Or rather, what do I think it says about us. And also, admittedly, it's a limited scope of music, and kind of some general observations, but anyways, this was occupying my mind last night, so it's going up here.
There exists a general opinion, which I subscribe to, that you can tell a great deal about a culture by its musical trends. Music touches us because of the message it sends, or how it makes us feel. We identify with music that matches our mood. I mean, who listens to Little Richard's "You Make Me Wanna Shout" when they just got laid off? Or who listens to Barber's Adagio for Strings when their team won the big game? The power of music is its ability to amplify our emotions.
To begin this, post, I first need to clarify that I understand there are exceptions. This is a lot of broad generalization, and is in no means an attempt to be extremely thorough or exhaustive. It's just an interesting thought process I had, and wanted to share.
So to begin this analysis, let me point out what kind of music was a huge hit during the depression. Blues. Granted, it began to grow in popularity before that, but it really resounded with people during the Great Depression. The cultural mind was preoccupied with sorrow and melancholy, and our music reflected that.
Now to move that to modern times. Our obsession with gadgets, gizmos, and all manner of electronic devices has made electronic music take off in popularity. Where once people were nerds, dorks, or rejects for listening to electronic music, now it is all the rage. I remember predicting as much in middle school; that electronic music would gain popularity and become mainstream. I was still made fun of (but oh well, I WAS SO TOTALLY RIGHT!).
So I got to thinking, since the real "arrival" of electronic music on the scene, what are a couple that were very popular (with the audience that listens to electronic music) and what are the differences between them that might reflect a shift in our cultural psyche? So I decided to consider the sub-genres "hardstyle" and "dubstep".
Hardstyle was very popular a couple of years ago, and basically came about as a very distorted and faster version of house, which is the very simplistic "bum-tis-bum-tis-bum-tis" sound often associated with techno. Hardstyle is categorized by being high-energy and, well, that's pretty much the best descriptors. Here are some good examples:
Freak by ShowTek
Hahaha by SMF
Imitate by Dragan
There are plenty more, but a lot of them have a fair bit of foul language and themes like parties, drugs, and sex. A song that pretty well sums up the general attitude of hardstyle can be found here, but I warn you, it's a pretty worldly monologue (aka, lots of f-bombs). But it amply sums up the vibe of the time period. Life is about partying. Enjoy life. Do what you want. Live for the weekends. Just blast through life doing things you love.
Stylistically, hardstyle is reminiscent of house or DnB (Drum 'n' Bass) music. It is a steady beat that slowly develops and matures. Hardstyle songs are all about two elements. First is the Build; the gradual addition of increasingly complicated and complex musical structures that grow off of each other. Second is the Climax; the pinnacle of the song, usually following a cross-level fade (everything gets quiet) or a monologue section or a key soundbite from a popular film (which often gives the song it's name. This peak of the song is where the melody is usually fully developed and all the elements of the song work together to produce a very energetic and exhilarating listening experience. If you were to diagram a hardstyle song, it would look like a pyramid: everything builds to the climax, and slowly resolves after that.
This arrangement contributes to the theme of the music. Life builds to a furious fever-pitch. You hit the top of the world and life is just amazing. You reach a high point where nothing else matters but the moment, and you get caught up in the marvelous experience of just living life. Hardstyle evokes a sort of ecstatic frenzy and feeling of being "high on life".
During the time it was most popular, that was the general attitude. Sure, life stinks sometimes, but there are still peaks. No matter how slow or methodical life seems, there is always points where you just hit cloud nine, and you need to live for those moments. People did crazy things just because they could. They pushed themselves to the limit, just for the thrill of the moment. It was a time where all that mattered was enjoying the high points of life, and surviving the times in between those high points.
Now this is in contrast to Dubstep, which is still developing in its popularity, but seems to be hitting it big, so to speak. Dubstep, in the words of my brother, sounds a bit like "if you crossed all of the robot-sounds from Transformers and made music out of it." And he's not far off. Dubstep is very loud, distorted, frantic, and chaotic. It has repetitive elements, but also confusing and non-linear elements as well. Here are some good examples of some dubstep:
Tutorial by Dubba Jonny (warning: some language)
Cobwebs by Skeptics
Bangarang by Skrillex
Dubstep is a genre in which the normal elements of music (rhythm, melody, progression, etc.) are twisted and chopped up like an iPhone in a blender. The music often starts normal enough, a simple rhythm is developed slowly, often with accompanying vocals or a simple melody. But then all heck breaks loose and sound is coming from every direction. Not just sound, though. It's loud, crazy, hectic, and chaotic. You are quite literally plunged into a vortex of noise. This is called the Drop, and is dubstep's pinnacle moment in a song. It's the point where the floor drops out on the song and the DJ hits yo with literally everything he has.
The music reflects a mindset of fear, almost. We are a people who worry. Everything about life right now is insane. People are killing each other in every continent. There are revolutions, wars, terrorists, cruddy economies, bailouts, mass-hackings, and all manner of other things. To many right now, life just doesn't make sense. We're confused and bewildered by the veritable hurricane of problems the world has right now, and that is reflected in the music of choice that's quickly becoming popular.
All of that to say this. Our culture seems to be shifting away from "party it up" and "woohoo! Life is awesome!" to "What the heck is going on?!" As a culture we have a growing angst about things to come. The road ahead is one that we do not understand, and what is the more unsettling to us, unseen. We have no idea what lies ahead for us, and that scares the living daylights out of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment