Out of the Frying Pan...

By: Ray Sare

There is something inherent in the Canadian psyche that makes Canadian music fans, and consumers in general, always want to buy foreign product or settle for imitations. Specifically, I am referring to proliferation of clone, tribute and Top 40 cover bands in Toronto's club scene, which, mercifully, has begun to wear thin even the most grizzled lounge lizards (do we need three or four Guns 'n Roses tributes?)

Also out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now, all the kid 18 years of age and younger -- our next generation of club folk -- are listening to, gasp, house music. Yes, all the classic tunes rehashed, sampled, synthesized, simplified and sodomized with penetrating orgasmic shrieks and monotonous industrial rhythms. Right on musak morons, but excuse me, where's the band? Hey, if I were a guitarist (which I am), bassist, keyboardist, horn player, back-up vocalist, drummer, nut to mention soundman, light man or roadie, I would be a little worried about my future job potential.

Nowadays, a house music artist from New York shows up at a big venue all alone with a cassette in his attaché case, and that's "the show." At least with clone or tribute bands there is still a limited amount of visual stimulation. Now all you can do is dance, unless the club has a couple of giant TV screens to show the music video that corresponds to the house music tune; but is there one? These "songs," which last 10 to 15 minutes minimum, generally don't have a video, unless they can afford to hire John Landis (a la "Thriller")

I am not against imitation or house music as art forms because each vehicle is serving a practical, if not creative, vehicle. The business and economic realities also can't be argued. However, the cultural impact on a new generation of impressionable people who've generally never heard of The Beatles, presents a curious dilemma.

Will the next big recording act to come to Toronto be R2D2 and his pulsing laser disc, or will it be the cartoon character B.C. and a synthesized sample of him hitting his wife with a club?

As long as you can dance to it, who cares?

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