Get Offa My Cloud
Published December 22, 2004
For as long as there's been Pop music, there have been people - critics, adults, clergy, what have you - looking down on it. It's the nature of the beast. To claim that it's unique to the current pop scene is to deny history. If you go back to the Thirties and Forties, you'll find complaints about the mindless Swing the teenagers were listening to; the Swing Kids, in turn, hated the Rock & Roll of their children; the Boomers were shocked by Punk and Hip-Hop. And on and on, probably until the end of life as we know it. Or, to look at it from another angle, Pop is reactionary. Any adolescent knows that one of the most effective ways of establishing one's identity (and pissing off the 'rents in the bargain - bonus!) is to claim a style of music as far removed as possible from what adults find acceptable, respectable, and morally decent.
These days, Rock & Roll hegemony has been supplanted by Hip-Hop, and once again we've got people falling all over themselves in a rush to predict rock's imminent demise. Here's an excerpt from Jane Dark's shrill non-review of the first Norah Jones album, from the Village Voice: "Look, you can learn from history: Every single time someone plays the 'real musician' card, they're wrong. They're ideologically hobbled and behind the times. They're attacking remarkable music, and defending shit because it replicates the rockist aesthetics that trace back to Clapton Is God etc... You think you're a noncombatant, but in the aesthetic marketplace there's no such thing; if you're buying Alicia (Keys) and Norah, you're buying into the avatars of an utterly perjured and reactionary position. You're holding back the years, and it won't work. History will judge you harshly."
Gee, I thought I didn't like Jones because she's boring; turns out she's an avatar of an utterly perjured and reactionary position. Who knew?
History will judge me as it will, I suppose, but I feel obliged to point out that people have been lining up to dance on Rock's grave since the beginning. That's fifty-some years of nay-sayers, depending on how far back you want to date the origin of the species. I wouldn't be so rash as to say that Rock & Roll will never die, but it is here to stay for the foreseeable future. It may no longer rule the pop world, but so what?
- Get Offa My Cloud
- Published: December 22, 2004
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: News
- Writer: bmarkey
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Comments on this articleComments
Yeah, I see your point. On the other hand, one could argue that both rubs and beauty parts qualify as things, although I'm not really sure of the hierarchy.
This is a well written article. The key words here are believability and integrity.
Rock 'n roll wears many hats and has many faces. What you relate to, and how deeply it affects you, is determined by your very own depth. Personally I can't stand pre-fab artists -- be they rockers, or rappers,
or artists of any other stripe that are
created to strictly be commercial.
There has got to be a point of view, too -- information plus entertainment.
Rock will always live as long as it addresses its audience with thoughtful respect. It's a language of its own and you either understand it, or you don't. Believe it or not -- it's romantic, too.
Thanks, Marty.
Rock is very definitely romantic, as well as being upper-case R Romantic. Someone (Lester Bangs?) once defined music as the non-verbal expression of passion. Strip away that passion and all you're left with is marketing - and who needs more of that in their life?
You bring up a lot of interesting points, some of them complicated and difficult to get into all at once.
I think part of the complication comes from labels, because all music is music, from Napalm Death to Toby Keith, right (and therefore you're right in saying we/they should all just get along)?
Music is balkanized, but it's also ever diversifying and mixing and blending. If you look at the birth of hip hop, Run DMC for example, you see a strong rock influence (King of Rock, there it is, right there). And today you see that flipping over: rock with hip hop influence (Limp Bizkit, et al).
My only real point is that the best music, no matter the genre, will win out with all things being equal (a fickle market, evil music corporations, Robin Hood mp3 downloaders, etc. aside).
So country and hip hop and rock and pop will always exist, I'm here to declare. None of it will die short of World Calamity.
Finally, I present to you the following exhibits to refute the death of rock:
A) "There's No Home For You Here" - White Stripes
B) "No Pun Intended" - The Hives
C) "Tell Me What You See" - The Von Bondies
Glorious rock music, all. I could run down the other genres as well.
Things run in cycles, and that's normal and even good. For example, I wouldn't trade in for anything that day when I walked from high school, flipped on MTV and heard/saw Nirvana perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time. I knew that a new era had just arrived.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
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There actually isn't always a thing. Sometimes there's a rub. Other times there's a beauty part.