Re: The Dark Age

[Matthias Grob <matilists@atarde.com.br>]

Kim had some free time to write at the end of the year, a quite 
interesting post. Being of a different generation and space, I try to 
complete, although a month later :-)

I left Europe in the mid 80ies because it was too dark for me and I 
really was afraid of the atomic bomb. May believed in Orvells 
prediction for '84...

But then I was cought by the new Age movement, so I was much less 
pessimistic than in the 70ies, which were not so positive either. 
Youth had lost two battles:
'68 distroyed the political perspectives for a just world
'80 distroyed the cultural perspectives for free pluralistic 
expression and left the most creative people in prison and despair.
but '84 gave new hope that in 2000 there would be a spiritual 
evolution - which really did happen to some extent.

Kraftwerk maybe was less known in US because of the lyrics but every 
German of that time remembers them by "Farn farn farn auf der 
Autobahn"
I remember they came important years later than Black Sabath and had 
a completely different public (white socks instead of worn out 
leather) and a very different kind of darkness, much more bored than 
agressive.
I hated both :-)
For me the musical value of the 70ies was "Art Rock" (Genesis, Gentle 
Giant, Yes...) and "Jazz Rock" (Mahavishnu and all its members 
bands...) and the mix of both (Bruford, BrandX...)

So yes, I am one that missed the whole Rap, Techno and such development.
I saw it, but it went the wrong way for my perception.
I do not feel obliged to know all music, even though I work for the 
music market - maybe a weakness of my products/marketing. but its 
hard to create something you dont really believe in well... and all 
business people and orakles told me that marketing was not my 
task/talent...

in the 70ies the production of an LP was so expensive that it was 
possible to own all LPs that were released of a certain style, or to 
know most of the whole Rock movement, as I did.
In the 80ies production became cheap and it did not make sense any 
more to go to record stores and listen to all they had.
In the 90ies it became easier again through internet, but the number 
of styles and mixes has become so huge and undefined that I find it 
impossible to even have an idea of all that happens.

plus, by living in Brasil, I participate in a completely different 
movement which also offers a huge variety of interesting stuff!

