They don’t blame it on Marilyn (or the heroin)
Been meaning to write this post, relating to the Virginia Tech shootings, for a little while now. It’s not as off topic as it might seem. I guess it’s always natural to eventually look at the way people attempt to rationalise or explain tragedies like this, and in this case what strikes me most is the utter absence of any musical scapegoat.
Is this just because the killer didn’t explicitly paint himself as a fan of an iconic pop figure like Marilyn Manson? Or is it because there simply isn’t any iconic figure out there right now? Nobody who is even effectual enough to blame? Marilyn barely makes the news for anything now, Eminem is long forgotten, who else is there?
Instead of blaming popstars, I’ve read people wondering about whether the killer’s knowledge that his video would be watched by millions made his awful actions more enticing. Whether it did or not is a different discussion, personally I think “reasons” like this may be a bit of a red herring if someone is in a violent frame of mind. But what is interesting is how after Virginia Tech people have almost wondered if technology is to blame? Or at least, if DIY media has romanticised gruesome video notes like this too much?
I think this watershed of sorts throws light on a wider phenomenon: that artforms like music are no longer the force for young peoples identity and the connecting power that they once were. The internet has replaced big musical revolutions like dance or punk or whatever as something that grabs the imagination of youth. It enables young people to communicate with each other rapidly, and connects them with their peers in other countries far more directly than music ever can.
This isn’t to say music is dead or over, just that most of the great innovative revolutions that affect youth culture are now likely to be technological ones, eg Myspace, not musical ones. This is why I’ve found writing about technology so interesting in the last year. The stuff that is going on with the internet and with social networking really is the cutting edge, it’s “newer” than anything with the arts could ever hope to be. Maybe it’s always been this way, but the uses for all this rapidly expanding communications technology now seem more populist and accessible than ever.
And I really do think that the above could be a major reason why sales are declining (along with all the thieving!). What musical “movement” has emerged in the last 15 or so years? What new genres are there for young people to “get into”? Blogs or Myspace or, hell, just talking crap on messageboards are probably deeper subcultures than anything music has had to offer in recent years. Techno retains some mystique for me personally, but it is almost 20 years old now too.I can’t think of any new musical trends in the last decade that weren’t just tweaked versions of older genres.
Of course, the problem with making this point is that everyone assumes you’re saying “today’s music is of a poor standard” or some equally facile “we’re all going to hell in a handcart” fogeyish crap.
What I’d actually like to see in future rather than doomsaying, is people (music writers) genuinely looking at the world we’re in now, one where discourse about records is almost bigger than the records themselves. Technology is too often ignored in music discourse in favour of fabricating creationist style myths about artists inventing genres etc.
Now, more than ever, the things that are really going to change our lives (even the leisure time aspect) are communications technologies, and thinking about how they might affect music is far more interesting than looking back at a bygone era and blindly wondering why today’s musical universe is not exactly the same.
But you know, people love to think we’re on the cusp of some last days of Rome style decline. Perhaps it makes their lives feel more significant to imagine they’re living in some vital, crucial stage of humanity’s evolution, rather than just specks of dust, ready to be blown away at the will of the wind.
Beat Blog wrote:
Personally, I’ve always found it abhorrent that music is used to enforce people’s views, whether “sticking it to the man”, or making some other definitive statement.
Rap music in particular is built on a culture of violence and hate, where artists tell the story of how hard their upbringing was and all the trials they’ve had to go through. This has never sat well with me as I believe music should be pure enjoyment that transcends cultural boundaries and doesn’t exist just to force an opinion or view on someone else.
Then there’s rock or punk music, which at times seems to be all about behaving badly, rather than just reveling in the music, which again, seems a little off to me.
On the other hand, a song like Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane” is a wonderful example of a story told with the aid of song.
Posted 29 Apr 2007 at 11:22 pm ¶
bluepastures wrote:
Quote: “But you know, people love to think we’re on the cusp of some last days of Rome style decline. Perhaps it makes their lives feel more significant to imagine they’re living in some vital, crucial stage of humanity’s evolution, rather than just specks of dust, ready to be blown away at the will of the wind.”
Great post. Not quite sure what to make of this last paragraph. I do, actually, feel that we are closing in on the end of the American era. And I think that this is wholly in keeping with your notion of us as “specks of dust.” While I know that many (all?) previous eras have wondered this also, what’s left for pop music? We’ve gone fast, slow, loud, quiet, literary, dumb, good and bad. Is anything but synthesis of previous styles left? I’d be tired of it, too, if I felt like my choices were Fall Out Boy or Peaches. Beat Blog’s rather obviously agenda-driven post aside (leave it at “Music was only good in the 60’s” and be done, man.) there has been some pretty amazing exploration over the past 50-60 years. Perhaps, like abstract expressionism, it’s just an art form that is fundamentally, innately, limited. Drum and Bass couldn’t find a way out, and I wonder if it’s not an analogue for pop music as whole. One last thought- a world where “discourse about records is bigger than records themselves” is in grave danger of being indistinguishable from a kind of post-structuralist publicist’s wet dream. Not that I wouldn’t love thoughtful commentary of the type you and others provide…
Regards,
Jeff
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 4:59 am ¶
moih wrote:
I believe that the notion expressed in your post is valid if all you are talking about is pop music and its faux-indie counterpart.
Dig a little deeper and you will find “unconventional” music.
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 6:49 am ¶
moih wrote:
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 6:50 am ¶
Ronan wrote:
heh blatant self promo
i’ve heard the name kixly before somewhere, any ideas where I might have heard of them (you are involved right?)
