HI-NRG BACKLASH

[Paulo]

Hello everybody:



Move2This spoke about a hi-nrg backlash in the 80's. The same thing happened in the late 70's against disco music. It seems the world cannot stand music designed for dancing. I think the rock comunnity (musicians and the press) is to be blamed for that (in part at least). The other reason may be homophobia, as disco and hi-nrg are closely related to the word gay. The only style of music that the world pigeon-hole is disco. It is unfair, because we don't go saying: let's go out tonight to watch a heterossexual Bruce Spreengsteen rock show, but whenever I read something about Neil Tennant, there it is: the gay Pet Shop Boys.



A question for Move2This: as I live in another country, I'd like to know what kind of music was played in those "hi-nrg free" clubs?



Thank you all and take care

Paulo

Brazil

[Move2This]

Paulo – I take your point about the parallels between the backlash against disco in the 70s and that against Hi-NRG in the 80s, although I would suggest there were some important differences.



I think it is fairly well documented that the anti-disco movement sprang up via the rock community in the US, and probably included more than a hint of homophobia. The turn against Hi-NRG, however, came from within the gay community itself many of whom were simply fed up with the sound and wanted something different. Up until this time, the music had been largely confined to gay clubs and was little known elsewhere (in the UK at least). Many people simply felt years of solid Hi-NRG sounds was enough and, it must be said, some of what was churned out in the mid to late 80s got pretty tired and formulaic, so there was a quality issue too. At the time the Hi-NRG sound was also going mainstream in a big way, and clubbers always want something a bit different.



I have also been trying to recall what might have been played in these “Hi-NRG free zones” and, although I remember them being advertised, I can’t really say what they offered as an alternative. I can only assume most would have concentrated on increasingly popular house styles.

[analoguesque]

I can't speak for anywhere else, but in South Africa it started getting dated. A lot of it had really stupid, meaningless lyrics, and you could almost apply a formula to the music to predict what you would hear next.

There was no gay stigma attached to it in South Africa though, so that can be discounted as a reason. I think the B-S-B-S-B-S-B-S drumbeat and the 1-up-1-down octave bassline was overplayed - it ran it's course and innovation was stifled until most of the songs were fairly monotonous.

Any monotony pales in comparison to some of today's stuff though, so BRING BACK HI-NRG DAMNIT! :lol: