Trends

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Lets talk about TRENDS.

In fact, let's talk about the EXISTENCE of trends - on the Lex's LJ in a recent post dubdobdee said he basically didn't believe in them, or at least found them harmful as a way of thinking about stuff (dunno if he was specifically referring to music or what). Boyofbadgers agreed.

I am interested in this perspective - do you think that thinking about music in terms of trends is useful? Do you think the ebbs and flows of musical fashion as documented by journalists has any relation to real life experience? If anyone else likes it, is it a bonus? (Or a PENALTY?)

Am I being too vague?

Comments

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure you have pointed out a few trends in, say, house music, in your time young man. Trends don't have to be top-down imposed, often they're visible and quantifiable by looking at, for example, what the most popular producers or doing or which way the punters are voting with their feet.

I'd go so far as to say that trends, and either wanting to lead or follow them, are necessary and desirable, to prevent artists from becoming complacent and things from stagnating.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

"Trendy" doesn't have much to do with "trends"! "Trendy" just means that certain people are doing a thing, there is no claim that EVERYONE is doing it.

But the thing I have against "trends" is that "most popular" are "which way the punters are voting" tells us so little - which punters? how to extrapolate any meaningful conclusions from this totally nebulous situation of eg one club being more popular than others - never mind that there might be different people there each week, that they could all be there for different reasons, that it might be only a small part of what they do and where they go...