I’ll start with the war.
World War II that is. The survival of freedom was a stake. We won. Thank God. We were glad to be alive.
The 50’s were the celebration of that gladness. No need for any cultural movements really. School, houses, prosperity, football games, Grease, sock hops.
There was Elvis of course. He was a precursor of things to come, but still, very much a ‘good time’. With hips to be banned.
Then there was JFK. Young. Handsome. Hot wife. Young people looked to him-looked up to him. Idolized him. Then he was shot. Dead. And with his death there also died much of what young people were looking to. But then…
There came the Beatles. As a young, oblivious punk I used to ask, “What on God’s green Earth was the big deal about the Beatles?”, as I ignorantly banged my head to ‘real’ music like Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Who, Aerosmith and Queen. I had no clue they were all affected by the Beatles in some way. But they started it-
The mass explosion of Youth Culture.
And then came Vietnam. The death. The lies. The friend getting called to serve and coming home in a box. And then the other friend. And then you. What?! Why?! Because the government is EVIL. It lies. It’s fake. So we retreat into our own world-our own subculture and look to the ‘true’ leaders to show us the way. With some damn good music, by the way. Take us Bob. Take us John, Paul, Ringo and George. YOU carry the torch of truth and light. How can we not follow when the music resonates with our souls, confirming truth? Not to mention with the help of chemicals…
Then the suspicions were CONFIRMED. Dead rock solid confirmed. “I am not a crook”, Nixon said. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. It is US against THEM. Us against the lying, cheating ‘MAN’. Serve? Never.
Then the singular cultural movement became more of a collection of movements that still carried an ability to provide identity. Mods vs. rockers. Punks vs. rockers. New Wavers vs. Heavy Metalheads. It was rooted in music but the music possessed an ability to create a ‘tribe’. Did the Zep lovers hang with the Thompson Twins lovers? HELL no. It was segregated. It was factious. It was contentious. Why?
Because the development and distribution of music was slow enough to create a culture that went with it. Yes, much of it was controlled by what became the new ‘man’- the record companies, but it was not hard to sift through the crap to find the good stuff. Why?
Because there was time to sift.
It all became stale yes –big hair, tight pants, bad music. But hope still sprang eternal- Nirvana was not just a place the dead ascend, it was truth once again, something to believe in –‘angst’ in an authentic verse, chorus, verse. Hope was still alive, and not in the form of a politician. Hope still rocked.
Then the Internet came, and everything changed.
The game changed entirely. Music became accessible with a click. For free, if you were smart. Everyone-ANYONE could become famous –with a crazy enough video on youtube. There were countless bands to choose from. Everywhere.
An overload of selection.
Everyone has access, everyone has the ability to expose and be exposed. Many, many, pluses and positives for sure- the crumbling of the fat and bloated recording empire is one of them. But what came with the 16 yr old’s ipod playlist which includes Zeppelin, the Cure, the xfaxman (a local Sacramento group), dizzy Gillespie, and Neil diamond was music’s inability to form a movement which creates an identity for large groups of people. It’s too fast, from too many directions, with too many options to build any lasting momentum. Information overload as they say. The momentum is on a micro scale now. The sales may be big (Katy Perry) but there is no connection to a greater whole. No ‘movement’. It is all individualized down to the smallest detail. It is all one furious mash up, a mix tape on steroids. For many, it’s great, but for many it leaves a void- a need, a longing to look for and become part of a single unified movement. A movement that has the conviction of Dylan. Momentum that whips the crowd into a frenzy like the Beatles did at Shea. A movement that possesses determination to bring about lasting change and real hope.
So Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you-
OBAMA
Price of admission? You be the judge.