Is This Dance Music?
Oh no! Sun Block, the dance crew that put a house beat to the Baywatch theme, are to release another single. Are they ruining dance music?
Cover your ears: Sun Block, the hideous Swedish 'dance' outfit who put a house beat to the theme tune from Baywatch, have decided to release another single.
Not only is this a travesty for dance music fans who are fed up with being lumbered with so-called dance acts like Crazy Frog, Sugarbabes, and DJ Sammy – it's quite possibly the most infuriatingly music you'll ever hear.
Sun Block are shamelessly commercial and beneath the music there's a clever marketing strategy.
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 Sun Block is about selling shitloads of tacky records worldwide Patrik Simolin, Universal Sweden
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After all, getting a rubbish record in the Top 5 takes some persuasion.
There's another sneaky promotional tactic behind Sun Block's latest single 'First Time': it's accompanied by two raunchy videos.
Tits & Pillow Fights
The first one is clearly aimed at the MTV audience and features three blonde girls pillow fighting and
generally prattling around in
sexually provocative poses –
nothing new there then.
But if you pre-order a download of the track or one of its mixes, you get access to an x-rated video which features the same pillow-fighting girls with their tops off.
Patrik Simolin, International Product Manager for Universal Sweden, is unashamedly honest about their marketing sense.
"We sell music 'made' by good looking birds that are sexy, and front the Sun Block Project," he says.
"This creates a bigger buzz in the media and gets more people interested in the music.
"They can't sing but they look good!".
Sex Sells
 Patrik Simolin think Sun Block is "fun"
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Sex sells, and in Sun Block's case, an x-rated video of the track is being used to persuade teenage boys (who else would be persuaded to purchase a cheesy dance track because of a pair of tits?) to part with their cash.
Simolin explains: "Yes of course it's tacky.
"Sun Block is about selling shitloads of tacky records worldwide.
"The whole project is about making hits - the coolest records in the world don't sell very much."
But like that annoying Crazy Frog, Sun Block is described by much of the mainstream media as 'dance music' when in fact it's unlikely to be played in any dance clubs, or bought by any DJs.
Being lumped with us lot does nothing to help introduce new kids to the club music scene.
After all, a 12-year-old is unlikely to find inspiration or get hooked to dance music if they think it's all Crazy Frog and Sun Block.
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It's as dance music as the Sugarbabes or Pussycat Dolls Patrik Simolin, Universal Sweden
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Simolin defends Sun Block, and blames its categorisation on others.
"It's as dance music as the Sugarbabes or Pussycat Dolls," he says.
"It's a dance/pop record.
"I don´t expect Sun Block to be
played at Space or Pacha in Ibiza."
But can Patrik Simolin stand listening to Sun Block himself?
"Yes I love it!
"It's the ultimate fun commercial project that I've signed.
"We are selling shitloads and now I can sign cooler records that won´t sell much, but DJmag can write about them and DJs will play in the cool clubs."
DJmag is not exactly one for conservatism, but Sun Block's x-rated video is available on the net without age restrictions.
With the music clearly aimed at the younger audience, it can only be a matter of time before the Daily Mail gets wind of it, and runs an article with the headline 'dance x-rated video aimed at children'.
Which again, could be bad news for the dance scene.
Or maybe, it'll lead to parents banning their kids from dance music, which of course will have the exact opposite effect.
Either way, Sun Block is making waves in dance music whether you ignore, or not.
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 Video (press play)
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