Can we have a new Specialist Forum?

[Thriller]

Shush.

[jpguy]

So, yes or no ?

[Chun]

The absolute majority (66%) says yes.

[Blondini]

Shush.

No, i won't.

Delilah - a well known Dance Artist.

What is so difficult to understand here? So one single she did was a bit chillout/ deeper than the usual no-brain hands-in-the-air stuff she's suddenly not Dance anymore? That's her background, that's the place record stores and taste-makers will put her. Will Jessie Ware's album be eventually moved from Dance because it's too "deep" for that forum? Bad enough that she's already in two forums.

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Acknowledge that this music is Dance Music. And don't use the Dance Chart as a rule of thumb (she's in most actual Dance Charts, anyway). It's irrelevant (especially as less people participate these days). If you had an Alternative Dance Chart, it wouldn't be an issue. Our Dance Chart is actually a Club Chart - songs that are "bangers" and "tunes, man!". It's not a Dance genre chart. It is far less inclusive than the Rock (when it was going) and Pop charts.

Maybe two new forums? Country/ Folk/ Blues (would also include Easy Listening).
Chillout/ Jazz/ Alternative Dance (would include Reggae, World and Classical).

It would be as insulting to me to have Alternative Dance dustbinned off to one Specialist Forum as it is to see them in Rock/ Alternative.

Remove Sport and Artists and Promotion (who bothers to look in there??) - they're both dead (more so than Retro). Internet and Technology too - This n That can be used for most of these things.

[matthew_dixon]

What is so difficult to understand here? So one single she did was a bit chillout/ deeper than the usual no-brain hands-in-the-air stuff she's suddenly not Dance anymore? That's her background, that's the place record stores and taste-makers will put her. Will Jessie Ware's album be eventually moved from Dance because it's too "deep" for that forum? Bad enough that she's already in two forums.

A specialist forum won't solve the issue of borderline acts.

If an act is borderline - and a song could arguably be discussed in one of two forums, does it really matter THAT much which one it is discussed in?

[Plym]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

[ANH]

[irishguy]
Did someone say barely-used specialist forum?
[/irishguy]

[Merci]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[king_oxymoron]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

WOAAAAAAAAAAAAH

As if you want us to lose Sport for an 'Alternative Dance' forum when we already have 'Dance' and 'Alternative'. NO TA

[Thriller]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

[steophonic]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

Remove Sport and Artists and Promotion (who bothers to look in there??) - they're both dead (more so than Retro). Internet and Technology too - This n That can be used for most of these things.

Absolutely awful idea. Just because YOU don't post there, you think they are pointless. This obsession with genre definition is so annoying - can't we just enjoy the music without having to pigeonhole everything.

I can see some merit for things like Country music and Jazz but I'm not convinced that it would be a particularly thriving forum. Also it would still be lumping diverse genres like Country, Jazz and Classical together in one forum so I don't see how that's much different from the way things are now. An alternative dance forum is pointless in my view - should just go in dance or alternative.

[jpguy]

[Virgostar]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

LOLZ

Remove Sport and Artists and Promotion (who bothers to look in there??) - they're both dead (more so than Retro). Internet and Technology too - This n That can be used for most of these things.

Absolutely awful idea. Just because YOU don't post there, you think they are pointless. This obsession with genre definition is so annoying - can't we just enjoy the music without having to pigeonhole everything.

I can see some merit for things like Country music and Jazz but I'm not convinced that it would be a particularly thriving forum. Also it would still be lumping diverse genres like Country, Jazz and Classical together in one forum so I don't see how that's much different from the way things are now. An alternative dance forum is pointless in my view - should just go in dance or alternative.

Agreed entirely with Ste.

I'm sorry Tony, but this pedantic streak of yours needs reigning in.

[Blondini]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

WOAAAAAAAAAAAAH

As if you want us to lose Sport for an 'Alternative Dance' forum when we already have 'Dance' and 'Alternative'. NO TA

You don't have Alternative - you have Rock/ Alternative. You don't technically have Dance in practice - you have Club Music. A lot of these dance-based alternative acts do not belong in a forum that is at root - Rock-based. There should be more distinction. You can call it After Hours Chill Out Forum if you have trouble with the double use of the word Alternative. Still gives you an idea of what goes in there. Why are lovers of commercial (theoretically, at least) club music with fast BPM's allowed their own exclusive forum but lovers of chillout/ downtempo/ more progressive dance music aren't? - they have to rub shoulders with fans of Evanescence, Coldplay and The Script *cough*. You don't take out all the slowjams from Urban or all the love ballads from Pop. So why remove downtempo from Dance?

