Unpopular Tiki Opinions

On 2018-06-19 11:01, tikitube wrote:
From a tiki purists' point of view, you could probably cite tiki as another victim of disruptive technology and subculture commodification, but then some of those same purists (or original hobbyists) would also be guilty of spreading the word of tiki and helping to nudge it back into the spotlight of mainstream media, via their art, writing, and social engagements.

Swanky, at what point does a hobbyist become a "professional"? When he/she makes a living from it? I would guess that most hobbyists here wouldn't be too averse to their books or art becoming hot sellers.

Honestly, I always thought of you as a tiki professional. :wink:

I guess that's a little fuzzy too. Some folks went from hobbyists to just doing a lot more of their hobby, not making a living solely off that hobby. But there are those who are full time doing what was a sometimes hobby gig. If I was a proefessional at this I'm doing VERY BADLY.

On 2018-06-19 23:05, swizzle wrote:
Here's the full article for those who can't read it.

The anonymous email came in a few months after Owen Thomson and Ben Wiley opened Archipelago, their tiki bar on U Street NW. “Don’t you have any Tiki drinks with more than four to five ingredients? Technically, that’s pretty anti-Tiki in my opinion,” Mr. Congeniality opened his missive. It “works great for the bottom line, but quite frankly, insults any long-standing fan of real Tiki.”

“In short,” the email concluded, “whoever created your beverage program is a mere fanboy at best — not someone who is well grounded in the traditions of the past.”

Dude, I thought, sipping my delicious, complex cocktail and reading the printout — which the bar keeps pinned up in the back for the staff’s amusement — you’re being verrrrry un-Dude.

From their origin in California in the 1930s, first with Don the Beachcomber, then Trader Vic’s and countless imitators since, tiki bars have long been a kind of tropical fantasia, a rum-soaked refuge from postwar anxieties and the daily grind.

But they clearly provide no refuge from the age of trolls. The email confirmed my belief that within every subculture — be it Star Wars buffs, vinyl aficionados or lovers of Siamese cats — there is a sub-subculture so obsessed with arguing about the subject that they’re willing to risk ruining enjoyment in the name of dogma. (Wiley referred to these tik-tators as “strict constructionists,” a Washingtonian’s tiki term if there ever was one.)

Don’t misunderstand: I’m not making a case for #FakeBooze, nor saying that tiki aficionados shouldn’t respect their mixological history. But particularly with tiki, angry accusations of violating some eternal rules seem particularly wacky.

That’s partly because tiki bars, with their fruity rum drinks and laid-back ethos, have long run blissfully counter to the bitters-forward, cocktails-you-have-to-think-about trends that have defined much of the cocktail renaissance. Tiki drinks, says Martin Cate, owner of San Francisco bar Smuggler’s Cove and author of a James Beard Award-winning book on rum and tiki, are meant to delight, not challenge. They’re “not there to pick a fight. They’re not, like, nine kinds of amaro and some Laphroaig,” he says, referring to the heavily peated Scotch whisky that, according to a drinker in one of its ads, tastes like a burning hospital.

But moreover, tiki culture — the 20th-century American style, not the Polynesian mythology it’s loosely drawn from — is by nature a pastiche, borrowed from other cultures in ways that are sometimes informed and respectful, sometimes problematic. Some argue that certain elements of tiki iconography exploit genuine elements of Polynesian and other “exotic” cultures, turning them into escapist kitsch. These days, one can slurp from a bowl bedecked with scantily clad island girls or vaguely “African” idols for only so long before sensing, beneath the pulse of rum, that these things should make you go “Hmmm” — and give you pause before launching attacks based on tiki “authenticity.”

Defining a tiki drink can be tricky business. Is it only “tiki” if it came from the recipes of Don the Beachcomber or Trader Vic’s? What about imitators? Should tiki drinks incorporate only ingredients that were available in the 1930s, the dawn of tiki? What about all those blended tropical drinks that share tiki’s “come with me and escape” aesthetic? If a palm tree is standing within 50 feet of the bar, are you
automatically drinking a tiki drink?

It’s an oversimplification, but tiki drinks are basically “Caribbean drinks with Polynesian names,” says Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, owner of Latitude 29 in New Orleans, and author of multiple books that detail the history of tiki drinks. Without Berry’s work tracking down recipes from early tiki bars in California, we would have little idea what most original tiki drinks tasted like.

Berry’s definition is based on Don the Beachcomber’s approach: A tiki drink, he says, is a Caribbean drink squared, and in some cases cubed. Don’s inspiration for almost all of the drinks he created was the Planter’s Punch — rum, lime and sugar and maybe some bitters. “And he took that very simple construct and multiplied everything by a factor of two or three. Instead of lime juice, what happens when you put lime and grapefruit together? Multiple sours, multiple citrus. Same thing with the sweetness. Instead of just sugar, what happens if we put in honey, or honey and falernum, or honey and falernum and passion fruit syrup?”

Trader Vic’s, Cate says, added to the approach by blending rum with other spirits to make more complex drinks, and substituting the base spirit in some classic templates.

This background helps make sense of some of the strange outliers in the tiki canon: the Singapore Sling and the Suffering Bastard, for example, which aren’t rum-based and are neither Polynesian nor Caribbean in origin. The gin-based Saturn, a recipe Berry found printed on the side of a cocktail glass in a vintage store, has become a regular on modern tiki menus, as has the Jungle Bird, a delicious weirdo that is rum-based but adds Campari (unusual in tiki, but that bitterness “is catnip to craft cocktail people,” Berry says).

These oddballs slid past the velvet rope by a variety of means: adventurous or boozy-sounding names that matched the aesthetic, origins in a perceived “exotic” locale (the Suffering Bastard was invented in Cairo in the ’40s). Others showed up in beach bars and got mistaken for a member of the club (as with the piña colada, which Berry says has nothing to do with tiki).

Many of these seeming interlopers, though, make sense, Cate says: They have baroque recipes that balance sweet and tart and spice appropriately. But some drinks that turn up under bars’ “tiki” headings aren’t. Cate says Smuggler’s Cove tries to separate the “welcome guests” from the “slushy Visigoths” — the Mudslides, Lava Flows and Bushwackers that may be served in tropical locations but don’t really follow the template of a real tiki drink.

Cate and Berry understand the need for some pickiness. It took a while for modern cocktailers to grasp that tiki drinks were the first truly “craft” cocktails, Berry says, and Cate says that failure to protect their quality helped lead to the disrepute tiki fell into for decades, an age of sour mix and powdered flavorings. But the notion that “as long as I put 11 ingredients into the shaker it’s an exotic cocktail” is also off-base, Cate says.

Archipelago’s recipes include ingredients not on classic tiki menus — pandan, guava, Thai iced tea — but are used in ways that bear out tradition: complex layering of booze, citrus, spice and sweeteners into delicious drinks. To paraphrase the oft-quoted line about defining obscenity, I know tiki when I taste it.

The bar also has a semi-secret “old school tiki” menu, consisting of recipes from tiki’s golden age, so purists can get there from here. But, Wiley says, while they’re aware of the history of their particular cocktail thread, “we don’t treat tiki like a museum. Things evolve.”

And given the unease many have started to feel around some elements of tiki, I’d say amen to aware evolution. The tiki school of beverages includes some damn tasty drinks, and I’d like to be able to enjoy the island reverie without worrying that I’m indulging in the cocktailing equivalent of lawn jockeys. A fan of real tiki should know the history and be clear about what’s classic and what’s new. But tiki has long taken charming strangers into its embrace, and modern tiki can afford to open its doors — to welcome new and charming guests, and throw some older aesthetic baggage (and some trolls) out in the street.

