Personally I didn't care for the cover at the time. My take was that it cheapened a culture that by 2000 was commodifying at a rapid pace, and as a scene we were wary of signs that the corrupting influences of the wider world were crowding in on our sacred spaces.
Which was bollocks. 1) Purity tests will eventually wreck you, because you will always come up short at the end. 2) Our scene survived because it allowed itself to not be confined by sanctimony. 3) URB was great about not taking itself too seriously. This stuff was supposed to be about fun.
It would seem out of place now, and that's fine. That was a long time ago, and that we're more sensitive to things like that are a great measure of progress. After all, URB was about the future.
Looking back, I would tend to agree with you on the cheapening of culture, at least at a surface level. While I still wouldn’t defend the cover, it served merely as a wrapper to entice people into the very real commentary inside. But I also feel that in the ‘00s we creatively stretched too far for that goal at times.
I think the cover fit the times. Things were changing in dance music for sure. Rave laws created all kinds of different vibes all over the place. How clubs operated, how dancers consumed their music and so on. I remember around this time reading how Armand was playing hip hop sets and getting booed in London plus seeing Roger Sanchez with throngs of women surrounding him on the stage while he played. This is a point where I was definitely starting to miss what I loved about going out to dance the night away. The music was still awesome, but man times were definitely changing here for sure. People's tastes also started to be more "intellectual" or "discerned" at least from my long gone naive days of just going out to hear the music, not knowing who anybody was, but loving the whole atmosphere of everything around me. This was also starting to be a time where my friends were starting to branch out to other, more hip things of the time, but me still loving those dance beats that I fell in love with. It was very strange, and starting to feel semi lonely about it at the time.
Personally I didn't care for the cover at the time. My take was that it cheapened a culture that by 2000 was commodifying at a rapid pace, and as a scene we were wary of signs that the corrupting influences of the wider world were crowding in on our sacred spaces.
Which was bollocks. 1) Purity tests will eventually wreck you, because you will always come up short at the end. 2) Our scene survived because it allowed itself to not be confined by sanctimony. 3) URB was great about not taking itself too seriously. This stuff was supposed to be about fun.
It would seem out of place now, and that's fine. That was a long time ago, and that we're more sensitive to things like that are a great measure of progress. After all, URB was about the future.
Looking back, I would tend to agree with you on the cheapening of culture, at least at a surface level. While I still wouldn’t defend the cover, it served merely as a wrapper to entice people into the very real commentary inside. But I also feel that in the ‘00s we creatively stretched too far for that goal at times.
Which was a great strategy! I'm really curious as to the time capsule element. How would we have wanted us to view it 23 years later?
Was literally talking about this with Jason Wagenheim (former Blender, now Bustle) last week.
Would love to hear that conversation
I think the cover fit the times. Things were changing in dance music for sure. Rave laws created all kinds of different vibes all over the place. How clubs operated, how dancers consumed their music and so on. I remember around this time reading how Armand was playing hip hop sets and getting booed in London plus seeing Roger Sanchez with throngs of women surrounding him on the stage while he played. This is a point where I was definitely starting to miss what I loved about going out to dance the night away. The music was still awesome, but man times were definitely changing here for sure. People's tastes also started to be more "intellectual" or "discerned" at least from my long gone naive days of just going out to hear the music, not knowing who anybody was, but loving the whole atmosphere of everything around me. This was also starting to be a time where my friends were starting to branch out to other, more hip things of the time, but me still loving those dance beats that I fell in love with. It was very strange, and starting to feel semi lonely about it at the time.