My point is not so much that there’s a lack of unconventional music, more that there’s a lack of the traditional iconic mass movements. hiphop, rock, dance, all kinda flat in this sense at the moment. most of the good stuff is burbling away under the surface.
There is plenty of unconventional music out there, for sure, nor are we bound to listen to new stuff alone in the quest for it.
It’s not like I personally miss the lack of big controversial stars, just exploring what it might mean.
And Jeff said, amongst some kind words, thanks! “One last thought- a world where “discourse about records is bigger than records themselves†is in grave danger of being indistinguishable from a kind of post-structuralist publicist’s wet dream”
Yep it is a little intimidating maybe, that idea. It does seem to be what we’re moving towards now though (if we’re not there already).
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 8:57 am ¶
Jamie R wrote:
one of the most aggravating things that I’ve witnessed in recent years occurred a few days after the shooting when I walked into my local Spar and looked down at the headline on the rag known as the Daily Mail:
“Virginia Tech shooting inspired by depraved Korean movie”.
It then went on to describe how the movie Oldboy (one of my favourite movies of all time and one of the cleverest of recent times) was somehow responsible for all this just because Cho Seung-Hui loved it and held the protagonist in very high regard, which can be seen in the photos he took mimicking him. What a load of bullshit. Oldboy is one big allusion to Sophocles’ play ‘Oedipus the King’ (Oedipus Rex) which was written about 2500 years ago and is equally violent, so why aren’t we seeing any news headlines blaming the shooting on the aforementioned Greek tragedian?
There is no big mystery to this situation - i) the guy wasn’t well in the head and should have gotten help sooner and ii), probably the most obvious yet also the most ridiculous, he bought his two guns legally. There’s only so much the rest of the world can do but if the American people just want to sit there and keep guns legal then let them all shoot each other to pieces and see if the rest of us care.
ps sorry for straying from the topic somewhat..
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 12:29 pm ¶
moih wrote:
“heh blatant self promo
i’ve heard the name kixly before somewhere, any ideas where I might have heard of them (you are involved right?)”
Haha! You caught me right in the act. Nah, in all seriousness, I didn’t mean to come off sounding as a “know-it-all”. I don’t know where you might’ve heard it, I’ve gotten some promo by YACHT in a radio podcast thing. Maybe there?
“It’s not like I personally miss the lack of big controversial stars, just exploring what it might mean.”
Well yeah, I see where you’re coming from. The decentralization of media and, therefore, music. I think this progression also brings it’s own brand of iconic stars, only that in a more local scale, almost community based.
There have been crossovers, like the whole “”new-rave” whatever” scene that both the fashionable indie hipsters crave and the clubbers look for. Talking about little iconic superstars like Justice.
Mr. Minimal Villalobos, for example, another contemporary iconic figure.
But this has been around since the beginning of the music biz, our “pop culture” is coming to an end and a “local pop culture” is replacing it, in my opinion.
“There is no big mystery to this situation - i) the guy wasn’t well in the head and should have gotten help sooner and ii), probably the most obvious yet also the most ridiculous, he bought his two guns legally.”
I blame society, haha.
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 3:33 pm ¶
matt wrote:
I sometimes wonder how much we over-emphasize the big cultural movements/ubiquitous stars. I mean 50 Cent is still pretty huge. His last two albums both sold over 7 million copies and even as album sales have plummeted, I suspect he’ll be doing okay. And I do think the likes of Fall Out Boy and Nickelback are just as huge to middle and high schoolers as band X was to each of us as youngsters.
I mean I often have these same thoughts. Where are the iconic stars? Where are the defining movements? But then I realize I’m 29, and I probably wouldn’t feel a “movement” or maybe not even recognize it if it happened. Aren’t most of these things defined in retrospect anyway and are largely created by an aging group remembering their youth? Somehow even Fall Out Boy will be remembered as influential day when the youth of today begin to age.
And regarding “I can’t think of any new musical trends in the last decade that weren’t just tweaked versions of older genres,” isn’t this the way music has always been honestly? Haven’t all “movements” just been evolutions? Even techno had its forebears.
Enough babble, hope at least some of it makes sense. Nice post Ronan.
Posted 01 May 2007 at 5:01 pm ¶
CW wrote:
It’s alright, R. Kelly has recorded a song (Rise Up) about the Virginia Tech shootings and it will soon be available for download.
He is helping to heal the hurt; the antithesis of Marilyn Manson and Eminem.
After all, the more campus shootings there are in America, the less under-age girls there will be for R. Kelly to potentially urinate on.
Posted 03 May 2007 at 10:02 am ¶
Giles wrote:
ricardo villalobos, baile funk, new rave, timbaland and his merry pranksters, emo
Posted 04 May 2007 at 3:10 pm ¶
Ronan wrote:
nobody’s gonna be blaming any of those for destroying our youth.
Posted 04 May 2007 at 3:12 pm ¶
Jamie R wrote:
all emo does is make other people want to kill emo kids, so it in fact has the exact opposite effect
Posted 05 May 2007 at 7:07 pm ¶
Shalee (goth thug) wrote:
personally i think that Marilyn Manson is an icon. Someone to look up to. I think hes a beautiful person and i think its messed up for people to blame him for all the stuff thats happening. Marilyn his his own person and i believe thats why people blame him, because hes not like them. I love that about him and he has a right to be his own person and speak his own mind!
your my icon marilyn manson!!!!
Posted 04 Apr 2008 at 3:55 pm ¶
carol wrote:
I love you manson
Posted 12 Apr 2008 at 8:52 pm ¶