Music History Lessons
One of my Dynaxioms, written in the early aughts:
0169. Even if a song tries to tell a story, the surface elements will always take precedence over the subject matter. This is why pop music has never really worked as a means of social change: it's too esoteric to have a pervasive effect, and any lasting effect dies away with the music and as the fans age.
In 2017, early post-civil rights music has a new resonance and relevance. Music history is uninterrupted. Unlike political cycles, musical cycles last decades, and sometimes they fall into interesting juxtapositions, with a protest march proceeding in front of Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix on the marquee. In another thirty years this kind of juxtaposition may repeat, as it is pervasive.
(Idea: Book called "Changes of Heart", short essays about how people have changed their minds on what they thought was etched in stone.)
0169. Even if a song tries to tell a story, the surface elements will always take precedence over the subject matter. This is why pop music has never really worked as a means of social change: it's too esoteric to have a pervasive effect, and any lasting effect dies away with the music and as the fans age.
In 2017, early post-civil rights music has a new resonance and relevance. Music history is uninterrupted. Unlike political cycles, musical cycles last decades, and sometimes they fall into interesting juxtapositions, with a protest march proceeding in front of Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix on the marquee. In another thirty years this kind of juxtaposition may repeat, as it is pervasive.
(Idea: Book called "Changes of Heart", short essays about how people have changed their minds on what they thought was etched in stone.)
