Madonna Is The Smartest One!

Madonna Is The Smartest One

Jason Bentley ( KCRW )

TalksBX: With Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, etc., being so popular, is this crossover appeal actually good for the music? Is there a trickle-down effect?

JB: Yeah, I think we need stars. We need great bands, we need artists that transcend the genre. Otherwise we don’t make any constructive contribution to the mainstream. I think that’s been the issue. That was the issue with drum and bass, and may very well be the issue with what’s now termed “dubstep,” is that they’re so preoccupied with their own credibility, to not sell out, to make it as hardcore as possible, that they never actually offer anything constructive to the mainstream.

The smartest pop stars do look to the underground for inspiration, and whether it’s Madonna or it’s Will.I.Am, the smartest ones are constantly borrowing, co-opting the next sound. And they know that helps them reinvent themselves, which is the name of the game.

House music will always have its core passionate following that believe in the purity of the message and the sound. That’s been a challenge also, in offering a cohesive message to the mainstream, is that the trick with hip-hop is, it’ll say “Oh yeah, it’s hip-hop, it’s hip-hop photography, it’s hip-hop dance,” everything was hip-hop, it was a unified message.

Well, dance music, the undoing and the difficulty has been, it is so diversified, there’s people within the dance world that only like ‘this kind’ or ‘that kind.’ It’s like little fiefdoms and niches.

source LATIMES