"Bigger" Isn't Better

 At age 4, I decided upon two things: one, I was going to marry Ricky Martin.  Two, when I was old enough, I was going to go to New York Underground dance music clubs, dancing until the early hours of the morning just like I saw my older cousins do every weekend.  Obviously, I never met my first goal, but at least I made the other happen.

As a kid, practically every weekend, I would see my cousins would go about their regular ritual preparing to hit the New York Underground. Van Helden, Danny Tengalia, (my personal favorite was "Elements") and Hex Hector (not to mention others, admittedly I'm not really good with remembering the names of the producers and more so the tracks they produced) would boom throughout my my Aunt's house.  I would beg my cousins to take me with them, and they would crack a smile and say, "see ya later." Later, they would come home when it was time for breakfast, and stagger into their beds.  My Zia would shake their heads and sigh. Ever since then, I promised myself that I would be let in on this sacred tradition as soon as I was old enough to partake.  It just looked too fun to pass up.

 A trailer for an upcoming documentary on House Music culture in the 90s. 

The trailer does a beautiful job of capturing the flavor of the time.

                                        

So now I'm here. And, as you can see, I've fallen in love with the club scene in the past four years that I have been going out. However, in today's day and age, Dance Music (except for Tech House and Techno somewhat) is made up of all types of even more genres than before and has become bigger than it ever has been. It's not as exclusive as it once was anymore. The people who created the music and built it from the ground up--the blacks, Italian Americans, Latinos, gays, and other members from working class who were the initial participants and revelers--aren't the only people throughout the world who are enjoying the music anymore. House music is now in the most upscale of places (like Vegas,) bottle service and all. 10 or 20 years ago, this would have been unheard of.  Back in the day it wasn't about high heels and patron shots, but was rather a niche for the misfits. Now it's the "cool" thing to do. And boy, is American mainstream media is taking advantage of it. Everywhere you look, there's a new Festival or event taking place, and the public is more than willing to shell out half of their paycheck to experience it (EDC, Electric Zoo, Tommorow World, and even Coachella.) The exclusivity is gone.  It totally sucked when people would poke fun at dance music, (how could one forget Eminem's line in "Without Me," "Nobody listens to Techno!") but on the other end of the coin, it was exclusive and personal.  That felt good. In the past few years, that hasn't been the case. House music has now been heavily commercialized is now on Top 40 radio. 
 

                                 

Now I'm going to be a nerd and put my college education to use here.  Has anyone ever heard of Horkheimer and Adorno's theory about the mass-prodcution of culture?  "Horkheimer and Adorno argue that mass-produced entertainment aims, by its very nature, to appeal to vast audiences and therefore both the intellectual stimulation of high art and the basic release of low art. This is not suggesting that all products of this system are inherently inferior, only simply that they have replaced other forms of entertainment without properly fulfilling the important roles played by the now defunct sources of culture...  Horkheimer and Adorno draw attention to the problems associated with a system that ‘integrates its consumers from above’, arguing that in attempting to realise enlightenment values of reason and order, the holistic power of the individual is undermined."  In plain and simple English, the further removed people are from the culture that they are consuming due to the existence of mass production, the more artificial that culture becomes. This mass production is truly not defining of a culture, and rather marks the absence of it.  Let's think of it this way. DJs were never superstars.  DJs, promoters, partiers… they were all equals back in the day. Today, it's a popularity contest. I know I sound a little "hipster-esque," but it's true.  House Music, by getting bigger and more mainstream, it's integrity is suffering.

                              Swedish House Mafia EDC 2011, when house music officially started to 

                                          become a staple in mainstream music culture.

What does this have to do with the Underground Scene? Plenty.  It is a fact that Underground House Music constantly tries to separate itself as much as possible from what is mainstream. However, the mentality of mainstream culture has been trickling into the New York Scene lately.  It's very subtle, but, oh, it's there.  First of all, everyone wants to be a DJ. I see new DJs coming on the seen every week. Why? Well, some obviously for all the right reasons, like for the love of the music and for the love of making listeners happy.  Other "DJs" have other motives. For others, it's a popularity contest. It's for recognition and acceptance.  The worst part about this dichotomy is that at the end of the day, the DJs who get the most recognition aren't judged by their talent, but by the amount of people they are going to bring to the event, A.K.A. how popular they are. Next, More and more promo teams and parties are being thrown to make more money. Friendly competition is unheard of these days... some parties are thrown on the exact same day, competing. You even hear of other promoters calling cops on other parties that are going on so the party goers will flock over to that particular promoter's event. The greed factor is insane. Last but not least, photographers are now almost at every event that's thrown.  Being photographed with your friends are awesome, but it was never been a huge part of House Music Culture before this. Now, instead of worrying about dancing and enjoying yourself, people have to worry about how good they're going to look. Sweat isn't a good thing anymore… God forbid you get your hair messed up for a picture of yourself that's going to be on Facebook that EVERYONE will see. 

Some have taken steps to combat this new attitude within the scene. For example, Output in Williamsburg, Brooklyn does not allow photos to be taken inside the club. However, even with minor changes such as this one, the grassroots quality of Underground House Music Culture that once was is starting to fade out little by little… the question is, what are we going to do about it?