A kung fu fighter in a disco

People who don't like 'Run It' hate either a) pop or b) black people.

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well i do hate some pop but ahhhhhhhh but isn't it also racialist to suppose that this sort of song is characteristic/symptomatic of a racial grouping, regardless of whether the reaction is positive or negative. lots of people hate 'Run It' but love 'Banquet' etc.

Wait a moment, WHY AM I ENGAGING IN THIS ARGUMENT...

anyway, not heard 'Run It' yet but will try and do so tonight.

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I dunno, I'm not sure if you could argue that certain genres are intrinsically black or white, but there are definite historic racial associations such that traditionally black music (r&b, hip hop and so on) can be coded as black (and vice versa for indie, folk &c) without it being too much of a generalisation

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maybe but it's still a generalisation and so has the dangerous pitfalls associated with that.

more important/interesting though is how we go about discerning these genres i.e. sorting the Crunkpop wheat from the Crunkpop chaff. i have no interest in championing entire genres/styles 'for the greater good' or whatever so want to see more dissecting of what it is that makes one track good but another bad when to a person who doesn't seem to like the genre for whatever reason cannot tell the difference.

example came up on ILM yesterday re Pussycat Dolls 'Beep' and Ciara. obv. some love both, some hate both but it's those who dislike one but like the other who may be most interesting?

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or maybe it IS wrong/pointless to think about/analyse/discern within some genres this way.

as Gareth alluded to on another ILM thread, techno being an immersive thing best experienced in clubs where the hours meld into one stream of what may as well be one single force of sound with no need to decide which bits you like best or whatever - just enjoy it as a complete experience. but outside the club this approach can be contradicted, when it comes to actually buying records. but then people always enthuse about certain mix CDs, even when they don't love every track to the same level, or maybe they don't even like all the tracks featured?

but i've never been able to really do that personally. i just hear (look for?) peaks and troughs and want to set them apart. very anoraky i suppose.

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I have never heard any crunkpop chaff in my life (nb I have not heard this particularly Pussycat Dolls opus).

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So it doesn't seem odd to you to love every song that can be pidgeonholed into that particular category? Surely they can't ALL be good? Aren't some better than others and if so how so?

Same applies to electrohouse and minimal house bobbins and every other subgenre of course.

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I don't think it's that odd - I've generally been a sorter rather than an embracer but it's the other way round for a lot of people.

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Not odd as in uncommon but odd as in...ODD!

Of course I'll say 'I like pop' or 'I'll like techno' or other genre as much as anyone so it doesn't really matter. But the 'sure it stands to reason it won't all be great' caveat is also acknowledged somehow within that.

So when people say they love a genre they mean they love the ethos of it as they see it, don't they? Which is good...as you can discuss what that ethos is (esp. when it gets as nebulous as 'Pop'). But also bad for reasons given (the compulsion and process of sorting).

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Oh for something as huge as 'pop' yes it would be mental, but I don't think it's unreasonable to like the whole of a subgenre with a fairly consistent sound - eg 'crunkpop' or 'pop-crunk' or whatever.

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But there have only ever actually been about 10 crunk'n'b singles, like, ever!

I mean yeah it DOES apply, usually when the artist in question is not being crunk'n'b enough - ie something like Amerie's 'Touch' works as a generic crunk'n'b setpiece so well because it ticks every genre box, whereas, I dunno, 'Gotta Be You' by the Sugababes is clearly based on crunk'n'b but doesn't manage the signifiers well enough? (though I think 'Gotta Be You' works very well in other ways)

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braisedbywolves.livejournal.com

WARNING you are engaging The Lex in a discussion where you're assuming that you can define a genre then decide whether the songs are good or bad - if history has taught us anything (which obv it hasn't), the lesson is that here be hilarious dragons.

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I've probably heard it, but if young person's radio doesn't bother ever saying who a track's buy it's going to severely reduce the number of tickys. How does it go?

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"Is your MAN! on the FLOOR! if he AIN'T! let me KNOW! let me see if I can RUN IT RUN IT" &c &c - crunk'n'b, kind of like 'Yeah'-lite, same squealy synths and jerky rhythm

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No, don't know it.

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