Part of a movement, that means they stood fer sumthin'

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Prompted by Alex in Manhattans post about Beck on the 90's thread.

I definitely agree that there was no defined movement in the 90's and instead it was the decade of eclecticism. But firstly do the rest of us agree?

So presuming that's true, what are the merits of this? The eclecticism thing makes the 90's sound so fantastic. And I must say when I think of the sort of albums which are meant to reflect this eclecticism I think wow the 90's were fantastic. But then I'm 18, I have no frame of reference, and I don't know enough about other decades.

But for those of you who do, did the decades before the 90's become associated with particular musical styles based on what was actually going on? Or has it just been recorded that way? This concept of a united movement seems a little romantic, and it's also worth saying that it is (I think) the type of thing NME are trying to re-create.

Er I could have left out all of the above and summarised "eclecticism vs definite movements (I'm having real trouble defining what's not eclecticism as you can see, but by definite movements er I mean something like the "punk years" or that type of thing).

― Ronan, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I'm not sure what I think other than what I've already said.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Every period seems eclectic when you're actually 'in' it, unless you're not paying attention for whatever reason

― dave q, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Yeah but this thing about the 90's being eclectic is everywhere. And you don't read about the 80's or 70's being eclectic. possibly unfairly.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Definitely unfairly. I mean, you have our UK massive talking about the 70s and admitting to never having heard anything by the Eagles! (Ditto for Americans who expound at length on the 80s with dance music entirely absent from their equations.) I'm sure everybody has stories of equally unbelievable oversights. (If someone asks me if I like 60s music, I'm careful before saying 'yes', because I would be thinking of the Seeds and 13th Floor Elevators, and most self- proclaimed '60s freaks' have never heard of them!)

― dave q, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I was about to say: what was the defining "movement" of the eighties? Synth-pop? Stadium-rock? Hip-hop? House? Heavy Metal? Pop-metal? World Music? Neo-soul (as opposed to nu-soul)? Indie? American AOR?

I can't think of a single one that could legitimately represent the decade. Arguably the charts now (in America at least) are more unified than at any point during the eighties.

― Tim, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

yeah I know, the 80s don't really have a defined sound and I mean I think I can say that based on the fact that I know more 80s stuff than 70s stuff. actually this should have really gone on the canon thread. I say that as a reaction to your points about the charts Tim, I mean the charts themselves in the 90's, certainly the latter half, weren't that eclectic at all, it was more the sort of artists like Beck or whoever that people always described as that. Are the charts then being ignored a bit in favour of a nice pat ourselves on the back "we were so eclectic" sort of nostalgia?

― Ronan, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

i think that as time goes on the 90s will progressively be perceived as more and more homogenous, as time seems to iron out the quirks in life in favour of larger events more easily remembered.

having said that, there was simply more music in the 90s, in the physical sense, than in previous decades...

― gareth, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Ronan - thank you for citing me as prompting this thread. But the "mainhattan" is not a spelling mistake. "Mainhattan" = Franfurt, West Germany as Frankfurt lies on the river Main and is the only German city with a skyline. Therefore it is often compared to New York.
About the eclecticism thing later on...

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

there was simply more music in the 90s, in the physical sense, than in previous decades

The 90's may well go down as the decade of "too many goddamned bands." The 90's was the decade where putting out a record became too easy. But I guess it's no different from the late 60's when everyone was in a band. In 30 years, I'll be anticipating the release of Nuggets 8: Original Artyfacts from the Eclectic Decade.

But were the 90's really more eclectic, or was the media just trying that much harder to find the next big thing?

― Dave225, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

could the "eclectic 90's" label stem from a more self-conscious eclecticism in the 90's? both on the part of artists and record- buyers, there was a real "look at me I'm being eclectic! i celebrate diversity!" attitude. It's kind of easy to make fun of this attitude, especially when it became an end unto itself, but on the whole it seems like a pretty healthy and natural development.

― fritz, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

fritz is otm

― Alacran, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

every single one of vh1's "year"-oriented "behind the music" thingies from the eighties onward do little but emphasise the "eclectic", "varied" and "diverse" musical landscape of that given year. except the 1991 one, which spends at least fourty minutes with grunge.

― marek, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I'd have the say the 70s were the most eclectic decade. It started with the 60s hippies, boogie rock, sensitive singer/songwriter types still going strong, then saw the disco explosion, and then the punk re-action. In addition to these major trends there was prog (both the bombastic ELP types and the subtle Henry Cows) coming to full flower, and art-damaged experimenters like Pere Ubu. And all this without the internet and inexpensive home studios.

― nickn, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Can we stop referring to decades? It seems lame.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

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