I may split the topic soon if it turns out discussion carries forward.
Certainly the split has happened several times in different ways.
Perhaps even in Japanese noise, you can see the provocateurs and mess makers and those involving with the sexual oddieties etc. Which did transform to something else. Involving the original provocateurs themselves.
You can take a look into germany, and at the same time, when there would be the "back to basics" legacy of Tesco related, one could easily point out Selektion label for example, who did crossover to PE (neuengamme), but most certainly hardly "industrial" in that way. You can also check out for example Drone Records, which was spawn in 1991 which certainly would not be among "bad boy" labels, even if they'd have some of the same bands (Inade, S*Core, Stabat Mors, etc).
But I don't mean so much the split between the bad boys & vile aesthetics vs. good guys & neat aesthetics, but the personification to mundane ego. Even Smell & Quim, Evil Moisture and such would be quite anonymous from outside view. Did we even know the real name of people behind S&Q at the time? We would see their absurd elvis routine or get some Non-Stop Robotic Stinky Horse Fisting, but it would be noise from person, not person from noise - if you know what I mean? We would know these people, including Roemer, only by few extravagant stories. They would be most of all mythical people for everybody else but their friends perhaps?
In those times it was most often artists or bands we don't know, who's art we judge from quite clean table. Who appear to have no other motivation than to get their stuff heard.
Now it is more and more social scene, and people appear with their faces about their personal issues and mundane interests. Where releases may be dedicated to certain pedal, or good movie or sport. Where online promotion and announcement happens in their facebook, what blurs further the line between what is your art and what is your diary of announcing latest meals, travel plans and such. With people following what they friends are doing or what cool dudes are doing. Not necessarily interested to observe what is good out there. Releasing stuff is suddenly more issue of friendship and mutual interests, rather than is the material actually really good.
In such context everytime when NIT rises its head, it is not about what he has produced as artists, but he will promote himself as person. It is not the thing we find out, when he explains his visions about the culture, politics, music or such. But it will hit you into face like tabloid gossip or womens magazine article about someone famous.
We may get sucked into this "lifestyle media" approach. People would be interested to check out where Greh eats his dinner according to his Facebook status and who he met, and this similar mundane interests is - well, I would say opposition to Special Interests, hah!
It's hard to blame too much American Tapes or someone like Gods Of Tundra, which appears to be one of the ultra underground labels, where he does what he does no site, barely no contact, no forum presence, etc etc. But still we know that people like Conelly may be without wanting, the icons of personification of noise. Together with Fernow etc. These guys have done a lot of work to end up as public interest. The approach it spawns, that it is assumption this is default standard, is what bugs me. Where noise lost its edge of obscurity (be it bad boys, anonymity or absurd dada) and is like any other pop culture product of its time and every act appears to be method to be noticed. But noticed for what?
Of course one could say who am I to talk, with couple thousand messages on forum I started, hah, but for me difference is quite clear.