>It goes back to that context thing we discussed previously. The 
>music of the 80's reflected the times, as well as the life 
>experiences of the youth who were mostly creating and listening to 
>it. If you can't put yourself into that context you won't get it. 
>Growing up in the 70's and 80's didn't look like the "leave it to 
>beaver" reruns we watched on TV. For us "genXers" our formative 
>years were filled with recessions, oil crisis, 3 mile island, 
>nuclear annihilation threats, hostages, post vietnam/watergate 
>cynicism, cold war, AIDS, crack, "evil empires", iran/contra, 
>shallow yuppie greed, moral majority, S&L collapse, etc. The times 
>were pessimistic and cynical and harsh, and so was the music. We 
>didn't put flowers in our hair; we had Slayer.
>
>Also, our generation's culture was (still is) perpetually 
>overshadowed by the huge demographic glut of baby-boomer culture. 
>That plays into it somehow as well.
>
>(this was the American version/perspective anyway, in other parts of 
>the world I think it worked out differently.)
>
>I think the growing-up experiences of the baby-boomer generation 
>were really, really different from this. The 50's and 60's were 
>times of economic boom and prosperity in America, as well as a time 
>of optimism and a belief in changing the "system" for the better. 
>Times and attitudes were more positive and happy and idealistic. On 
>the other hand, the good economy and "times of plenty" of their 
>formative years I think also led to a bit of self-indulgent behavior 
>among many in that generation, a world-view of "we want it, give it 
>to us". A sort of spoiled child effect. (the "Me Generation" label 
>always struck me as fitting.) All of this I find reflected in the 
>music and culture of those times.
>
>And here is where the clash comes, which I find really interesting. 
>I think there is much more to it than "kids rebel" / "parents don't 
>get it". I think these two generations of people, on the level of 
>values and aesthetic choices, really don't understand each other at 
>all. I think most baby-boomers, when confronted in the 80's with 
>stuff like Slayer or the Cure or Depeche Mode or Public Enemy or 
>Juan Atkins' techno or whichever, just couldn't relate to it on an 
>emotional/aesthetic level. I think this resulted in a lot of 
>knee-jerk reactions; that we slackers only produced crap and 
>couldn't live up to the supposedly glorious era of Woodstock and the 
>summer of love. (it still results in that reaction, as evidenced by 
>this thread on this list.)
>
>I know from my perspective, I've never been able to relate to most 
>of the baby-boomer era's music and culture. Or what I do connect to 
>is not the same elements the baby-boomers themselves wish to 
>nostalgize endlessly in VH1 documentaries. I can listen and 
>appreciate easily enough, in a historical/academic way, but the 
>music mostly doesn't connect with me emotionally. I know I'm not 
>alone among genXers in this. Curiously, I've always found it much 
>easier to relate to and understand my grandmother's generation, 
>whether it was sitting down and talking to them or listening to 
>their music. They clearly didn't understand the baby-boomers either 
>(and vice-versa), and I think it is because their own cultural 
>values were formed under such dramatically different conditions 
>(economic depressions, world wars), and perhaps a bit more similar 
>to ours.
>
>Somehow, this difference of context has a big impact on culture and 
>music specifically, and I think we really need to consider it 
>carefully when trying to judge something from one era or another.
>
>Several times now I've had a really amusing conversation, discussing 
>the most influential music of the last xx years with groups of 
>musically/culturally knowledgeable people. Of course people tend to 
>overweight their own era, but it is really interesting to see what 
>different groups of people consider important about one specific 
>period. For me, being from the later genX generation, two names that 
>immediately jump to the top of the influential music list from the 
>late-60's/early-70's boomer era are Black Sabbath and Kraftwerk. 
>Both of these held huge influence over the music of the 80's, when I 
>was growing up. The eventual sounds of Rap, Metal, Techno, Synth 
>Pop, New Wave, and Industrial drew considerably from the aesthetic 
>and sound of these two groups. To me that seems obvious, being an 
>80s kid. Certainly pop-music historians have been citing Kraftwerk 
>as one of the most influential groups of the last century for some 
>time now, as they were such a big influence on early Rap, Techno, 
>Industrial, and New Wave. But invariably, the baby-boomer members of 
>these discussions have never heard of Kraftwerk! I always find this 
>really surprising. How can you produce one of the most influential 
>groups ever and not know who they were? Name recognition of Black 
>Sabbath is usually better, but they are mostly not on the boomer's 
>list either.
>
>To me this is amusing, but also illustrative of this divide in 
>cultural aesthetic. Black Sabbath and Kraftwerk were both reflecting 
>a cold darkness in their music that the next generation was really 
>going to respond to during their "dark age", but most of their own 
>generation didn't understand. We noticed their music and ran with 
>it. Meanwhile, from my perspective it was really hard to look back 
>at that era and understand what the big deal was about Jimi Hendrix 
>or Bob Dylan or many other such artists. It was only when I tried to 
>understand the context of their time that I understood it at all. 
>But I still don't relate to it.
>
>I also find it really interesting how we pick out musical examples 
>from other eras based on our own era's cultural aesthetic. How when 
>I consider the 60s/70s era of music, I immediately think of rather 
>unusual groups for their times, like Kraftwerk or Black Sabbath, 
>because those are the bits I understand. Or how boomers look at the 
>80's and mostly see examples of rock music that was really a 
>vestigal remnant of their own era, like Journey or Def Leppard, and 
>don't know anything about rap or techno or industrial or new wave or 
>metal or even punk. we miss all the interesting stuff.
>
>Maybe that's a point I'm arriving at here. You need the context to 
>both understand and find what is good. We obviously miss a lot. It 
>leaves me wondering about what we may be missing about the present. 
>If the life experiences of someone born circa-1950 can be so 
>different from those of someone born circa-1970 as to result in such 
>different music, what about those born circa-1990? The context of 
>their formative years produces... what? Are we missing it?
>
>kim
>
>
>______________________________________________________________________
>Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
>kflint@loopers-delight.com    | http://www.loopers-delight.com


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