M. Carrie Allan is a Hyattsville, Md., writer and editor. Follow her on Twitter:

Wow. There are a LOT of "unpopular tiki opinions" bunched together in that article.

One of the MAIN points of tiki is the nostalgia-component. Evolving/Changing? Making Tiki more PC? I am sorry...that is flat WRONG.

[ Edited by: Hearn 2018-06-20 07:44 ]

Unpopular tiki opinion: "We've lost control of tiki!"

We have never had control of Tiki. Tiki controls us.

On 2018-06-19 23:05, swizzle wrote:
Berry’s definition is based on Don the Beachcomber’s approach: A tiki drink, he says, is a Caribbean drink squared, and in some cases cubed. Don’s inspiration for almost all of the drinks he created was the Planter’s Punch — rum, lime and sugar and maybe some bitters. “And he took that very simple construct and multiplied everything by a factor of two or three. Instead of lime juice, what happens when you put lime and grapefruit together? Multiple sours, multiple citrus. Same thing with the sweetness. Instead of just sugar, what happens if we put in honey, or honey and falernum, or honey and falernum and passion fruit syrup?”

LoL, Donn Beach sounds like me. "Mmm, that Malibu and pineapple juice and macadamia nut liqueur tastes good together. What if I added vanilla syrup? Mmm, even better! Now what if I added orgeat? Mmm, better yet. Now what if I added passion fruit syrup..."

Unpopular opinion: rum is the best liquor and there’s any point to drinking super expensive or rare rums. I see $100 rum shots at tiki bars! And exclusive clubs if you sample 100 rums.

On 2018-06-17 13:45, Ryan Partridge wrote:

Unpopular or not, I'm of the opinion that Boyd Rice is not a "nazi", but writing about social darwinism or anything against the grain of cultural marxism will most definitely get you labeled "nazi".

Yes, Godwin's Law has definitely jumped the shark.

I've met Boyd and in real life...he's one pleasant, polite, mild mannered, knowledgable cat.
Tiki Boyd's in Denver opened in the mid-2000's...bummer it didn't last long...

I've also met him. We spent several hours chatting about a range of topics at Tiki Boyds over cocktails, and I found his company to be quite entertaining. However, towards the end of the evening, I noticed that the shirt he was wearing, which I had assumed to be a standard Hawaiian aloha shirt due to the low-lighting in the bar, was actually covered with tiny swastikas. While that doesn't prove he's a Neo-nazi, it certainly points to his love of jerking people's chains.

On 2018-06-17 19:20, Cammo wrote:
It would be really interesting to come up with a chronology of exactly when and what happened in the "Exotica Revival."

Would you go back to the Pee-wee's Playhouse use of Quiet Village in the opening credits?

Or before that?

Pee-Wee's Playhouse began airing in the mid-80s, while Boyd starting performing as Non at least 10 years prior to that. I'm not sure exactly when he began playing Exotica over the house PA before his shows, but it's a safe bet that it predated Mr. Herman by at least a couple of years. My guess would be that he started back in the late 70s, when a lot of Southern California Punk in-crowders started hanging out at the Tiki-Ti and Kelbo's, where they were likely exposed to Exotica and (surprisingly) embraced it, probably because it was the antithesis of the music they were playing....so unhip, it was hip.

Cool music box thingy cammo.

Unpopular Tiki Opinion...
TC is not filled with tiki purists that beat up on poor defenseless newbies.
But tiki does need to have some sort of definition in order to be studied as much as it is here.

This whole "ohoo I see you have a my little pony theme mixed in with your tiki room that kinda works" thing is goofy.

Yeah you can do it it's your house, but it isn't tiki and you should be ok for people to say that here.

A few newbies in the past have come to TC cried foul and even got other long time TC people kicked off who added to TC often.

Then after they turn the place upside down the newbie is gone.

