Re: Billboard dance music columnist Brian Chin
(I could have sworn I'd already posted this :icon_confused:)
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Brian ,
Godspeed on your recovery.
I don't expect you to remember this , but I do , so if I may, I'd like to share my personal one time encounter with you.
While I was working by day at Portals To Music , a record store in San Francisco, , and attending the Trocadero Nightclub by night --- I was becoming increasingly frustrated with Billboard's Disco /Dance charts.
Portals To Music had modest clout being an independent record store that dated back to the forties ( !!) and although we didn't report directly to Billboard, we did report to a West Coast record tracking agency that in turn reported their findings to Billboard (we also got weekly calls from Variety ... and of all things Jet Magazine - we were out in the Avenues of San Francisco .)
But otherwise we had no direct affiliation with Billboard Magazine.
But we had our beloved mandatory subscription which we awaited eagerly each Monday , and I used each of the Billboard charts as a guide when ordering the store's 45's and 12"ers .
( I had already been a longtime fan and had read Billboard's charts avidly since high school - long before there even was the added disco section in '74. Through Billboard, I watched disco emerge right before my very eyes)
So as time passed further into the eighties, as I watched the contents of the disco chart become increasingly jumbled, I became increasingly dismayed. What I didn't want to admit was that I was witnessing the genre that I so loved and that I'd watched develop from its inception , eroding away .
But that wasn't as clear to me then . This is probably in 1982.... And the "disco" music I was still hearing at the Trocadero just didn't line up with the weekly disco charts that Billboard was printing . I decided to fire off a little note (that wound up being a hefty three or four pages
) detailing my concerns .
I think one of my suggestions was that there seemed to be a need to redesign the charts into sub groups separating for instance the New Wave and British influx ---from the funk/hip hop--- from the rock/pop --- from the "disco" . I probably suggested a designated chart for the more hard-core type disco ... the solid stuff created with the clubs in mind , especially since there was now so much pop stuff getting extended "dance" versions at the time. (i.e. TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP The Romantics) The terms HI NRGY or Italo Disco didn't exist yet .... but that kind of stuff .... all the music coming out of Montreal on Unidisc etc. . ..the TROC music ...
So anyway, a couple of days passed and then while at work I got called to the phone .... "It's for you , Brian Chin from Billboard ."
I was so surprised you'd responded and so quickly and directly ....
Not only were you receptive to my input , but you went to great lengths to explain the current status of "disco" music and how fractured dance music had become ....with independent DJs and clubs increasingly playing distinctively different playlists depending on the clientθle.
It seems to me that you also said that Billboard's latest policy was to only now chart releases -12"ers- that were available commercially ... for sale to the public , that " promo only" versions were not included (??)....thus eliminating many songs from charting and I also think you said that imports were also not counted (???). I'm a bit fuzzy on those particulars.
We went through my letter point by point and so it was a rather lengthy discussion (very nice of you especially since it was on your --or Billboard's :icon_razz:--dime, and it was reassuring to learn you were all too aware of the issues I was bringing up and you shared my frustration . Some clubs focused on more specific sub-genres - -- while in bigger numbers , most clubs mixed it all up - to one degree or another. How do you break all that down ?? Who's playing what , & who's not ... which styles count more ....
The problem, in the end of our discussion , still remained : What then was the solution to the changing times and how to appropriately chart the wide spectrum of sounds that constituted "dance music" ???
And that didn't get resolved that day.
But I, as an avid disco enthusiast and avid Billboard follower , thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. 
Thanks for taking the time back then Brian ...I'm sure that phone call was probably a small part of a normal day for you , but for me it was special and I wanted you to know such a gesture was regarded with great respect. And still remembered to this day.
Would love to have you come to discomusic.com one day, Brian, and review the Billboard days .... Discuss those charts some more ! ….that and so many things, ….. tap into all your disco knowledge.
Hurry with your recovery so you can do so !!!
remicks
******
Last edited by remicks; December 15th, 2009 at 03:31 PM.
you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
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