Justin Felt     Electronica-A-Go-Go The Future of American Music. The Death of Rock 'n' Roll. Smell the Techno Spirit! A year ago, I began to see the prophecies in the oversized pages of music mags. "Electronica" would be the next music revolution, a British invasion of bands to rival that of the sixties. The idea was so great; the formula was so perfect. This music could unite the races. It could unite the street-wise, beat-wise hip-hoppers with the angst-driven rockers. Rock 'n' roll's four-decade stranglehold on mainstream music in America would be over. It seems everyone -- the press, MTV, the record execs -- thought it was time for a change. I began to believe them. Just as the Beatles sang it in the sixties, "You say you want a revolution ...?" Everyone bought into it -- except for the American people. Only two electronica groups, the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers, have come through with substantial sales in the United States, the Chemical Brothers merely peaking at 14th on the Billboard charts. Otherwise, electronica groups have yet to have an impact. Turn on the radio, and you'll never hear the freshest cut from Goldie's new album Saturnz Return. MTV dedicates only one show, Amp, to electronic music -- and it airs late at night on the weekend, never in prime-time. All in all, Americans just didn't get it. Or maybe we just have different tastes. Either way, many of us have become familiar with the term electronica. Really just a hastily-created industry buzzword, electronica has come to represent to Americans, through MTV, all types of electronic music. It includes the stark drum-samples of trip-hop, the pounding bass of house music, the driving melodies of techno, the harsh breakbeats of drum 'n' bass. And everything in between. I remember the first time I saw the video for "Breathe" by Prodigy. This was the song to introduce America to electronica, the song to pave a way for the revolution. But if you listen to it, what separates it from a rock song? Apart from the whipping sound and a beatbox providing the rhythm and bass, it is a rock song. It has everything: an intense and unforgettable frontman (the multi-pierced, multi-dyed Keith Flint), a catchy lyrical hook ("Breathe with me") and the pretenses of adolescent angst. Perfect for the teenagers and sure to cause excitement and controversy. I saw in this video not a revolution but a sign that American mainstream is not ready to change at all. In rave culture, however, the DJ doesn't attract attention. The dancers concentrate on the music, the feel, the people around them. The DJ doesn't evoke an image or present a persona. In the same line, many of my electronica CDs don't even show the face of the artist; I've been a DJ Shadow fan for a long time, but only recently did I see his face for the first time in a music mag. DJs can spin live mixes for over two hours, and commerically-released DJ mixes can last twenty minutes, all without any lyrics or any real "hook." A good chunk of this music is instrumental or relies heavily on samples to provide the lyrics. It's as if they're just letting the music do the talking, not the performer. So do Americans get it? Do they understand electronica? Well, they aren't willing to pay money for it. The rave/club culture is strong in Europe, where a weekend often includes heavy dancing and partying into the wee hours of the morning, rather than a down-home American dinner and a movie. They hear their music in the clubs, not only on the radio or MTV Europe. American radio stations want a song that is short, catchy, and easy on the ear. Electronica tends to be none of these things. As Spin wrote, the old techno veterans "sniffed over their dearly departed underground, while the mainstream was in bed by ten." So it all comes down to this: will electronica play in Omaha? My answer: only if it includes an old guitar and a good country crooner.

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