The myth that TC is so mean is what they say brought it to this lower participation rate of today.
But many of the "bad guys and gals" are gone so now there are no flames and less good and bad posts.

Soon tiki maybe watered down to the point where Party city crap don't look so bad, that is if you add just the right amount of My little pony.

PS I'm not against newbies.

PSS the above is not flame, it's my and some others Opinion.

And you asked for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POzSXzwbwIc

"Cool music box thingy cammo."

Thanks bro! I thought nobody had noticed!

Just saw a free (!) Herb Alpert - Lani Hall concert. It wasn't Tiki but it was great.

Would be cool to make one of those out of the AR-851 Packard Bell or the Gilligan's island radio.

The fact that it's new age technology in an old skool wrapping is cool too.

Had you been a person new to TC and posted a steaming pile of tiki art crap MANY people would have lined up and posted on how great your steaming pile of tiki art was and told you how happy your post made them.

As it was you posted a cool thing so no praise was needed.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2018-06-21 18:24 ]

I don't get why Tiki Tronic is so popular, aside from the name

I have never heard of Tiki Tronic.

My dad used to call my music "just a bunch of noise" I think with some of what Tiki Tronic posted on Fakebook he would have been right with these guys.

They seem like the type that would be in a certain local group started here in Ohio.

We need a Star Wars tiki rap band that does covers of Snoop Dogs music, Now that would be TIKI!

To me, tiki is an esthetic not a pastime. Like anything else, people drawn to it naturally bring their own individuality with them:

Collectors collect
Vendors vend
Organizers organize
Hunters hunt
Creators create
Curators curate
Performers perform
Revelers revel
Explorers explore
Researchers research
Philosophers philosophize
Trolls troll

It all happens in the tiki world, just like any other niche of the rest of the world. Sure, collectors collect, but not all tiki enthusiasts are collectors. I think those are all byproducts of humans enjoying a shared esthetic, but NOT the essence. And if different elements of the esthetic resonate with different people in different ways, that's not a big surprise either. But I still think there's a tangible esthetic at the core.

At least that's my opinion. Sometimes it seems like an unpopular one because it doesn't match the tendency to boil things down to arbitrary simplifications (like "tiki is drunk white guys in aloha shirts buying up mugs"). Those are kinda fun, but usually off the mark.

But since we're on this thread, here are some more oversimplifications, that are probably also off the mark. Some may echo opinions we've seen before, and some may resonate or irritate (mostly irritate?), but they're just for kicks. TIKI IS...

...about having fun
...ohana
...a party theme
...based on Hawaii, but not as good
...anything tropical
...rum rhapsodies
...retro kitsch
...outdated
...materialistic gratification
...hipsters playing dress-up
...lowbrow, underground, and too cool for you, so get lost
...convenient escape for an unwillingness to face the world's problems
...cultural appropriation
...artificial and whitewashed
...phallus worship
...sacrilege
...not what it used to be

-Randy

"Tiki is drunk white guys in aloha shirts buying up mugs"

You know, the problem with agreeing with what people say on this thread is that it automatically makes it NOT an Unpopular Tiki Opinion.

Tiki show conventions have jumped the shark

"...artificial and whitewashed"

That is the definition of what the good tiki is to me.

"But since we're on this thread, here are some more oversimplifications"

You left out "Look at me isms"

The collectors want you to look at the tiki stuff they just found.
The Creators Want you to look at the tiki they make and even sell.
Curators want you to check out their show.
Performers Same thing and maybe buy their music.
Researchers and Philosophers want you to go to their talks and or buy their books.
Hunters want you to look at what they just found for a buck then sell it to you.
The drunks want you to watch them run around in their underwear.
The drink makers want to prove to you that they are true mixologists making CRAFT cocktails and maybe sell you a book.

In this look at me Fakebook world the new tiki world fits right in.
I think tiki was made up by Book Publishers just to sell us books.

Look what I can do!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvbFMGmImg

So ultimately, tiki is still all about escapism and there are still those who want to sell it to you.

