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Feature: Mainstream? A blessing or a curse?

I have a number of CD's on my shelves that I regard as part of a core collection. In fact, these particular CD's aren't on a shelf at all. They are in small CD racks on my desk, within easy reach, so I can whip them out and put them into the CD player at short notice, without having to go and look for them.

I was looking at these CD's a couple of days ago and realised that the vast majority of them have one thing in common - I have never reviewed them on this site. They are what I regarded as undiscovered independent gems when I first stumbled across the artists and the truth be known, I didn't want to share them with the world at large. Obviously, these artists have fans world-wide, but at the time I first discovered them myself, their fan-base was pretty small compared to what it is today, and such was my reluctance to share these albums that I 'discovered' without any outside influence (and despite them being amongst my all-time favourites), they just never saw the light of day on this site.

And now that some of these artists fit loosely into the mainstream (even if only by virtue of their popularity), to some extent, I seem to have lost interest in them. Or have I?

 

Amongst the albums that I have been reluctant to share through this site are a handful from the now very popular Alabama ensemble Drive-By Truckers and the whole backcatalogue of Stewboss albums. Whether or not either of these bands fall into what most music fans might regard as mainstream is, of course, debatable. How does one actually define 'mainstream'?

There are probably as many criteria for determining whether an artist has reached mainstream status as there are music journalists. If criteria such as total album sales, the label that the band is signed to, radio play, press column inches and the number of posters adorning walls in homes across the country are the main ones, mainstream might include very few artists that had never ventured into the commercial charts. On the other hand, there are other indications of a bands popularity that could also be indicative of whether they have made the step from relative anonymity to mainstream.

The Drive-By Truckers spring to mind. If, like me, you were a fan of Drive-By Truckers from day one (well, around the original release of 'Gangstabilly', rather than 'Bulldozers & Dirt') and felt that smug satisfaction every time you went through the palaver of hunting down a new album by the band - you know, that smugness that one has when buying something that is still virtually undiscovered by the mainstream music press and average music fan - you might regard the fact that a space reserved on the Rock & Pop shelves at HMV 10 days ahead of the release date is a good indication of whether or not a band has made it to mainstream audiences (in this case, Plymouth HMV, for the bands 7th album, 'A Blessing And A Curse', on New West). You might also feel somewhat cheated now that the band is receiving attention from every major music related publication in the UK, from the music monthly Uncut to the Sunday Times supplement, especially since, until fairly recently, DBT seemed to have been buried under a pile of more commecial-end reviews and editorials, and falling into the domain of oft obscure internet journalism for attention.

With this popularity (popularity that includes half page ads in major music print press for their tours and album release) comes a small sinking feeling that someone has stolen a little piece of my undiscovered album collection. To be fair, and putting ones feeling of having lost what they regarded as a personal part of their record collection aside, this band in particular is long overdue the well-meaning press attention that went hand in hand with the bands recent 'A Blessing And A Curse' and their current UK tour. But it still feels as if someone has stolen a little piece of my album collection.

Stewboss might not have their albums quite so prominently displayed on high street record shop shelves across the UK in the same way that Drive-By Truckers do, but they are also nibbling on the larger pie of mainstream now compared to the bite-size snack portion of a small, knowledgeable alt country/americana fan-base in the UK. In the case of Stewboss, their ever-increasing popularity amongst general music fans is largely due to being championed by Bob Harris (Radio 2), although the more frequented music review web sites like Americana UK and Net Rhythms have also played a big part in bringing the band to the attention of UK audiences.

Both bands have extensive UK tour dates lined up in the near future. By itself, this is not an indication that their music has now reached a mainstream market, but considering that they have previously been limited to a scant handful of dates, it is a good indication that their music has, at least, reached a wider audience. And so, perhaps, along with a space reserved on the shelf in advance of an album release, or being championed by a prominent radio DJ they have indeed reached a mainstream audience. After all, who or what is a mainstream audience? Reaching the mainstream could just as easily be defined as having reached a wide cross section of music fans of all ages, across a wide geographical region. Whilst this music might still fall into a specific genre pigeonhole, it has reached the mainstream by stepping across the borders that previously bound it to a particular genre and the music fans that hovered around the specialist shelves. Music fans are willing to explore other genres and wide spread attention from the more popular music print press often gives this music the creditability that the internet and word-of-mouth can't.

And so, whilst the ever-increasing success and popularity of some of my favourite bands encourages belief that good music will eventually reach the masses, regardless of genre, I feel a slight sense of disappointment that some of the albums on my desk are no longer quite the subject of interest to the odd visitor poking around my collection that they used to be.

related links

Drive-By Truckers web site
Drive-By Truckers on eMusic
Stewboss
Stewboss CD's on CDBaby

recommended listening & viewing: drive-by truckers

Live at the 40 Watt (DVD)
The Dirty South (2005)
Southern Rock Opera (2004)
Decoration Day (.....)

recommended listening: stewboss

Wanted, A Girl (2001
Sweet Lullabye (2002)
The Places We Meet (2004)