Tales From the Asphalt Dancefloor
Tales from the Asphalt Dancefloor
Vodka Tonic
As I opened the packaging on this CD I had all my questions (that I didn’t know I had asked) answered when the CEO of Vodka Tonic Media, Vil Vodka, clarified to “inquiring journalistic minds” that “there is not a dance punk scene in Arizona…and that if there was these bands would not be a part of it…and that Tales From the Asphalt Dancefloor is not dance punk!”
Are genre labels always a bad thing? Hey, when I was a kid and I went to the grocery store with my mom, I hated when she would try to get the generic stuff with that lame black-and-white labeling. I wanted brand names, good well-known labels that were cool so my classmates wouldn’t make fun of me. And after a stroll across the asphalt dance floor I’d have to say dance-punk is an alright label for listeners to start with; maybe a little generic, but not too far from what you hear on the 6-track CD.
Blanche Dividian’s “Petunia [Beyond Exquisite Mix]” is punk enough to induce some asphalt pogooing while tossing in Toni Basil’s “Mickey” for a good dose of pop. And when the whole “non-dance punk” compilation –or maxi-single of “rock ‘n roll” songs, as a certain CEO suggests it be called– wraps up with The Cutters’ synth-drench masochistic anthem “Fuck Pain” I am reminded that I actually have a piece of asphalt lodged in my elbow from when I tasted pavement during a grade school parking lot football game.
Also included are tracks by Digital Leather, Billy Druid’s Atomic Gospel, Sex For Cigarettes and Destruction Unit.
So after the dance floor has cleared it appears that labels can be desired and loathed. We like to use them to classify food and household products but when it comes to classifyng music, people tend to get a little touchy.
Vodka Tonic: http://www.vodkatonicmedia.com
