Mainstream vs. Underground (An Article by Thoughts2X)

Mainstream vs. Underground.

Lately, I’ve been stumbling upon the words ‘mainstream’ and ‘underground’ quite a lot in the music scene. The disturbing part is however the misinterpretation that’s going on! From what I’ve observed, most of the ‘artists’ don’t know what does the terms ‘mainstream’ and ‘underground’ mean and generally classify themselves as they see fit or based on the coolness of the word ‘underground’! Pretty ludicrous and not to mention hilarious! So here I am, hoping to educate the misinformed and setting their genre straight… lets stay optimistic for now. Here are a few answers I gathered upon randomly asking a few musicians about the terms ‘mainstream’ and ‘underground’.

Question: What do you understand with the term Mainstream Music?

Answer(s): Music with no profanity (explicit content);

Music done by artists who are signed to a label;

Music done by old people;

Music recorded at a studio.

All of the above answers are WRONG. Before I proceed, let’s break it down…

Mainstream.

The urban-dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) defines the word mainstream as :

Main•stream (mAn’strEm’), n., adj.

A genre in music and other forms of media that is often defined by widely-accepted and currently-popular standards, trends, and hypes that have been established by the media, typically resulting in the promotion of superficial traits.

So, in a nut shell, the term ‘mainstream’ music means to make music that is widely accepted by mainstream listeners or popular music per se. In even simpler terms; making music which is generally accepted by the common listener falls within this category. Let it be rock, rap, jazz, reggae, alternative etc, if its music made with the intended target audience being the average Joe who tunes in to the radio for his daily fix, it’s mainstream music. For example, the world renowned group, Nirvana, who made alternative rock music, is considered mainstream musicians even with explicit lyrics. Eminem can claim to be an underground act but quite frankly, he’s not. He makes commercial music. I hope that made sense to all. Moving on then to explore the definition of the term ‘underground’.

Underground.

The urban-dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) defines the word underground as:

A genre in music and other forms of media intended for an elite audience, that is often characterized by its high levels of originality and experimentation, and does not conform to typical standards, trends, or hypes as set by the popular mainstream media.

Underground musicians are those who make music without the mainstream target audience in mind. Some underground musicians are rebellious so to speak, that they make music which cannot be made mainstream at all. Their target audiences are just a selected few who take pleasure in their music and simply said, that’s what the underground musician wants! He/she/they do not want rotation. They want authenticity, personal touch, self styles etc to dominate their music. Basically, they make music for themselves and to the select few whom are interested. They are NOT making music for the mass appeal. While hardcore underground musicians remain elusive, most of them are pretty much known nowadays due to the internet factor which gives almost everyone publicity. In Malaysia, most groups are conferred the ‘underground’ title just because they are unknown to commercial marketers. That is a cliché that has to change eventually.

With that, I hope everyone is now clear with the terms ‘mainstream’ and ‘underground’. I personally find it unacceptable and degrading when a ‘newbie’ artist says “oh I’ve been doing underground music for 5 years now” with reference to his toilet singing days. Mainstream or Underground is not in your appearance, its in the type of music made! Rapping at your school function doesn’t make you an underground star! Just because you just started making music, DOES NOT automatically classifies you as ‘underground’. Underground is not an abbreviation for amateur. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing English, Malay or Tamil songs, the same rule applies for all. So make corrections quick or you will be corrected.

*A follow up article is to be expected.

PDF File Download

Ed. Note: Props to AshG for sending me this article to post up. You can download the artile in PDF format if you wish to save a copy of it. Peace.