There was a realization about music that I recall having when I was younger.
See, when I was in my teens and twenties I listened to a lot of punk and metal from the 80s and 90s. And I remember finding it odd that most music from these genres still usually followed the rules of popular commercial music design.
I get it. Musical structure. Chord progression. Hundreds of years of music theory, blah, blah blah, but… think about it from the other perspective: these sounds and songs were supposed to be part of a finger-wagging, pearl-clutching anti-social revolution and a counter-culture apparently designed for angsty teens and rebellious youth to rage against the establishment.
But simultaneously they were entrenched deeply within that same establishment by the basic rule-following and formula-driven style of the music itself.
There are certainly examples that don’t fit this observation, but from my viewpoint so much of it seemed to follow set standards: It was composed of phrases and verses, with lyrics, mixed into tracks of four to six minutes long that could be played on the radio.
All of it—in the parlance of capitalism—written, recorded and packaged to be commercially viable.
And, sure, yeah, of course, no kidding, I get capitalism and working with the system and all that, too… but…
…but the real rebellion it seems was making something that was not for sale, and breaking the rules and standards that guide our creativity towards the end goal of becoming just another product that needs to move in lockstep with the rules, too.
Terms FROm this POSt
- capitalism
- I live in a time and place where it is commonly understood that people need to trade their time and skill for money. This is an income which allows the acquisition of currency that can be exchanged for goods and services from others. We assume everyone knows this and thinks about it because it is the system we were born into and we know no other. But it isn’t the only system and being inside of it necessitates certain choices about how creative people interact with the world that are worth thinking about, calling out, and discussing from time to time.