On 2018-07-01 08:47, tikiskip wrote:

I think tiki was made up by Book Publishers just to sell us books.

Keep on selling them and I'll keep buying! But as target markets go, there are probably more lucrative genres out there than tiki books.

-Randy

Unpopular Tiki Opinion:

Your attitude about TC or "Tiki Elites" or California Tiki People or whatever, is just your projecting and cherry picking and internal interpretation to suit your mindset and has little to do with reality.

You see what you want to see.

Also, all collectors/collecting/hobbies are making book sellers rich. Not authors, but publishers and sellers... **FACT:**The Mai-Kai has made more money selling my book in the gift shop than I have made from writing it. But at least they give me free drinks when I'm there, so...

Well I have posted controversial things before but did not think this post to be one.

“Your attitude about TC or "Tiki Elites" or California Tiki People or whatever”

I did not say anything about those people in that post, those terms where terms
Long ago about the tiki community I did not invent them as they were before my time.
But there are definitely set groups in the tiki community and there is definitely a rank or people that are the “in” people much like High school was.

Look at most of the publicity done on tiki and it really helps to be a native of California as most of the articles are on California people.
Take the tiki quest book you almost never hear of that on TC, (Chicago).

By the way I buy most of those books about tiki and put that Last quip about “I think tiki was made up by Book Publishers just to sell us books” as a joke.
I have your book and went to your small group symposium at the Mai Kai.

But look at the Most views on TC, not posts, VIEWS.
The top one is collecting tiki, “The collectors want you to look at the tiki stuff they just found”

The other top views is the people making tiki look at what I just made and maybe buy it damn I fall into that one or at least used to.
I got tired of posting look what I can do and thought posting info about the Kahiki might be a nice break for a while so it was not just me, me me, all the time.
Looks like I was safer with me, me, me.

The threads about history or past tiki bars fall WAY short of the views of the look at me threads have on TC.
TC people don’t even look at them, heck the “Art Swap 2018 - Dream Tiki” has more views than most of the history ones have and they have been up for years where as the Art Swap just went up. Me, me, me.
No me, no interest.

Lots of other people who I have talked to have some of the same opinions that I do it’s just hard to say them out loud it’s difficult to be a maker of tiki or have a super cool bar that gets no publicity past TC.

Who said anything about making money off tiki. I said selling your stuff, and have said many times before not many people make money off of tiki, I just try to offset the money I have put into tiki by selling lights and it is a hobby I like doing.

The smart people that do make money off of tiki almost never post on TC and this is a smart thing to do as posting your thoughts can piss people off.
BUT posting on a place like TC helps keep tiki alive thus helping them sell tiki without the need to get their hands dirty.
I should be so smart.

I think the look at me part of tiki is what has kept it going this long and don’t see it all as a bad thing, well the drunk underwear guy was, but if you have a vested interest in the tiki community and play a part in it you will stay with it a lot longer.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2018-07-04 07:38 ]

“I think tiki was made up by Book Publishers just to sell us books”

This had me dying... Reminded me of when Kerouac said the Vietnam war was a scam to get Jeeps in the country.

Classic

I'm glad you got it.
I have a strange sense of humor and at times it is missed or misunderstood.

It's like the Hallmark cards invented Valentines day thing.

Me too, probably why most think I'm a wisea$$. Unless of course they are as irreverent as I am, in which case they tend to jump into the fray with me. Folks often seem too serious and sensitive, life's just too short...

Hey!! Life is NOT too short you irreverent S.O.B.!!!!

P.S. :D

A drive-by Grogging!

Summer is too short.

Two sharp shorts sure are too short for sharks.

You know, I think Boyd Rice got obsessed with Exotica/Tiki through his favorite group, Throbbing Gristle. As did many others.

Throbbing Gristle's Greatest Hits, 1981:

Yacht Rock just killed Tiki Music.

