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On conformity and musical influence
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On conformity and musical influence

Decagonian
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Posted 11/05/09 - 01:28 PM: Subject: On conformity and musical influence	#1
Music is one of society's greatest influences, but unfortunately, much of it in our current generation seems to have lost it's lyrical appeal/value. On the same token, a new, hipster-related genre is being developed; a minimalistic form of music that employs what can only be termed "glorified poetry," in that often the vocalists will have little singing appeal with brilliant words to compensate. The concept of music is so vast and welcoming, however, that the conscious, efficient thought really only equates this vague idea called "music" by the one track mind known as social assimilation/conformity. So in this new genre of music, this enigmatic, vocal abstraction, which primarily targets egodystonic teens, how will society progressively be affected? View the 80's, hypothetically, in its overbearing element of angst, and perhaps the 20's, in it's vibrant jazz age. Perhaps even the 90's, a progressive rock generation in which varying forms of music were eventually comprised. Thoughts?
"It seems I've died." "Not to worry, we've buttons for that these days." "Ohoho, how convenient." -Kieran

ciceronianus
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Posted 11/06/09 - 09:27 AM:	#2
I'm not certain what you mean, being middle-aged, but it sounds rather like rehashed Beat generation stuff to me. In music, as in other things, we go round and round. I suspect that society will be no more or less impacted than it has been in the past, by music. We wear berets for a time, or baggy, silly pants, let our hair grow, or shave it, etc.
"Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts."--C.S. Peirce "There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it."--Marcus Tullius Cicero "Philosophy recovers itself when it ceases to be a device for dealing with the problems of philosophers and becomes a method, cultivated by philosophers, for dealing with the problems of men."--John Dewey

baldmountain
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Posted 11/06/09 - 07:55 PM:	#3
Decagonian wrote: Music is one of society's greatest influences, but unfortunately, much of it in our current generation seems to have lost it's lyrical appeal/value. Yeah, I say the same thing to my daughter. I remember my parents saying the same thing to me. But there is an interesting research project here. Several actually. As we get older our taste in music matures. We need something a bit deeper than pop music. The first research project is a study of how pop music evolves along with the people exposed to it. In most cases it fits into a mold shaped by the current populace willing to be molded by the industry generating the music. (Teens and malleable twenties.) The music industry expends a lot of money and effort into following what people will accept and pay for as pop music. It might be interesting to study the industry and it's race to follow the money. A second project is to study older listeners to see why they abandon the pop industry. It may be because they stop following the herd mentality of the pop industry. The pop industry depends on the herd mentality and the desire to belong. (You are NOT cool if you aren't part of the herd and follow pop culture....) But us old fogies are willing to ignore the pop culture and listen to what interacts with our perceptions to make us happy.

Sashianova
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Posted 11/06/09 - 08:45 PM:	#4
Music is in an unprecedented phase in that people get their music from a variety of never-before-scene sources. Pop radio and MTV are no longer the melting pot of pop music from across the globe. Instead pop radio is pushing a particular variety of dance club music. At the same time, people are able to homogenize their tastes with the advent of satellite radio, Pandora, and portable mp3 players. They are able to completely remove commercials and undesirable tracks/genres from their listening, and if they try will never be exposed to any sound other than their chosen favorite. Conversely, the file sharing networks have laid open a vast well of previously unavailable and out of print music for free downloading, albeit illegal, but the opportunity to hear more than ever before is very real. There's always good music being created, at any point in time, it's just a matter of knowing where to look and taking the time to listen for it. Pop culture is rarely a good indicator for it.

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