1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, 2020’s, 2030’s.
When aficionados talk about era’s of music usually it goes in decades.
As time goes on it becomes generally more obvious that movements in music are not sectioned up into decades.
For the sake of convenience, it is possible to speak about The psychedelic pop of the 60’s, disco of the 70’s.
What similarly marks out the distinctions; between say the 2000’s and the 2010’s ? Is there any distinction ?
Why is there a lessening distinction ? What does it mean ? What roles do corperation and emerging technologies play?
Where will it end ?
In the 1960’s, a club crooner, a song from New York’s broadway theatre, a novelty song or folk song selling in the charts. Not necessarily better or worse than the more homogenized fare of the present. A look at the top 40 selling songs, at any week in any decade, will show a similar amount of dirge. The difference ?
As time progresses it becomes a more similar sounding dirge.
If variety is the spice of life there is less and still no less consumable.
How about a corporate conceit of variety in a group.
How about the L’herb boys ?
Garlic ! Dill ! Thyme ! Basil ! A band like a spice rack. Not since Beatle John has a band such individual selling points. ‘Garlic l’herb-boy’ plays guitar he’s a bit smelly and you only need a little bit. ‘Thyme l’herb-boy’ is the oldest he’s actually secretly married with kids but only plays drums. ‘Dill l’herb’ will probably die first he’s wildly stupid with cars and drinks he will esculate re-issued music catalogue sales when he goes, (can’t wait). Basil-l’herb is clean, went to public school, worships the devil with Carrie Johnson, will star in the ‘Carrie’ movie remake with a Boris Johnson lookalike after the band runs out of steam.
Architectural aspects of physical music media, [A / B sides] only exist in physical format. Songs with a relative B-side, have an ethos of the conscious and the unconscious thought.
The re-emergence of vinyl albums in supermarkets, speaks to the desire for a more dimensioned experience, similar to how analogue synths and valve amplifiers have also made a large-scale comeback. Evidence of how the convenience of new technologies, the speed at which they are produced, outpaces the overall experienced realization of the fan. CD’s ended the B-side, and now streaming services, notorious for under paying artists, create a less ‘album oriented’ marketplace.
Albums have always been totems for phases or developments in the lives of the featured artists.
As such we can grow and connect with developing thoughts and feelings of the artists, as they progress through periods of their lives.
With a more generic ‘endless stream of singles’ model for career paths, the notion of change and phase development is de-emphasized. Worker bee artists for worker bee listeners.
Fairness accounted, some artists are more naturally oriented like that.
Punk, Reggae, Goth, Hip Hop. Music scenes encompass a sense of lifestyle, fashion, social connection and political thought. There are currently still bands and artists who have fan bases with an identifiable culture. Recording production styles trend, yet it’s unclear whether we have seen the last emerging ‘mother culture’ in modern music. Hip Hop.
Author Naomi Klien in her book “No Logo” describes the post millennial teenage culture, as distinctly less individualised, and explains the benefit of this to a corporate world selling generic products to a ‘disposable income’ class . .
Former law enforcement officer, Tom Grant posits, the author of the song ‘Smells like teen spirit’, [a title warning against corporate predation of the young,]
…was disposable himself i.e. disposed of.
Matricidal bridal libel ?
The speed of developments in music technology has a key role.
During the 1980’s a new keyboard synthesizer was released every 6-12 months. For the first time in history the factory production of new instruments led, rather than followed, the kinds of sounds emanating from FM / AM radio.
Rapid synthesizer marketing had producers clamoring for the latest equipment. Art following technology, rather than leading it. (If Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and the Raphelites had all received digital cameras, and Photoshop at the same time, little would remain of their work today)
Time frame of the 1980’s sees the emergence of affordable drum machines enthusing Hip Hop.
Changing ratios between music-composition and sound-composition [synth] in what peaks the listeners interest.
Benefits and disadvantages, a fast upside, a fast downside. CEO Steve Jobs of Apple technologies created a sense of empowerment and enriching of the life of the user.
At this time Ray Kurzweil (who would later go on to become the head of R&D at Google) was producing his name brand range of Synth keyboards with Stevie Wonder as his lab rat. If ‘The Beatles’ are proof that a musical entity can be very good yet overrated, Stevie Wonder is prime example of a person recieving great success and recognition and remaining underated. The relivance here is that Steveland Morris (aka Wonder) presented with the latest synths to test run was eventually presented with the oppurtunity to have a microchip installed in his brain to help restore his sight by the likes of Kurzweil who invented ‘Google Glass’. Ultimately declined after apparent serious consideration.
Subsequent to Steve Jobs era a palpable descent into a more Orwellian track and trace concerns, big tech censorship in the time of the Covid. Disempowerment. The strongest advocates for the internet era of music, among established artists, David Bowie & Prince, both had a complete reversal of outlook toward the internet prior to their untimely demise. Concerned with the dystopian effects of dehumanisation the former lent his voice to an early computer game themed on fighting a technocrat dictator. The game prophetically titled ‘Omicron’. The latter completely disembled his online NPG music club having recieved awards for entrepreneurial creativity in the emerging new business models for direct to consumer music via internet.
A fast up, a fast down.