It's retro.
You can dress up in Aloha shirts to listen to it.
Dance to it? Yup.
Chicks dig it.
There are 'boat drinks' associated with it.
Yup, Pina Coladas.
Yup, rum.
Tommy Bahama shirts? Yup.
People actually like listening to it. You can party to it.
People don't 'get' Tiki music.
They 'get' Yacht Rock. Nobody knows why.
etc...

At Tiki Oasis I actually heard people saying that they thought Tiki Music WAS Yacht Rock. They thought Exotica was just filler until the DJs got back to playing the Yacht Rock songs everybody loves. Some girls were actually yelling "YACHT ROCK" at the pool, like they thought that's what the whole party was about.

It's all over, brah.

Nah, too many of us have learned the difference between YR and “tiki music” for it to be over. But there will apparently be a new sub-genre within poly pop or whatever the whole conglomeration is called. I’m not going out of my way for YR like I will for classic exotica and for the new exotica. This reminds me of “Jimmy Buffett Tiki” which is also a sub genre - if you’re willing to grant it that sort of footing.

Chicks dig it.

You folks know the difference, I know the difference, the people reading this right now know the difference, but EVERYBODY ELSE DOESN'T.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but Yacht Rock just mowed down Exotica as we know it. It's a horribly sad and senseless waste of a decent, innocent human life.

This is the future:

…and of course it's the exceptions that prove the rule:

"Chicks dig it.
Not this one."

"But there will apparently be a new sub-genre within poly pop or whatever the whole conglomeration is called."

"This is the future:"

The girl can stay.

On 2018-08-21 10:11, Cammo wrote:
"But there will apparently be a new sub-genre within poly pop or whatever the whole conglomeration is called."

I agree everyone else doesn't know the difference. But what did I mean by the sub-genre comment? Hot rods aren't tiki and they're "in." Monsters aren't tiki, and they too are "in." Surf music isn't tiki, but many adopted it and it's "in." Yacht rock isn't tiki and I suspect it could also become "in."

What we're seeing is human nature. I would not call exotica all "mowed down" and "over." Yacht rock was once popular, then it died out, and it's coming back as a fad, so it may die a second death. It's hilarious to me... But traditional "tiki" music (if you can call anything really traditional in poly pop, ha) will always remain historically connected to mid-century tiki and poly pop.

I really think of yacht rock as a fad, without longevity, and it will fade out in favor of something else. I don't see it packing out stadiums like Jimmy Buffett does.

Yacht rock, eh? I had to Google that. Sounds like late 70s and early 80s fromage to me. Which has it's place, but not in my tiki room.

Seriously, although I adore Steely Dan, it is unequivocally not Tiki. I think Mr. Fagen would agree.

That Yacht Rock isn’t Tiki is my point.

On 2018-08-21 13:30, AceExplorer wrote:

I really think of yacht rock as a fad, without longevity, and it will fade out in favor of something else.

Do fads generally last for over 12 years? :D

On 2018-08-22 17:43, HopeChest wrote:
Do fads generally last for over 12 years? :D

No, not by my definition. But as a "fad" I'm not referring to the absolute and technical history of the term or the genre itself, I'm talking about the current (recent) popularity of the soft rock genre. I think my point then is that exotica fans, who know and appreciate it for what it is, are committed to the genre in a different way than yacht rock fans are to their genre. Maybe I'm wrong. But I still have the same interest in exotica that I had 10-12 years ago. But as tikiphiles, we've got more "connection" to exotica, it's much deeper for us, it's not just a landing pad until the next form of "in" party music comes around.

The more I write about this the less I think I know and understand. I'm not dissing yacht rock, but am definitely surprised that people are going back to it in party environments. Did something on the musical landscape implode and leave a gap which could only be filled by soft rock? I don't know. It's interesting.

If I ever hear Toto played at a Tiki event, I'm washing my hands of the entire scene...and no Weezer covers of Toto songs either!

