- Aug 23, 2022
- 124 Posts
- 114 Thanked
As some of you may know, I'm listening to every single classic trance tune ever released (on vinyl) to make a complete database of the greatest tracks from the classic era (and to eventually write a trance-related book). So far, I listened to all 6,000 tunes from 1993, 6400 from the 9000 in 1994, and most of the stuff between 1990 and 1992. So roughly I listened to around 12,000-14,000 tunes (out of the 155,000).
To somewhat be able to measure the overall quality of the releases each year (or to put it in other words, how good the given year was for trance music), I decided to combine two fairly well-known rules/laws, namely: Sturgeon's Law and the 1% rule. These also help me to check how in line my findings/opinions are with reality (that these laws try to represent), at the very least statistically.
Sturgeon's Law, also known as Sturgeon’s Revelation, is an adage coined by the American science fiction author and critic, Theodore Sturgeon. It states that "ninety percent of everything is crap". This means that in any given field, approximately 90% of the works produced are likely to be of low quality.
The “1% rule” (also known as the "99% rule") suggests that in any creative field, only a small percentage of works are truly exceptional or outstanding, while the majority fall into the average or less remarkable category.
If we are trying to make sense of both of these laws at the same time (and also apply it to trance music), the combined law looks like this:
Because the values presented above are averages, it makes sense to use them as a representation of how a year looks like for trance music that can be considered average, statistically speaking. Obviously, there could be slight deviations from these numbers (although it's much less likely on a larger scale), and those deviations can decide whether the given year was good, or maybe even bad for the genre.
Now here comes the interesting part and the whole reason I made this post. Taking into account that 1993 was the first major year in trance music (following the proto-trance era between 1988 and 1992) and taking into account that many music tagged as trance on Discogs had nothing to do with trance, it's remarkable how close 1993 still managed to get to the average target of 1%, when it comes to its outstanding tunes (49 out of 6000, which represents 0.82%).
Naturally, one would assume that the next year would fare better (or at the very least similarly), considering that trance became a slightly more recognizable and established genre by that point, which, at the very least, should eliminate many bad Discogs tags that negatively inflate the scores in the Quality Triangle. But shockingly, 1994 pales in terms of quality compared to 1993, as only 0,42% of the tracks achieved outstanding quality in my eyes. More specifically, 27 out of 6400 tunes. To be fair, I have 8 more favorites from this year, but I'm going through the tracks alphabetically and I haven't reached them yet, so it wouldn't be fair to include them in the equation (by that point, it would likely be 35 out of 9000, or hopefully a little bit more).
The thing is, this is not just based on my taste or standards either. I noticed that an incredible amount of tunes from 1994 had very low view counts compared to records from 1993: many had views in the hundreds, or 1000-2000 at best, with a few exceptions here and there, which somewhat suggests that many of these tracks didn't really resonate with the trance community. Moreover, I would also argue that the quality of the tunes from the middle range was less consistent compared to 1993 (1993 had more 6.5/10 and less 6/10 tracks, while 1994 had way more 6/10 tracks).
Looking back, it seems to me that 1994 was some kind of a step back compared to the brave and experimental 1993. A lot of the generally well-received records from 1994 feel safe, emotionally superficial/restrained, and formulaic, without any strong identity, spark, or truly memorable elements, while other records (that some consider to be trance classics) show much more in common with other genres, such as acid, techno, and others, like Drax's Amphetamine, or Legend B's Lost In Love (Sysex Style Mix).
Does anyone have any theory as to why these are the results? Can anyone give some historical context that could potentially somewhat answer this question?
To somewhat be able to measure the overall quality of the releases each year (or to put it in other words, how good the given year was for trance music), I decided to combine two fairly well-known rules/laws, namely: Sturgeon's Law and the 1% rule. These also help me to check how in line my findings/opinions are with reality (that these laws try to represent), at the very least statistically.
Sturgeon's Law, also known as Sturgeon’s Revelation, is an adage coined by the American science fiction author and critic, Theodore Sturgeon. It states that "ninety percent of everything is crap". This means that in any given field, approximately 90% of the works produced are likely to be of low quality.
The “1% rule” (also known as the "99% rule") suggests that in any creative field, only a small percentage of works are truly exceptional or outstanding, while the majority fall into the average or less remarkable category.
If we are trying to make sense of both of these laws at the same time (and also apply it to trance music), the combined law looks like this:
- 90% of trance music is subpar, low quality.
- 9% of trance music is average/competent.
- 1% of trance music is outstanding and memorable.
Because the values presented above are averages, it makes sense to use them as a representation of how a year looks like for trance music that can be considered average, statistically speaking. Obviously, there could be slight deviations from these numbers (although it's much less likely on a larger scale), and those deviations can decide whether the given year was good, or maybe even bad for the genre.
Now here comes the interesting part and the whole reason I made this post. Taking into account that 1993 was the first major year in trance music (following the proto-trance era between 1988 and 1992) and taking into account that many music tagged as trance on Discogs had nothing to do with trance, it's remarkable how close 1993 still managed to get to the average target of 1%, when it comes to its outstanding tunes (49 out of 6000, which represents 0.82%).
Naturally, one would assume that the next year would fare better (or at the very least similarly), considering that trance became a slightly more recognizable and established genre by that point, which, at the very least, should eliminate many bad Discogs tags that negatively inflate the scores in the Quality Triangle. But shockingly, 1994 pales in terms of quality compared to 1993, as only 0,42% of the tracks achieved outstanding quality in my eyes. More specifically, 27 out of 6400 tunes. To be fair, I have 8 more favorites from this year, but I'm going through the tracks alphabetically and I haven't reached them yet, so it wouldn't be fair to include them in the equation (by that point, it would likely be 35 out of 9000, or hopefully a little bit more).
The thing is, this is not just based on my taste or standards either. I noticed that an incredible amount of tunes from 1994 had very low view counts compared to records from 1993: many had views in the hundreds, or 1000-2000 at best, with a few exceptions here and there, which somewhat suggests that many of these tracks didn't really resonate with the trance community. Moreover, I would also argue that the quality of the tunes from the middle range was less consistent compared to 1993 (1993 had more 6.5/10 and less 6/10 tracks, while 1994 had way more 6/10 tracks).
Looking back, it seems to me that 1994 was some kind of a step back compared to the brave and experimental 1993. A lot of the generally well-received records from 1994 feel safe, emotionally superficial/restrained, and formulaic, without any strong identity, spark, or truly memorable elements, while other records (that some consider to be trance classics) show much more in common with other genres, such as acid, techno, and others, like Drax's Amphetamine, or Legend B's Lost In Love (Sysex Style Mix).
Does anyone have any theory as to why these are the results? Can anyone give some historical context that could potentially somewhat answer this question?
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