Funny and sly open letter from Paul Meme. I'd put the On-U project under some other heading. And Neubauten. And 23 Skidoo. And Joy Division. And Colourbox. And Cabaret Voltaire. As for Lee Perry and Miles Davis! Though granted with CV it becomes a "greyer area", greyer still with Killing Joke.
Paul actually made an interesting point about the bleed from Industrial Music into Acid House. Many of the "Industrial" crew got fed up with the misery and boredom of the scene, and chucked in the towel (or re-visioned themselves, depending on how you view the transformation). 400 Blows, who Paul checks, featured The Moody Boys' Tony Thorpe. Youth was the bass-player in Killing Joke. And Weatherall was a TG disciple etc. Psychic TV (Gen) gave us Jack the Tab. Even the "core-players" went day-glo, Coil's "Love Secret Domain" for instance. In truth even Detroit outfits like Jeff Mills's "Final Cut" were evolving out of that other spin on "Industrial" music, Belgian Hard Beat (Nitzer Ebb et al).
If I was being naughty I'd ascribe this to another of those "Ha Ha look who else is claiming to have invented Techno" asides. Isn't it amazing how so many scenes started throbbing in synch with one-another at the dawn of Acid? How much common ground was created through ecstacy! Of course it wasn't solely to do with the drugs. In the study of the English Language there are similar moments when a whole range of interlocking factors suddenly click into position and produce a monumental reorganisation. "The Great Vowel shift" for one. It'd be a really cool project to do a "Pre-Energy Flash" tome, kind of like the Star Wars prequel, to Reynolds's dance music book. Any publishers up for sending me down a rabbit hole?
Posted by Woebot at July 20, 2003 02:04 PM