What the devil is postmodernism (or pomo?)* And why should you care, anyway? Isn't it one of those pretentious terms, like existentialism, that people bandy about a lot but don't really understand? If someone put a gun to your head and said define pomo right now, or you'll be shot in 10 seconds, wouldn't you be, like, dead?
You may not be able to define pomo, but it defines you. And me. And the rest of Western culture and civilization.
Examples? OK, here's a few.
You know when you see all these gorgeous girls who actually spend big bucks on those ugly fifties-style retro wing-tip glasses - the kind that were once considered so hideous that people would rather walk into walls than wear them in public? Back then, that's the only style they had. Now, you can choose any style you like. Some choose the ugly retro look. That's pomo.
You know when you turn on Nick at Nite/TV Land and they have reruns of all the shows you loved as a kid (or maybe ones from before you were born, even?) Wow, look at Father Knows Best. How corny can you get? And who knew then that Robert Young, the quintessential TV family man, was really a stone cold alkie? That's pomo.
You know when a car commercial takes an old rock song that you thought was so groundbreaking and original when you were passing around the bong back in the day, and manages in 30 seconds to morph a classic icon of boho rebellion into a feeding frenzy for capitalistic, bourgeois greed? That's pomo.
Remember Dylan's Mr. Tamborine Man? Very simple arrangements; humble, unadorned. Then the Byrds did their version of the same song, but it sounded totally different. All those cool harmonies; swirly, psychedelic guitar chords; delightfully varied beats and counterpoints. Wow! Totally derivative, but in a completely original way! And then for good measure, old William Shatner, Captian Kirk from Star Trek (and erstwhile Priceline.com whore, along with Spock/Leonard Nimoy), got a piece of the action when he came out with a version of T-Man where he just, like, recited the song in the same halting yet dramatically authoritative way he addressed the Klingons or seduced one of those hot extraterrestrial green chicks. That's pomo.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - GoHah
Wonderful, and very funny. Thanks.
2 - Elvira Black
Hey GoHah:
Thanks very much! Glad you liked it...
3 - Lyz
Pretty sure, that stuff isn't "pomo." And I'm pretty sure its on the out and out...but funny well written piece.
4 - Elvira Black
Hi Lyz:
Yes, I don't think I'd bet on anything too valuable that my definition of pomo is definitive--lol. But thanks for your nice comment!
5 - Scott Butki
Excellent piece. I've always wondered what po mo is and now i have a better idea.
I'm hoping you can next explain the emo music trend to me.
6 - Elvira Black
Scott:
OMG! You have done me a huge solid, since I had NO idea about Emo--never heard of it. But especially since the term is so loosely defined compared with its original meaning, I now realize, thanks to you, that I've been into emo all along without even knowing it--and even before anyone else knew about it. In fact, I think I was an emo fan before most of the emo fans were even born. (I always love to be way ahead of a trend--lol).
According to Wikipedia, "The term emo was derived from the fact that, on occasion, members of a band would become spontaneously and literally emotional during performances."
In other words, James Brown is the grandfather of emo. Eureka!
Thanks, Scott! I may just delve into the emo thing a bit more, as you suggested.
7 - Don Swift
The logical result of capitalism, and increased consumer choice. The little man is king, God gets demoted, and Authority is shared out equally.
The 'Canon' has been fired. Classical music is an afterthought sqeezed into that tiny section between Pop-Rock and Heavy Metal. Grisham is as good, if not better than Goethe, and Forest Gump's philosophy is the only one worth a hoot.
Aids, athesim, anitpathy and angst.
Welcome to the wondeful world of pomo, where, in the immortal words of Cole Porter: Anything Goes.
Elvira, I think you got it spot on.
8 - Elvira Black
Don, don't get alarmed, but I think we've achieved a
Vulcan mind meld here!
To my mind, the best pomo is by nature both pithy and
profound. And by George, you've hit the pomo nail on
the head!
Thanks for the cool comment.
9 - Scott Butki
Hey, you're welcome.
Your comment reminds me of a review I read the other day about a band. It referred to them as "emo but good" or something like that.
I first heard the term around the time I saw Death Cab For Cuties play at South by Southwest in Austin about two years ago.I went because I just thought it was the best name for a band I'dheard in years... I had no idea they'd go on to be like a huge emo band.
10 - Don Swift
Elvira, me alarmed? I think not. I'm sitting here sipping my n'th G & T enjoying what can only be described as a Nirvanic trance. It has to be due to the Vulcan mind meld. Getting into your head is a cerebral holiday for me.
I once read 'Teach Yourself Post-Modernism'. Some of it must have stuck. I always knew it would come in handy.
11 - Elvira Black
Scott:
Emo BUT good? I didn't think "good emo" could be an oxymoron! I think that reviewer was being a scrooge.
12 - Elvira Black
Don:
Now that's the spirit! I like my pomo attitude adjustment shaken, not stirred--or is it the other way around? In any case, I raise my virtual glass to you. (And good to know that pomo book is a winner too--I was completely winging it myself).
Cheers!
13 - Scott Butki
Oh a lot of emo is total crap so it does make some sense. I need to backtrack to remember where I saw that comment.
