Is R'n'B regarded as dance music?

BillieTheBot

I don't know if I'm by myself here or if others agree. Being a dance music follower, I regarded "dance" as being The Grid (Swamp Thing), Reel 2 Real (Move It), Livin' Joy (Dreamer), M People, Utah Saints, Baby D, Snap!, Josh Wink. At the tail end of the "good" era was Basement Jaxx. The genre was mainly house music, with some eurobeat to allow for the cheesier numbers such as Scatman John.

If I go to my local cheese venue now, any contemporary R'n'B played that the crowd supposedly passes as "dance music" sounds absolutely shite to me. Where has the 4-on-the-floor dance beat vanished to?

R'n'B-bashing put aside, there was once upon a time when R'n'B music was actually quite good - again, going to the same mid90s era of house and eurobeat. Get your Youtube open and stick in "Brownstone" to get a sampler of proper R'n'B from 1995. To satisfy my 4-on-the-floor dance needs nowadays, I have to search for amateur/unsigned artists on the likes Soundclick.

Is it just my age or has commercial dance music really gone to pot? For those who listened to The Grid, Reel 2 Real, Prodigy etc - what do you listen to now?

For non-dance, I like Jamiroquai, The Police, Steely Dan, Soul II Soul, Bjork and Ace of Base.

Former Member

I think your definition of 'dance music' is quite specific. I see 'dance music' as an all-encompassing term covering many different genres, not necessarily just cheesy chart music, and definitely not R&B. I'm personally mostly into house, techno and trance.

Former Member

Ahh cheers. My bad then - I thought that dance was 4-on-the-floor stuff. If at home, I like all house types, rave and oldskool jungle. If clubbing, I like funky house and sometimes trance (i.e. Godskitchen in their Oxygen arena).

I'm well aware of electro, hip hop, reggae, garage, but I was just on about the most frequented styles of dance.

Former Member

Commercial dance? I dunno, Cascada, Basshunter, Eric Pridz, whatever that number 1 track was last week. I can't stand any of this stuff, but then I can't stand most of the stuff you mentioned either.

Decent dance? Royksopp, Basement Jaxx, Prodigy, Hot Chip, Bjork (a lot of her stuff, anyway).

Clubs are full of R&B because clubs are full of pop music, and that's what's in the charts. I wouldn't say that R&B is classed as dance music nowadays. I'd say a far more common form of dance music is to just take a popular track in the charts, and put a crap beat over it.

Former Member

if you are talking in a historical context then yes R'n'B is dance music, because it is music that people would dance to - even if you are going back to the original R'n'B - i.e. what came after motown, rolling stones etc...even though it hs closer links to rock historically than disco - which trance, techno, house etc desended from.

If you are talking in a sociological context then i would class it as urban, along with rap, reggae, and such, and dance to mean anything that originated from disco...

Taste-wise, i love all kinds of music, Rock, metal, industrial, Jazz, techno, house, trance, some world music, classical, blues, but i cannot stand what has now become R'n'B! i like old skool rap, but R'n'B actually sickens me....

Former Member

I'm With Stupid wrote: »

Commercial dance? I dunno, Cascada, Basshunter, Eric Pridz, whatever that number 1 track was last week. I can't stand any of this stuff, but then I can't stand most of the stuff you mentioned either.

Eric Prydz is one of those producers who constantly mystifies me. On the one hand, he releases crap records such as "Call On Me" and "Proper Education". On the other, he releases amazing records. If you take a look at the tracks he releases via his Pryda alias under his record label of the same name, the tracks there are absolutely divine. My favourites include "Melo", "Armed" and "Lift" - all three completely different to the shite that Ministry of Sound sign up from him. There's more stuff from him under the Cirez D name - "Teaser" is absolutely amazing, and deadmau5 remixed it to perfection. Personally, I'm just grateful that the aforementioned MoS didn't add a horrible vocal to the "Pjanoo" track last year.

My view on the topic is simple. Part of the reason that R&B tracks transcend with house music so often is because they often get a remix package from big house producers and DJs who really should know better. I don't especially like Seamus Haji remixing Rihanna's records, for example, but in this age of rampant file-sharing and falling sales, I suppose you've got to pay the bills one way or another. The Wideboys also went through a phase last year where almost every house and R&B track in the charts seemed to have been re-worked by them.

Former Member

stargalaxy wrote: »

My view on the topic is simple. Part of the reason that R&B tracks transcend with house music so often is because they often get a remix package from big house producers and DJs who really should know better. I don't especially like Seamus Haji remixing Rihanna's records, for example, but in this age of rampant file-sharing and falling sales, I suppose you've got to pay the bills one way or another. The Wideboys also went through a phase last year where almost every house and R&B track in the charts seemed to have been re-worked by them.

I would say it's simpler than that. The reason all R&B sounds the same atm is because there's barely a record released that isn't produced by Timbaland, so they're all done in his style. If it's not him, it's one of a handful of other producers. And as you say, the same with the remixes. They're all done by a handful of DJs. R&B, like dance, is popular because it's cheap to make in relation to the record sales it generates. Which is why there's money to be made in remixing another artist's track. But as the money to be made from record sales dries up, there will be less money in doing something that relies purely on record sales. It will shift more to live performance. That doesn't mean that remixes will dry up, but I think remixes in an official sense might.

Former Member

stargalaxy wrote: »

Eric Prydz is one of those producers who constantly mystifies me. On the one hand, he releases crap records such as "Call On Me" and "Proper Education". On the other, he releases amazing records. If you take a look at the tracks he releases via his Pryda alias under his record label of the same name, the tracks there are absolutely divine. My favourites include "Melo", "Armed" and "Lift" - all three completely different to the shite that Ministry of Sound sign up from him. There's more stuff from him under the Cirez D name - "Teaser" is absolutely amazing, and deadmau5 remixed it to perfection. Personally, I'm just grateful that the aforementioned MoS didn't add a horrible vocal to the "Pjanoo" track last year.

My view on the topic is simple. Part of the reason that R&B tracks transcend with house music so often is because they often get a remix package from big house producers and DJs who really should know better. I don't especially like Seamus Haji remixing Rihanna's records, for example, but in this age of rampant file-sharing and falling sales, I suppose you've got to pay the bills one way or another. The Wideboys also went through a phase last year where almost every house and R&B track in the charts seemed to have been re-worked by them.

Yeah its a sad case really. The money is in commercial tracks. I saw an interview with DeadMau5 who said he did a remix of some Christina Aguilera for the money. He didnt particulary like the track but he was offered a nice chunk of money to do it.

Hence why we get a stupid amount of shit released. Money talks.