Artists labelled IDM widely rejected the term as elitist and PR-driven

The IDM label was almost universally rejected by the artists it described, on the grounds that calling their music ‘intelligent’ implies everything else is stupid. Aphex Twin called the term ‘really nasty to everyone else’s music’, saying he only says whether he likes something. Kid606 called it ‘a label invented by PR companies who need catchphrases’. Matmos said the term was ‘laughable’. Sean Booth of Autechre called the ‘intelligent’ framing ‘silly’. Mike Paradinas (u-Ziq) noted it was only ever used in North America, not in the UK where the artists lived. The recurring lesson is that genre categories created by fans and press for discourse become imposed on artists who never used them and often find them insulting.

Examples

Aphex Twin (1997): the term is ‘basically saying this is intelligent and everything else is stupid.’ Kid606 (2003): ‘a label invented by PR companies who need catchphrases.’ Matmos: ‘I don’t endorse that term because it’s laughable.‘

Assessment

Name three artists who rejected the IDM label with each one’s stated reason, and say what the pattern reveals about how externally-coined genre terms function.