Underground or mainstream

What is mainstream music but popularly accepted music. Music for the masses. But does the masses know what is good music? And its opposite is called underground music. Music that suggest decadence. Or even music that 'decent' people imagined that could and would corrupt the minds of the young and impressionable. Well, by now most anyone would realize it is just plain and simple - music that does not have widespread acceptance by the masses.

Just like water flowing under the ground suddenly found sunlight, once it has become accepted by the the masses, then it is no longer considered underground. It has moved on to mainstream. And the signs of it breaking out are increase or consistent airplay, reaching certain positions on reputable music charts, gaining a whole new horde of fans who listened to music via ipods and other lesser known mp3 players. In short, becoming mainstream could be thought of as becoming a success. Sometimes the musicians or artists' achieved this success by conforming to the wants and tastes of the current majority listeners or drastically changing their original sound or musical styles. If that happens, the artists' older or earliest group of admirers would often labelled them "sell-outs".

"Sell-out" is a confusing term at times. The much-loved Hong Kong rock group, Beyond has been called that after finding success in their homeland. They were an underground canto-punk-rock band in its early days before changing their sound to a more pop oriented style. Early US punk group 'The Goo Goo Dolls' also changed their musical direction to pop music with their "A Boy Named Goo" album. As was heavy metal band, Metallica when their fifth album "Metallica" (or the black album) came out.

Personally i think they made great music still after the so-called 'sell-out'. All of Beyond's album before the extremely gifted Ka Kui's passing have very high standards in terms of artistic value. The Goos and Metallica (to a lesser extent) produced some of their best music after the so-called sell-out. Nothing wrong with selling out if the music is good right?

Even my favourite group u2 has been tagged with the inferior techno-electronica "Pop" album and to a lesser extent, "Achtung Baby" and "Zooropa". But terms like "sell-out" is more suited to politics, especially in the context of one of our state's current situation. Music could only be good or bad. Few things in this world has clear-cut black and white (no grey areas) as music and i don't wish to change my mind about this.

Anyhow, here's my limited observation discerning three types of people who listened to music.

The first are those that treat music as an image for them to feel they belong, or to feel 'cool' or 'happening'. People who fall purely into this category are not really music lover nor do they appreciate the emotion and intricacy of music. At the other extreme are those who flaunt their hi-fi equipments using music as a tool. Sometimes, they care more for the quality of sound of a piece of music more than its artistic value. Not that it's a bad thing but it's not the purpose for the true meaning of why people make music.

The second group treat music as entertainment. much like they play computer games, watch movies, chat online with friends. It is only to pass time or while away boredom. Instrument of choice for playing music - ipods, mp3 players or computer speakers. For them, music is a like a piece of commodity to be discarded or traded when it no longer offered 'entertainment'.

And finally we have the music lover or people who appreciates music. To them, music is not only for entertainment or to project an image. Music can be a projection of life itself. At different stages of life, we could be listening to different types of music. For some, music could be the soundtrack of their lives. It brought back memories which they hold dear. For what is life at the end of the day but memories to hold. In a free society, no one could take away your memories. In a totalitarian society, they could take away everything including one's dignity. But memories are always ours to hold. Whoa, i have digress again-lah.

So, what is mainstream music but music that has reached a certain popular appeal to the masses and achieved commercial success. Mainstream music does not always mean good music, as most if not all, tends to be bland and have very little artistic value.

By the same reason, underground music does not mean they're bad music and doesn't have any appeal but to a small audience. It's just that no one has pay more attention to them perhaps because it does not have a killer hook or chorus or not catchy enough or, just not 'pop' or 'r&b' enough to be entertaining. They don't have much popular airplay and had not reach a certain level of success as determined again by the masses.