, the way we used to blame rape victims, for "letting" anything happen to their children. If tragedy ever befell our child, we wouldn't just be heartbroken. We all know we'd be there on CNN with a pseudo- sympathetic host asking, "Why? Why did you let her scooter to her piano lesson?" And then they'd cut to a commercial to build the tension.

That's why the kid-on-the-subway story struck people so profoundly. Here was a mom on TV saying what a million other newscasts never do: Kids can leave the home without a police detail and survive!

Izzy probably put it best. Like all of us who'd grown up with the freedom to play tag, fall off the monkey bars, and chase the mosquito spray truck, he didn't think it was a big deal. "It was fun," he said. Plus, being on national TV meant that he missed math class. Sometimes it really pays to be brave.

http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/is-it-just-me-lets-stop-scaring-our-kids/article101787-1.html

Bravo to the mom. People need to stop wussifying our kids nowadays. It is ridiculous. In Tokyo, I see little kids in elementary school roaming around the subway stations all the time. Friend's son of mine does a 30+ minute commute by himself. Even if Tokyo is safer, New York is not that unsafe. Grow up time has arrived for adults.