In my experience, those of us who are deeply affected by music can pinpoint at least one experience when we realized there are no limitations except those we create for ourselves. This can be both a liberating and frightening moment.Greil Marcus begins his book "Lipstick Traces" by describing his own experience first hearing Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols declare "I AM AN ANARCHIST!" While this statement was in essence, merely a pop song created by an anonymous delinquent, it was a moment when societal facts and sound came together and created the opportunity for anyone who gave a shit to share that voice. This moment is suspended in time, the voice of Johnny Rotten crying out with a passion to change the world. Did the world change because of Rotten? Of course not. "The Sex Pistols were a commercial proposition and a cultural conspiracy" writes Marcus, the world did not change directly, but each moment in time that disrupts a person's everyday complacent routine is what shapes our culture. Marcus' book traces our culture backwards to find some of these 'forgotten' and 'unappreciated' events in our era that culminate into our shared experiences.
I've only just started to read the book but it is as much about decoding everyday life as it is about music.
4 comments:
As much as I enjoyed the phrase, "each moment in time that disrupts a person's everyday complacent routine is what shapes our culture", I must say that I also believe that it is those everyday things that unify the culture. This phrase would be a great definition for subcultures though because these impacts usually shape certain people to a point where they form their own separate set of ideas.
How about that?
it's odd that subversion in America is always a cultural phenomenon rather than a political one. And we champion individuals such as GG Allin or Sid Vicious for being so maverick and intense when, in comparison to the likes of Garcia Lorca or Isaac Babel (who were KILLED for what they wrote), such artists seem to pale in comparison.
In response to Kashif's comment, is it your sense that cultural "subversion" isn't really that subversive?
I agree that we tend to overvalue our pop "mavericks," but I wonder if I'm right in detecting an accusation of superficiality in your comment.
Intriguing response, in any case!
In response this country is seperated by the pop icon and the political icon. I think the group Rage Against the Machine broke down the barriers that linked politics and music to inspire its listeners to fight for whats right and wrong in the world.
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