Ok, now that I've actually read this tread properly I'm getting a fuller picture. And as a long-winded bastard 'm going to ignore the specific case and spread out some personal thoughts:
1) Making ironic music is pointless. I'm not going to say "keep it real" like an aging Hip Hopper, but it strikes me as waste of time. Fashion always goes in circles, but in the end you play their game or you don't... it's a choice.
2) "Tension between musical scenes is a healthy process." Nice one, Farina. People are getting precious about this scene, as was said. I enjoy the insularity, for one - I'll admit that. But if people
behaved all the time and stuck in their genres it'd be a lot less interesting all round.
3) The whole race/class thing. Part of me doesn't want to touch it with a bargepole, which is presumably the same part that prevents most of society from doing so (and lets it go on so long). It's important, but for me what matters most is:
4) Exposure. Blackdown hit the nail on the head here. Of course some music has a natural wider appeal - i.e. the inoffensiveness that gets new acts played on Radio 2 - but popularity for the youth market is 100% open game. The internet has helped a LOT in giving people access to random music they wouldn't otherwise have heard, but as for which acts "make it" there's still someone making decisions somewhere.
So, I don't know where that leaves us. If it were up to me, daytime radio would sound more like John Peel, and the underground would be continually resurfacing like burst water mains... but that's just me. I like surprises.