14 - Elvira Black
All right, Scott. You're the one who went on and on about emo in the first place (lol) and got me all gung ho about it. Now you're saying:
Oh a lot of emo is total crap??
Dude, don't rain on my parade, kay? This is my new cause celebe!
Pomo is dead! Long live emo!
15 - Scott Butki
Oh I must have been drunk when I wrote that.
Emo rules!
Except when it doesn't.
16 - Scott Butki
I wrote a brilliant comment last nite but for some reason it's not showing.
Probably the computer i used was a fan of emo and didn't like my remark.
Essentially I provided good news and bad news.
The bad news is that Wikipedia has good articles summarizing emo both as a music label term and as a slang term (a significant difference as one
involves bands more punk and harder edged than the other)
but the good news is there's a new term mentioned in there which i propose for your next music term:
Screamo!
Doesnt it sound like something you'd buy at toys-r-us?
17 - Elvira Black
Scott:
There's something rotten in Denmark with the comments--I posted one on My Blogging Doppelganger and it's disappeared too. Dropped comments fill me with unspeakable agony.
I can't imagine anyone wouldn't love emo--even your computer.
Yes, I think, as with so much in today's entertainment industry, the older, "purer" form of the term "emo" has been diluted by the demands of the ever-voracious and tiresomely crass pop marketplace. It's such a catchy little word that now everyone wants to be emo.
However, I think you are right. Emo has been bastardized just about enough, and I think together, we can put a stop to this travesty by defining more refined sub-terminologies.
Since I'm an old poofter, my pop ref's will mostly fall into the "plus ce change..." category. So I'll just note here that as far as screamo, I have to say that James Brown is the Godfather of screamo--or at least soul-screamo--and Janis Joplin is the godmother of Texas blues screamo.
That seems like the makings of a good first chapter for our upcoming treatise on the new lexicon of emo. And your idea about cross-marketing sounds like a winner to me.
I'm on the horn right now with the major toy manufacturers about the James Brown and Janis Joplin screamo action figures. Pull the string and they scream a few bars.
Scott--I think we're going to the toppermost of the poppermost with this baby. Sky's the limit.
If this comment gets deleted, I'm gonna cry like a little girlie-girl.
18 - Elvira Black
Not to self: come up with famous examples of "crymo."
19 - Scott Butki
Famous crymos?
It's my blogmo and I'll crymo if I want to?
Girls just want to crymo?
I've known crymos and you, sir, are no crymo?
We have nothing to fear but crymos?
20 - Scott Butki
Oh and this is a good fun attempt to define emo
Or not.
21 - Elvira Black
Scott:
ROFL!
Yes, in my preliminary research, I also saw the website that was mentioned in that much earlier post. I'll have to go back and peruse further. Love that pic on the homepage.
Here's a question for the ages:
Would you consider Eno emo?
(That's Brian Eno of Roxy Music, Music for Airports, etc etc etc, folks. Lord, I feel so old.)
22 - Christopher Rose
Hi Elvira,
sorry for being late to your Pomo Party, busy days y'know. Eno emo? Wow, maybe so in retrospect, though not with Music for Airports surely?
Baby's On Fire, now that's a different story. There's also an elpee called June 1st 1974 with Eno, John Cale, Nico and Kevin Ayers plus some others which has a killer live version of one of my alltime faves on one of the best live recordings I've heard, which also includes John Cale singing "Heartbreak Hotel".
*sings tunelessly* Baby's on fi-re, gonna put her in the water
23 - Elvira Black
Christopher:
I'm sure I've heard that album many a time, but probably not for decades. But I still hear Eno's voice snarling in my head on BOF live--it may indeed be his only completely pure, shining emo moment, n'est pas?
Talk about reverse-pomo: A group called Bang on a Can did an acoustic version of Music for Airports which sounded more original than the original.
Do you like Phil Manzanera 'n' Eno? Fripp 'n' Eno? Bryne 'n' Eno? Eno makes a good mixer. Guess that's why he's an uber-producer too, if memory serves.
24 - Dyrkness
Emo?OH!NO! Ono is Emo.That's Pomo!
Seriously though,Loved the article.I always (well not ALWAYS) wondered(well not WONDERED actually more like wished to know(well not wished,more like desired(not desired really.more like a faint want or need)WHAT Post Modern was.
Finally realized why I like the movie "SLACKER" and all kinds of World Music.It has the form without content vibe of Pollock (the music's great but the words are (for me) unintelligible.
A question: Now that the word "Queer" has been outed on Cable TV, is "HOMO" now pomo?or still a no-no?
25 - Elvira Black
Dyrkness:
I hear what you're saying. I think a lot of people still think we're living in the "modern" world, when all around them is pomo but they can't quite put their finger on it all. Used to be called retro or kitchy, but I like pomo myself--so catchy, just like emo!
Yoko is emo, but I don't know if her unheralded work artistically and musically was pomo. More avant garde--which is a term you don't hear much today. Why? Because everything's pomo, and avant garde just doesn't apply, IMHO. However, I've heard subsequent vocalists who sound Yoko-esque, so I guess they're doing a pomo thing on Ono.
An (ex) friend of mine, after reading this post on my blog months ago, came up with a term which might apply to your question here:
Pomosexual!