Target audience
Posted by Vicki on 25.08.03
My brother is currently at the Reading Festival. Before he left he showed me the line-up and asked who I advised he see. Most of the line-up I recognised as having been touted as the "next big thing" by the music industry and press but had then failed to deliver. This prompted me to ponder exactly what newly discovered or just new bands had lived up to or even surpassed the hype. Arguably I am too young to truly remember the age of rock stars. Instead I grew up with the remnants of glam and punk, complemented by early grunge.
As such I expect my music to come with guitar solos or failing that at least to have cheekbones. In the late 1990s and even into 2000 I was fairly content with the music, Rachel Stamp were still fun, Antiproduct, Halo, Cyclefly, Dave Navarro and similar kept me amused, with a pleasing mix of good music and people who everyone assured me were pretty even if I could not see it myself.
Then in 2000 I woke up and realised that music was changing, Slipknot were now deemed to be the future and with this came the influx and incest that was nu-metal. It is nothing new that record companies mimic the sound which sells but there was a new urgency. It was as if the record executives had foreseen that if they could convince a generation of pre-pubescent kids that this music was life then they could guarantee constant sales for the rest of the punter's life.
It was not just the music that was changing, almost overnight the role and appearance of a frontman changed. No longer are cheekbones and eyeliner seen as being central to success, instead I see girls swooning over a short squat man with bad facial hair and worse skin. Good Charlotte wear some of the worst eyeliner I have ever seen and yet are being widely imitated. Just because Iggy Pop has decided to participate in their album goes not make them punk nor attractive.
On my last day at work I went on a shopping spree and on a whim picked up a copy of American Headcharge's 'The art of war', it was reduced as they had lost the cover art. I had not heard any of their music but recalled that they had been recommended by many people and magazines I have encountered. Upon playing the CD I was not entirely surprised to hear generic and unimaginative nu-metal chugging out of my speakers.
Comparing photos of bands I like to those in the best sellers charts confirmed my fears, not only has finely crafted guitars been replaced by low chugging tuneless endless bass which drowns out everything apart from the guttural grunts made by the vocalist. But additionally vastly baggy jeans are now the uniform for alternative music.
Whilst the central European death metal scene might have experience minor problems with untimely death, church burnings and mutilation it at least did it with reasonable style. The nearest contemporary to Mayhem and co is Slipknot throwing about a pig's head. It is not simply that all new bands are bad it is that they are encouraged by record labels to make music which sells, the ultimate example of this being the antics of Roadrunner Records.
In the past couple of years Roadrunner has signed a couple of bands who I have like for some time, prior to getting a record deal these bands shared their music by MP3 from their own site. In the aftermath of such deals the mp3s have vanished as has the desire by the band to keep their fans loyal through niceties. Instead we are given reissue albums 6 months are the original release that contains 1 new track and 2 remixes.
As if this was not bad enough the music has been forceably changed, for example I liked Spineshank's first album a lot, I went to see them play in Manchester, enduring a 13 hour return train journey. The second album was also fine; the third however came across as soulless. There was nothing specific wrong with it, it just sounded identical to all the other bands which Roadrunner deal with. Similarly with Coal Chamber and Chimaira the longer they stay on Roadrunner the more their artistic vision withers and dies. The Murderdolls have potential but that will never be reached while they are on Roadrunner and Type O negative will always remain in shadows on such a label.
I am now what was traditionally the target audience for record labels, old enough to have a regular amount of disposable income and young enough to still want to go to shows, turn up for record signings and generally buy band merchandise. Unfortunately for me and ultimately for the bands long-term survival I am currently seen to be obsolete, instead the 14 year olds get offered a wide range of bands who look the same, sound the same and for the most part are nothing but empty vessels whom the record company fills with this seasons flavour.