Honestly, I dont think Yacht Rockers even KNOW what groups they’re listening to. It’s just something they do in the summer so they can pull out their patterned Bermuda shorts and get drunk on cheap rum.
The point is that there are a lot of Tiki “fans” who feel the same way about Exotica, and they’re jumping over to Yacht. It’s like bad skiers buying snowboards.
I used to listen to the Quiet Village Podcast until it was abandoned, apparently through lack of interest....

I'm just going to assume that this history is going to be unpopular, and I'm going to fill it out as I can chronologically.

...and I'm going to start with 1950's TV shows because they were so important in the early memories of the Tiki Crowd, almost certainly jump-starting the whole thing.

Recent Tiki History

1959 Adventures in Paradise TV show premiers.

1959 Hawaiian Eye TV show premiers.

1964 Gilligan’s Island TV show premiers.

1966 Boyd Rice wears a cheap Robert Hall Hawaiian Shirt and the Tiki Necklace sold with it to elementary school. His favorite TV show at this time is Hawaiian Eye, already in reruns. He is part of a huge group of imaginative, often West Coast baby boomers who were more interested in Tikis and Hawaii than the Hippie Beatle Drug shenanigans just starting to explode nationally.

MORE TO COME

I'm a veteran LA punk New Waver (or is that New Wave punker?) and I recall local college stations and hipster friends getting into exotica by around '87. i don't recall Boyd Rice (or Throbbing Gristle) as being any kind of motivating factor behind it at the time as much as nostalgia was - apart from reruns of old movies/shows that we'd grown up watching, we also remember our parents/older relatives taking us to Polynesian-style restaurants, having backyard luaus (mom in her mumu, dad in his aloha shirt, Don Ho on the stereo, etc) and were just continuing the LA suburban lifestyle, albeit with a more post-modern self-consciousness. But I'll ask my fellow punk-rock geezers about Boyd Rice. Maybe he got the ball rolling in ways I didn't notice at the time?

I do like exotica.
But on a Friday night when you are having a party and it's the start of the eve do you really want to go with some of that sleepy exotica stuff?

And Yuma Sumac, oh damn one song is enough for me on that girl.

Martin Denny is good for a rainy day at home by yourself sipping rum.

Friday night, yer getting Thin Lizzy or Dick Dale like it or not.

As far as Yacht Rockers go it's a bit better than this damn rap that has taken over every TV show, commercial sound track, sports lead in, sports lead out, Movie sound tracks, News show, ect...

Music used to shift and change after a few years it's long over due for a shift away from rap.

On 2018-08-23 09:28, MrFab wrote:
I'm a veteran LA punk New Waver (or is that New Wave punker?) and I recall local college stations and hipster friends getting into exotica by around '87. i don't recall Boyd Rice (or Throbbing Gristle) as being any kind of motivating factor behind it at the time as much as nostalgia was - apart from reruns of old movies/shows that we'd grown up watching, we also remember our parents/older relatives taking us to Polynesian-style restaurants, having backyard luaus (mom in her mumu, dad in his aloha shirt, Don Ho on the stereo, etc) and were just continuing the LA suburban lifestyle, albeit with a more post-modern self-consciousness. But I'll ask my fellow punk-rock geezers about Boyd Rice. Maybe he got the ball rolling in ways I didn't notice at the time?

TG was totally ahead of the exotica curve when they released their Greatest Hits album in 1981. This picture and the group photo on the back proves it. They also played Martin Denny records after some of their performances in the late 70's. That's how I got interested in exotica, through Industrial music!! Boyd Rice actually gave Genesis P'Orridge some Denny records in the late 70's and he was hooked!!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Yeah, I think the back of that Throbbing Gristle album actually reads "Dedicated to Martin Denny." Wonder if Denny knew that, and what he thought of it!

Did TG make any actual exotica-inspired music?