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.