Why does Kuba have to post Burial in Rock because he fears it might get overlooked in Dance? He shouldn't have to feel like this! Burial, Crystal Castles, Moby, Hot Chip are 100% dance acts. And then we get to "Witch House/ Darkwave" - still forms of Dance. If it wasn't for Deadmau5 and Orbital (and recently Alex Clare and Jessie Ware), the Dance forum would be utterly anodyne and characterless.

I hate the fact that the Rock/ Alternative Forum has no clear musical identity. It may as well be Mad About Music. It certainly isn't the forum that Dalmatin, Marius and Space75 used to love. I like that it's busy these days but that's only because it's full of other genres masquerading as alternative (i don't see much difference between Foster The People and Maroon 5 for example, apart from lyrical content). I know that's where people EXPECT to find them but it's still not 100% right.

Why do you want to keep Sport when it is so slow it has threads going back to October 2010 on the first page? At least the Test forum is useful!

Alternatively, take Rock out of the forum and leave Alternative on its own. Oh, that's basically what's happened isn't it?

Sorry for ranting again (and again). It's my pet peeve. But it's how people think and what they expect. Nothing i can do about it.

I refer back to my original suggestion (which may not get passed until the "YES" goes to 70%+?).

[CrazyCrazy]

Oh Tony you are pedantic but it's what makes you charming. Some people are too laid back about the genres though as well, I consider myself in the middle somewhere, I am pedantic but have learnt I do not need to bother others with it.

Having said that I would love the forum, my tastes these days are crazy as a hatter and I would love to spread my wings and talk about Dolly Parton and Yoko all in one sweep.

[Blondini]

I've followed dance music for 25 years (since it became a widely recognised field). I'm just bemused at the way it's been allowed to morph into this horrendous pop/ rap/ dance hybrid now and any kind of variety is hardly allowed.

And the BPM Police are infuriating. Not all dance music is fast or commercially oriented. Does no-one remember Nightmares On Wax, The Orb, several slow Groove Armada/ Goldfrapp tunes..., Boards Of Canada? Aphex Twin wouldn't stand a chance these days!

Anything with a bit of oddness gets shunted to Alternative. Alternative music used to be generally rock-based - there was a common thread through everything, whether it was Britpop, Grunge, Emo or Nu-Metal. 15 years ago, it would be unheard of to put Massive Attack and trip-hop in an alternative sphere. It was always an offshoot of dance. And it always featured in various club charts in Music Week (DJ return charts, not just sales charts) - sometimes alongside the BPM bangers.

We need somewhere to put Brian Eno and Vangelis. Makes sense to have them in the same place as today's pioneers of deeper electronic sounds.

You could have them in one forum, actually. I think most country music that is posted could stay where it is. Carrie Underwood is equal parts pop and country and Taylor Swift is 75% pop. No other country acts get posted very often. Shania and LeAnn are not country. Save less poppy country acts for the

Chillout Room (for Adults)

Chillout/ progressive dance/ electronic/ jazz/ easy listening/ film scores/ classical/ ambient/ reggae/ world/ specialist country/ blues/ folk/ gospel.

More evocative name than Specialist (the subtitle indicating the intended audience and the intended mood). A place for mature thoughts and musings, for deeper more mature music. And yes, blues fits in chillout (seems a paradox)! It's a cousin of gospel - the ultimate chillout!

[Wayne]

OH vom. I voted yes in the poll by accident!!!

[CrazyCrazy]

OH vom. I voted yes in the poll by accident!!!

Thanks!

[Blondini]

Bjork and The Prodigy have a lot to answer for!

PS. Gary Barlow's Sing is Classical/ World music. We need the New Forum cause that will look wonky in Pop!

[Goldmoney]

Or create a Chillout/ Alternative Dance Forum.

Agree with this.
Create a chillout section and stick Blondini in it for a few weeks.

[jpguy]

This will NOT be opened. Period.

[matthew_dixon]

Bjork and The Prodigy have a lot to answer for!

PS. Gary Barlow's Sing is Classical/ World music. We need the New Forum cause that will look wonky in Pop!

I seriously don't think the frontman of the biggest UK boyband of all time would look wonky in the pop forum

[Brad]

I say no to this new specialist forum. I'd say yes to an adult/member's only forum though.

[UKMusicLova]

Maybe the definition of Alternative music has changed then Tony, stop being stuck in the past and join us in 2012 babe!

[android]

It is all just music to me, to be savoured to be enjoyed. It is fascinating to see music converge and diverge, be re-interpreted and re-invented.
Its boundaries seem to continually shift which I kinda like. I can not see how it can be or should be just boxed into genres. I want to see artists who cross over and experiment we need more innovation and creativity.