Sturgeon's Law: never forget it

An interesting thread has arisen on the Violent Playground industrial music forums concerning “industrial music for stupid people”: the question originally asked was what could constitute an example of particularly stupid industrial music, aimed at the lowest common denominator? This quickly turned into a fascinating, horrifying and hilarious sequence of Youtube links to the some of the worst music (and videos, in the case of Blutengel) you’re likely to come across. This got me thinking about one of my most important concepts I believe in: Sturgeon’s Law.

Theodore Sturgeon was a science fiction writer from back in the Golden Age, who got sick of defending his genre from claims that it contained a lot of crap. So he came up with the brilliantly simple Sturgeon’s Law (originally known as Sturgeon’s Revelation):

“Ninety percent of everything is crap”.

Say it to yourself: ninety percent of everything is crap. Say it again: ninety percent of everything is crap. Everything. No exceptions. Sturgeon’s position was not to deny the claim, but remind us that it can be applied everywhere. So sure, ninety percent of science fiction is crap. Ninety percent of Broadway musicals are crap. Ninety percent of detective fiction is crap. Ninety percent of hip hop is crap. Ninety percent of action movies are crap. Ninety percent of drama movies are crap. Ninety percent of EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD is crap.

If you’re half as crazy about industrial music as I am, part of you is probably squirming at this point. “But… but… surely you don't also mean industrial music. I mean, some genres of music are just better! Almost all of the music in my collection is awesome!”. Sure, but that’s not a representative sample. You’ve gone out and picked the top 10% (with maybe a few stinkers that have crept in here and there). You want a representative sample? My suggestion is to go pick some random industrial / darkwave compilation disc, something like a Zillo Festival Sampler or similar (which Germany seems to produce about 900 million of per month), and have a listen. Crap, after crap, after crap. I should know, I used to write CD reviews for a gothic culture magazine, and would get dozens of these things. There would be one, or if you’re very lucky two, good songs on a CD. Out of 12 or so tracks, it would average out to about 10% good tracks, meaning the 90% remainder is… crap.

Sturgeon’s Law is an important law to remember, especially about the music you love. Accept that most of it is crap, and remember that it lives everywhere else too. And of course, the important corollary, 10% of it is good.

Dark Ambient mix and commentary

I’ve recently posted a mix of dark ambient music to my mixcloud (which you can listen to here). Here is a tracklist with commentary on what I selected, the album and label it is from, and why it was chosen.

1. In Slaughter Natives: Pure.. the suffering (from Purgate My Stain, Cold Meat Industry, 1996). This is the first track from one of my favourite albums, by the legendary In Slaughter Natives. While there are better tracks on Purgate My Stain, I think this works well as an introduction track, on the album and on this mix.

2. Lustmord: Main Title – Infinite Space (from Zoetrope, Nextera, 2002). Lustmord invented the damn genre so including him is a no-brainer. This is from a soundtrack he did for some weird movie. It’s not his most famous album but I love it dearly; the engineering quality on this track is quite ridiculous. Very menacing and beautifully dark.

3. Inade: Disconnecting States (from The Crackling of the Anonymous, Loki Foundation, 2001). Inade are bloody legends. This is a killer track from my favourite album of theirs. Dark space ambient at its finest; it works as a (slightly) lighter bridge between the intensely dark Lustmord and Camanecroszcope tracks.

4. Camanecroszscope: For all things now dead and gone (from Echoes ov a Beckoning Arcanum, Spectre, 2006). This act is a collaboration between Belgian tribal / industrial band Ah Cama Sotz and Canadian power noise legend Iszoloscope, who we’ll be hearing more from later. They put out two albums and both are staggeringly good. This for my money is one of the most menacing dark ambient tracks ever recorded.

5. Raison D’etre: End of a cycle (from The Empty Hollow Unfolds, Cold Meat Industry, 2000). Including a Raison D’etre track in a dark ambient mix is pretty much mandatory, considering he is the most prolific and popular artist in the genre, and while he’s repeated himself a fair bit, much of his music is still great. This is a killer track from what I think is his best album by far.

6. Collapsar: Passing the Gate (from Beyond the Event Horizon, Malignant Records, 2009). Probably the most obscure track in this mix, Collapsar are a recent signing to Malignant Records with just one album out, but it is quite impressive. Deep dark space drone ambient, executed very well.

7. RAAN: Sandrin (from The Nacrasti, Malignant Records, 2001). Another classic from Malignant Records. RAAN sadly only ever did this one release: I would die a happy man if they ever put out another one. Every single track on it is superb; picking one was very hard. I used this one because it is actually a bit lighter and cheerier, and creates a nice contrast to the horrible maddening despair of the next track…

8. Yen Pox: Blood from the Heavens (from New Dark Age, Malignant Records, 2000). I put this album at #3 on my top 10 dark ambient albums ever, and for good reason. While not as intense as the earlier tracks in this mix, there is a subtle and sinister power in this track that I love. True, classic dark ambient, at its very, very best.

9. Iszoloscope: Iszoloscope Tomes Deux (from Au Seuil Du Neant, Ant-Zen, 2003). Iszoloscope is known for power noise; in fact, he’s probably the best power noise artist still active in the world. The fact that he threw in this staggeringly good dark ambient track at the end of his classic 2003 album makes you realise how talented this man is. Chillingly sad and beautiful. It was a tough call whether to end the mix with this track or the next one.

10. Desiderii Marginis: Beyond Retrieval (from Deadbeat, Cold Meat Industry, 2001). Deadbeat is simply one of the best dark ambient albums ever recorded, from back in the day when Cold Meat Industry really dominated this style of music. The quality here speaks for itself. While this track doesn’t depart from any of the classic Swedish dark ambient tropes, it executes them better than anyone in the genre, bar none.