Is this real life or a modern reboot of Spinal Tap?

We often ask ourselves that question when writing about EDM, but American broadcasting network ABC brought the absurdity of modern commercial dance music to a whole new level when the (once respected) nighttime news program Nightline broadcast a 5 minute segment on EDM cheeseball David Guetta which is causing a riot of laughter across social media today.

Both the over the top presentation and lack of research are causing people to ask if this was a true celebrity profile or a reboot of the famous heavy metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

Watch it here:

ABC is promoting the video with this headline – that Guetta “helped bring house music to the US.” Which is, of course, a colossal slab of bullshit.

[Update: David Guetta responds and he still doesn’t get it]

The video shows a photo of a young David Guetta, and while there are people complaining about Guetta talking about House Music, he actually did make a “real” House Music record back in 1994 (and before that, really cheesy rap.) On “Up & Away” Guetta teamed up with the legendary vocalist Robert Owens, which was remixed by a young Dimitri From Paris. We wrote about this in When Guetta Was Underground:

Beating up on David Guetta at this point is about as fun as slapping around a middle aged accountant in a leather mask and gimp suit: it’s not really that satisfying and you get the creepy feeling that the gimp probably likes it.

 

But the video shows far more scenes like this:

And this curiously unhinged interview:

Nightline’s producers seemed uncomfortable with Guetta’s rather animated performance, and kept cutting away at a furious pace to the interviewer who somehow managed to sit passively through this performance:

A few people are chastising ABC (which has been pretty good, on a local level at least) for their ignorance of the history of the music they’re proclaiming Guetta the “grandfather” of:

I think it’s pretty funny on the whole. Five years ago we pointed out that the once ubiquitous Jesus Christ posing of David Guetta had become unusually muted, and it had become a bit boring to hate on him. How can you really hate on a guy who makes songs dedicated to his hair gel?

One hopes that making fun of David Guetta is back on the menu for 2018.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. I swear this has to be a joke is it April 1St ? Guetta is the pure essence of what is wrong with the electronic industry . Now he is “RE inventing himself as Jack back trying to find some sort of credibility for himself with the industry which sees him as the court jester. All Guetta is really doing is jumping ship from a fashion fad which is finally on its last legs. The new fashion trend is to be underground and he is tagging along once again. For nighttime to dub him the grandfather of electronic music in America is beyond insulting to the legends who started the Detroit and Chicago movements back in the late 70’s and early 80’s . He has about as much depth as a puddle. If he had any self respect he would apologise to everyone in the electronic music industry for being him

  3. It’s already been changed , but not the URL which still includes the older headline.
    Obviously they just a web team that has scope for improvement
    abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/david-guetta-helped-bring-house-music-us-made-58605923

  5. House music was created primarily by Black & Latino people led by Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, Chip E., Steve Silk Hurley, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Larry Levan and many other pioneers — most of whom where Black gay folk — with contributions by several white DJ’s and producers, in the black gay clubs of Chicago, Detroit, and New York in the 80’s and 90’s beginning at The Warehouse, from which “house music” derives its name. House music was not “brought” to the US by David Got-damn Guettta, but erasing Black & Latino contributions to American culture in favor of elevating white people to “the top” where they get the credit and the rewards — usually men — is as American as apple pie.

  8. Bernard Jones is spot on! Did David Guetta ever step through the doors of The Warehouse? This is a slap in the face to Ron Hardy, Frankie Knuckles, and my biz partner and co-founder of Persona Records, David Bell. All gay, all dead, and now unable to speak to this editorial revisionist bullshit. (And yes, Gay folk, both black and white, had a huge impact on House Music; the entirety of the Persona Records staff was gay!) Has Nightline cut back on their research dept to this sad degree? This is Google search 101. Do your homework lazy media and start right here: http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/articles/persona-records-launched-producer-career-frankie-knuckles-showed-world-house-music-really-sell/

  9. Bernard Jones is spot on! Did David Guetta ever step through the doors of The Warehouse? This is a slap in the face to Ron Hardy, Frankie Knuckles, and my biz partner and co-founder of Persona Records, David Bell. All gay, all dead, and now unable to speak to this editorial revisionist bullshit. (And yes, Gay folk, both black and white, had a huge impact on House Music– the entirety of the Persona Records staff was gay!) Has Nightline cut back on their research dept to this sad degree? This is Google search 101. Discogs alone sets the record back to the reality of accuracy. Lazy media, do your homework and start right here: http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/articles/persona-records-launched-producer-career-frankie-knuckles-showed-world-house-music-really-sell/

  13. Please stop it Nightline!House music came from Chicago (The Warehouse), New York (The Garage)and New Jersey (Zanzibar)in the late 70’s early 80’s. Black folks have been making this type of music for over 40 years.

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