so why DIDN'T they tour?

[mmm skyscraper]

Originally Posted by joethelion

I've never seen any videos by any electronic artists other than the Prodigy ever... seriously, ever. ...not counting AMP, of course - but that show's been off-air for what like, 10 years?

I never see videos on MTV.

I saw 'Jumbo' on MTV2 a couple of years ago. Not on AMP either. 120 Minutes used to show all kinds of weird stuff. But it only came on at midnight on Sunday night. Not exactly primetime.

[holden]

In Argentina, there's this music video channel called "Musica Veintiuno" (Music 21), that plays all kinds of random, often-older stuff. Things like Daft Punk, Jamiroquai, Yello, Apollo 440, EMF, etc. Some fun, some dumb.

Anyway, they used to play "Videostories" of artists, about a half hour of videos with little facts running alongf the bottom. i saw Underworld videostories a few times and went mental. and danced! Nice that South America appreciates good tunes/vids!


i think the fact that Chemical Brothers aren't pumped in the US just reflects a difference in mass preference. Here in the states, it's all hip-hop or kid-punk-rock. That's what we're fed and that's what we buy. But just a couple weeks back, MTV showed the European Music Awards...half the artists are unknown to the US market, but they're evidently big on the other side of the Atlantic. The Chems were up for an award, people cheered, and i suppose they're still well-regarded. Other than the people who'd buy electronic music here anyway (a small %), most folks haven't heard of the Chems since "Block Rockin' Beats", if at all. And even the electronica kick of 1997 (+ AMP) was force-fed to us.

[TheRev]

Originally Posted by joethelion

but the fact remains, they outright said that they would tour this album here in the US. I mean... they didn't even play New York or Chicago!!!!!!

Not true they played in New York in September at the Ultra Music Festival in Central Park.

[joethelion]

wait...

are you positive about that? I mean - the Ultra Music Festival is in Miami coinciding with the WMC...

and I would've hoped that someone on Dirty would have said something in advance too... or was that when dirty was down?

[den]

Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

The Chems are done. i'm not really sure what people still see/hear in them and Prodigy and don't even get me started on second rate rip-off act Crystal Method. it's time to move on from the early 90's people!

I'll back you up on that. Honestly, many of the big name 90's electronica acts are not as significant as they once were. Chems, Prodigy, Orbital, the Orb, Leftfield, Fatboy Slim, etc. They were good at their peak, but now most of them are either defunct or mostly dinosaurs. No disrespect, I think it's just a general musical trend. Artists that were once as groundbreaking they were usually end up going a bit stale, at least compared to what they once were. See the Rolling Stones thread. While these bands may be the biggest names in electronic music still, I don't think that they are on the cutting edge as they were before. They paved the way, but the trick is to find the new fresh artists that picked up where they left off.

Even Underworld falls into this category. We still love them and they are still talented and still putting out great music and trying new things (keep it coming), but I don't think you can say that Underworld has the same mainstream impact they as did in say, 1997.

I think you can blame this mostly on the rise of electronic music in the mid-90's, when it was supposedly going to "kill rock music" and conquer the world. I remember hearing the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Underworld, and all the rest on big radio stations back in the day. At least in the US, it didn't catch on. It peaked, and then faded. Mainstream radio and music in the US just isn't as receptive to electronic music as Europe or the UK.

I disagree that US radio sucks. You can argue that US mainstream radio sucks, especially with regard to electronic music. But college radio stations are the best thing going on, and what you need to listen to.

[stimpee]

problem with US radio? two words: Clear Channel.

[irish fan]

the chems played 4 or five us dates including coachella, oakland, detriot and new york in september. about a year ago on a bbc interview they were talking to pete tong about touring america and they said they weren't planning on doing a big tour as they had burnt out on touring america and the response on the come with us was not the best as a result they deicided not to tour america in a full scale fashion as before.

[Cadevil]

Need to ring in on a few things:

1. Mainstream US radio would never play electronic music on a regular basis, because it doesn't have the following that it has abroad...In San Francisco, a huge station called Live 105 plays 4 straight hours of new and old dance and "electronica" from midnight to 4am on Saturdays. That's probably about the best you could hope for in the main stream.

2. I thought Push the Button was fantastic...nothing "groundbreaking" mind you, but still really good music...but I guess that's all a matter of opinion.

3. I saw them live in Oakland with New Order and I'd have to say that their show was interesting but not intoxicating. This seems to be the case with most electronic bands, save one (you know who)... Not sure I saw Bernard Sumner creep on stage for Out of Control in Oakland. I was waiting for it, and felt sort of ripped off when it didn't happen.

4. Anyone download this EP from iTunes? How is the first track, recorded with the Magic Numbers live?

[joethelion]

I downloaded the EP

Close Your Eyes - doesn't seem any different at all, save for the fact that the vocalist isn't Mic'ed well

Surface to Air - really disappointed in this track, esp as I heard how good it was live... this version is exactly the same as the album version... Like I almost wonder if they just tagged on some audience noises

The Big Jump - at least this one sounds somewhat different than on the album... really the only one worth buying

so when they toured - was that just during the time period that Dirty was down? And I don't get about CWU being not well-received... I say this b/c of a few things:
1) It Began in Africa came out on Sept.11th... which OF COURSE is gonna hurt sales for a single (at least I'm 90% sure on release date for that one)
2) They only released one proper single for the album after its release... and that was even after the tour was done! (Come With US EP) I remember that I bought the Japanese import of it, b/c I wanted live tracks after I saw them play
3) I only heard positive reports from their live shows

...unless they don't like touring here b/c of the ammount of traveling one would have to do, and it'd be a lot of time on the bus...

and I remember them having troubles with their light show - at least here in DC they couldn't fit in all the projectors, et al. Not in the actual club (which is quite large) but through their doors

[irish fan]

the scale of america was the main reason for not touring this time as the come with us tour didn't sell well and the fact that tom chemical has 2 kids the whole traveling across america did seem appealing to them and they could spend a few weeks and do comprehensive european tours without much hassle