Bandwagon jumping: A legitimate strategy?

good example - all that disco not disco stuff, which is now hailed as wonderful crossover, rock was more open to black music back then, etc... but at the time was probably laughed at as bandwagon jumping.

That's the most obvious one (to me) that comes to mind, but I'm sure there are loads of great examples. No boubt the majority of it is bad, but its will always produce a few gems

I think it works as a method of getting people's (read: the music industry's) attention, but if you haven't got any substance of your own to back it up with, it's fatal.

Thing is, if you didn't have any substance to start with, you wouldn't have got attention had you not jumped on the bandwaggon, so perhaps it was a good thing in terms of garnering you that one hit you wouldn't have had otherwise.

If you do have something of your own to contribute, it's probably better not getting on the bandwaggon, as it's incredibly hard to get off the bandwaggon in time to avoid getting carted off for firewood.

er...

um..

improv jazz? or have they done that already?

oops, shh, best not mention this too loud, they might be listening

Well, there was that skronky Kevin Shields track.

I think "bandwagon jumping" has to be seen in a broader context. It's just one phase in the evolution of any idea, sound, movement, meme, blah blah blah. I mostly think it's interesting to see which wagons are getting jumped at any given time. Especially when you see collisions coming between different wagons. Bandwagon watching as Hegelian spectator sport.

It's such a thin line, innit?

This all kind of reminds me of the cycles you can see in urban redevelopment. Property becomes valuable. Someone who can afford it chases someone who can't afford it off the property (at a --cough-- fair market price, of course). Eventually, by virtue of either overpopulation or technological innovations or bureaucratic changes or any number of other reasons, the property becomes less valuable. The houses are subdivided and rented, the warehouses either used for dirt-cheap storage or abandoned altogether. "Urban blight" sets in (look out, it's contagious!). In with the crackheads and the squatters and the hobos. Then come the bohemians (crackheads and squatters must hate seeing the bohemians -- "oh christ, there goes the neighborhood"). The buildings are rented. And fixed up. And bought. And sold. And 10 years later, the young single lawyers and just-married grad students are all over the place. And the property becomes valuable again. Until...

It doesn't work nearly that cleanly with music, but you can see the same forces at play.