Once More, With Feeling
There was a time in the recent past when music was something special. Recordings didn’t exist, so the only time one would hear music was when they were out in public, making it themselves, or in the home of friends who were making it. Of course, there are parts of the world where this remains predominantly the case, but in this country and my native land, the place of music in society has become something dramatically different.
Music is everywhere now. Its time-distorting properties are of great value to all manner of organisation who may be dealing with an unusually high volume of calls right now and are sorry for the delay even though they’re not sorry at all because if they were sorry they would hire more people so that they could do the job instead of farming every last bit of possible duty out to automated systems that are reducing only the cost to the company whilst increasing the cost to everyone else in the equation and creating a drag on the economy as people have to sacrifice more of their time for less money and dimmer hopes finding that it is now not only difficult to afford the basic cost of living but that it is also nigh on impossible to talk to an actual human to sort out the HI, THIS IS KAREN, HOW CAN I HELP YOU TODAY?!
Sorry, got a bit distracted.
The power of music to manipulate emotions has made it a potent political tool, but, as is the case with all things in our current system, it has been commandeered for the sake of advertising. Mainstream radio plays a very small selection of songs over and over and over again so that you have no choice but to absorb them into your consciousness. The same songs get forced upon you in adverts, or played over the speakers in shops and restaurants. Functionally, you can’t hide from the music that has been selected for this tier.
As is the case with anything that has the potential to generate revenue, however, it has been weaponised, dissected, focus-grouped, and distilled into nothing more than disposable hits of dopamine. That’s not to say that there isn’t great music and great songwriting to be found in this mess, but that these artistic achievements are subordinated to how effectively a song can osmose. This tendency has combined with the rise of streaming services and the re-singlefication of the market to create an ecosphere wherein music is to be a thing that happens without us taking much notice, like the sun crawling across the sky.
Eager to capitalise on this, artists are creating music designed to accommodate this state of affairs. Lyrical content that’s not meant to challenge. Half-singing so as not to give the impression that anyone cares too much about anything in particular. Crystalline production that softens the music’s harder edges. Slicing into small sections that are perfect for a brief pop in the background of a television programme.
Now, as with anything, this is a gross simplification. There is music out there in all its rough-hewn glory, trying to change the world. But this is the music that defines the broadest spectrum of listening habits, and I view that as a problem, because I think that it’s important for people to allow themselves to feel things.
We live in a time where callousness and coolness prevail, and in which it is a cardinal sin to openly acknowledge feeling. Anger is fashionable. Hatred disguised as humour is positively irresistible. There are gestures made about it being okay to not be okay, but broadly speaking these are just sloganised campaigns that do little more than to create surface level acceptance of the reality that many people do, in fact, have quite a rough go of things. When someone tries to express the unshininess of their being, others scatter like ice from the spoon. Cheeky 90s reference.
This nothing music is the gas expanding to fill the nothingness of our modern lives. It’s to be consumed while consuming other things because consumers consume to consume the consuming consumption of our consumer capitalist consumption go buy something it will make you happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Music is so much more than that. Quite frankly, I’m tired of the machinery that works so hard to ensure that people only have access to the same old same old. The music that we make with our band, and the songs that I/we write are “not about that life.” The music that I am interested in listening to is also “not about that life.” But, I genuinely believe that given a chance, there is a much larger audience out there for music like this. People embrace that which is familiar, and the only reason that this music is unfamiliar is that it isn’t blared in every conceivable setting ad nauseam. It’s not what people are conditioned to like, so it’s not what people programme, because they have a very low risk tolerance. As an example — there was a story a while back about a Rihanna single, written by a team of writers. Over $1 million was spent just to get the thing to the point of release on radio. That much money could support the development of multiple new artists over the course of years. It would change their lives. $1 million to minimise risk, instead of treating life as a thing to be lived and not a bet to be hedged. (To be absolutely clear, this is in no way a criticism of Rihanna.)
The best music — the music that would connect with the core of your very being — it’s out there. It’s just not what the system is trying to bring to you. They just want you to buy stuff. Bands like ours, we just want you to feel. Try to find new heroes for your ears.