Not withstanding the effect of nostalgia on reasoning, for the most part there is not greater or less overall music talent available at one point in time over another; (with the exception of individual emerging artists).
We have a tendency to remember the good music of the past.
There was as much bad music in the classical era, yet it has not survived to be called to memory.
The torture practices of the Spanish Inquisition and the Church of Rome, who would flay and persecute scientists for the crimes of being ‘disagreeable’, were mitigated by migration to the ‘new world’ aka USA. Instead of intimidating people into agreement, migrant Europeans in the U.S.A. were free to form their own belief groups, hence the formation of a thousand different sects and bible cults, in place of one Papal power.
A similar dynamic occurs with mass media power. The big seven media and music companies became the big five, and then the big four. Ever closer to ‘One ring to rule them all’. Freedoms attained by indie artists by the web and services like Distrokid & CD Baby, has saturated the market with a thousand little cults of bands.
Dorian Lynskey's epic book 33 Revolutions Per Minute 'A history of protest songs' (NME's 2011 book of the year) a sincere ambitious monument to the power of song,
Dorian Lynskey Official Website
- Visit WebsiteOpens in a new tab
an interesting vista to the present moment. How easy would it be to listen to classic artists in a one party state like China or North Korea ? Let alone a protest oriented artist to emerge from such an environment. Pop is notoriously fickle yet the free arts are the first thing shut down by totalitarian regimes.
The question is, without the emergence of ‘whole music scenes’ encompassing dress style, world outlook, acts who are spiritual relatives to each other, what power does the future of music hold in society in the tumult of the 2020’s and 30’s.
Music for utility, in ethos, is diametrically oposite to music for societal change.
Hence elevator music.
Elevator music is only music of societal change in terms whether you’re travelling a literal up or down in society. Among songs you want played at your wedding, funeral, gym or apparel store,which have been written by someone angered by the government ? The business of music is more and more utility.
Songs not albums.
Streams not downloads.
Pause, rewind, return to vinyl next to the yogurt aisle.
Of artists who ostensibly succeed in sales (to the extent that they are ‘album artists’) such as
Adelle (who is genuinely musical) there is none-the-less often a poe faced utility to the fare. Songs for the passionately-sorrowfuly self absorbed. Music for menstruation.
Or Bruno Mars for feel good vibes. Classy acts, albeit for utility rather than artists reflecting the times in which they live.
The medical injection mandates which Eric Clapton complained almost crippled him have exposed anti-establishment rockers as insubstantial posers.
Dave Grohl’s is no longer standing against a charge of riot police, he’s chiding his audience for refusing the experimental injections developed under the Trump presidency’s ‘Warp Speed’ program.
Pretender ?
Rage Against The Machine gained the moniker of Rage ‘On Behalf of’ the Machine’ supporting government mass injection programs.
With the Coup de Grace’ awarded to The Kaiser Chiefs. In a warped [speed] variation of James Brown inciting his audience to repeat ‘black and proud’. The Kaiser Chiefs incited various parts of their audience, to respond which of the corporate vaccines they had received.
Pfizer….yay!!
Johnson & Johnson…… yeah!!
Moderna……wooo!!
(throw ya hands in the air… now inject them like ya jus don’t care)
Click Article
- Big Pharma Sellout Bands Opens in a new tab
Presently there is less to distinguish music by decades, a sign that music is more utilitarian, less reflective of society, less artistic. This true, if the sound production is of ever higher quality. Remaining divorced from artistic depth.
Some urban cultural movements are without a specific music component such as Parkour or Skateboarding where graffiti art has a tendency to connect with Hip Hop beats and culture.
The public twigged the television format of the X-factor was timed to capture the biggest selling single of the year, every year (Xmas factor). A revolt was organised, the aforementioned ‘Rage On Behalf Of The Machine’ re-released single prevented it, by outselling it. How quickly the anti-establishment spirit can be invoked and inflammed, just under the surface ready to spring forth. Although oddly with such homogenization of audio production, the X-Factor for all its corporate-predatory-philistine-glibness may bring more in the way of humanity to the music media environment (than would otherwise exist.)
Through the ‘..then me nan died..’ human stories of contestants. A tragic realisation. Acceptable common X-Factor digestable tragedy.
Never too real ….
‘Well i strated singing when i caught my uncle raping my little sister, I just thought life’s too short not to shoot for your dreams….so it was either do something socially drastic or stab him in the face….’
Lessening dimensions, b-sides, lessening street dance, M.I.A. b-boys.
Vibrant street art, parkour, skaters, memes, hackers, online trolls, the greatest satirical artist in history, Banksey. The potential for breakout acts and anti draconian lockdown opportunism, exists with the potential of mount Vesuvius. Through mixtapes, bootlegs, open mics, organic viral reach and plain live performance coming like a shotgun out of lockdowns. Tick Toks, Hip Hop, Viral dancing cops. The Revolution will not be homogenised.
Untill Elon teams up with Zuckerberg to nuerolink us into the Metaverse where we will be subjected to the favorite music of the tech overlords ( Elon Musk = America fuck yeah – team America / Mark Zuckerberg = Pokerface – Lady Ga Ga)
We get locked down, but we get up again, never gonna keep us down….
