Funny those reactions we sometimes get here or there when we come to talk about music as a form of expression finding some of its inspiration from what humanity's living day after day. We would see people telling us that a site like ours isn't the appropriate place to take up those kinds of considerations. As if music for them had to be approached as nothing but a sole source of aural pleasure and/or fun. Needless to say that music is hopefully much more than that, this being the reason why it can be so powerful and survive throughout the years via what we call classics if not anthems…

Some of you abroad may say that we, in France, tend to like intellectualizing the things, but although I have to admit that it's sometimes too much, history speaks for itself... A quick look at the past should make us realize that what we curently call an "anthem" is far more than a concept inherited from the early days of the dance music culture. People would sometimes find the strength to forget about their inner fears and meet death while listening to anthems on battlefields… As they eventually would find a way to gather facing what they would commonly see as a threat to their way of living. The problem nowadays being that words tend to be used for a bit of everything, thus seing the progressive loss of their signification from a year to another. This said, don't get me wrong, I'm not that kind of nostalgic people living my life with my eyes on the rear-view mirror, saying to who may like to listen to me that everything was necessarily better back in the days. But neither can I stand today seing people with no talent - except the one to have themselves surrounded by sponsors - championned the way they are by some of my pairs although polluting our environment with unconsistent things. I already imagine some of you telling me : "Who the hell are you for saying things like that ?" And I would say : "Well, let us take some time and have a look at what's going to be remembered from that fake system we're currently living in a one to five years period time, not to say a decade ??? Once again, take a look at the facts, be aware of our common history. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gil Scott-Heron, to name but a few, are still considered as absolute references although they were already around some 30 years ago and that's about the same regarding places like The Loft, Paradise Garage, Zanzibar or Le Palace in Paris and what do we have now ? Ibiza taken by storm every summer by cohorts of drunk hooligans, Miami seeming more and more like a fun fair in March, Brit mags trying to make easy money while promoting drug use as an art of living ! Clans or chapels almost fighting against each other. Goddamn, so far from that initial meaning of music which is to unite rather than divide people… So far from those early gatherings as depicted by US author Tim Lawrence on his recent Love Saves The Day book when you was able to see Black Panthers and White gays dancing all nite long at those same places where dance music anthems hail from.

As Paradise Garage co-founder Mel Cheren like to say : Music is the message and love is the answer…

MFSB

TIM LAWRENCE Love Saves The Day – A History Of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 (Duke University Press)

MEL CHEREN My Life At The Paradise Garage – Keep On Dancing (24 Hours For Life Inc.)