“Serious music matters because it transcends social forces; popular music is aesthetically worthless because it is determined by them” (Frith, S. 2004. Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies). This particular perspective suggests that popular music is worthless; nothing short of a disposable commodity that adds nothing to the quality or meaning of our lives. Furthermore, one could surmise that such a view renders the ‘artist’ who creates such music as a gimmick or puppet, and although many ‘popular’ bands could be described as such, the definition of popular music is the key component to achieve a more balanced and appropriate appreciation for the multitude of diverse theories on what is mainstream music.
Frith additionally raises the argument of market forces, suggesting that mainstream music is solely defined by the influence and manipulation of record labels and media directives; in essence ‘top 40′ music is popular because its adherents and appreciators are told it is popular and, unquestioningly, absorb and ‘follow the leader’ rather than attempting to create or define their own more individual tastes. Similar perspectives that depict popular music as a disposable product rather than worthwhile creative expression, or more simply as commercial, engineered and ‘false’ are echoed by Auslander (1998).
Academics themselves fail to agree on one particular definition of what popular music is, opting for a more fractured and perhaps individualistic approach to the issue. Frans Birrer suggests there are normative, negative, sociological, and technologico-economic perspectives that define popular music as de-valued and inferior, music that does not ‘fit’ in any other genre or style (such as folk or ‘art’ music), associated and produced for or by particular social demographics, and finally the perspective that conveys popular music as a construct distributed through and produced by mass media (1985, p.104).
Middleton offers a different perspective again, focusing upon the individual taste and preferences as the factor that ultimately decides what is popular; “popular music tastes… are interest-bound” (1990). Middleton does offer a somewhat more concrete explanation of popular music, concluding that “While repetition is a feature of all music, of any sort, a high level of repetition may be a specific mark of ‘the popular’, enabling an inclusive rather than exclusive audience (Middleton, 1990)”.
Aside from the economical issues surrounding popular music festivals and promotion, it is equally important to consider the less tangible elements that arguably reflect society’s need for music. For many, music is integral to the development of identity, self-concept, and can also be a key component of social networks, religious and spiritual ritual, and to maintain order in military units. From the flutes that led the ancient Spartans to war, to the folk tales of Scandinavia that describe the Oskorei utilising music and noise to transform themselves to re-enact the “Wild Hunt” of Odin, even recent memory holds reminiscence of trumpets, drums, and horns sounding the charge of the infantry over the top of the trenches.
Apart from disciplinary and formation-focused employment, popular music as a socialising tool can prove very powerful. Street argues that popular music, especially in the context of a live performance, can cultivate and establish a sense of identity, and furthermore, can provide a source of further inspiration to other performers and musicians seeking to expand their creative influences. Frith offers an agreeable supplement, suggesting that a sense of collective identity is established through the “… pride and shared values which one can only ‘feel’ through music…” (Frith, 2004). It could be surmised then that music can indeed offer an interactive community experience through which individuals can both belong and identify themselves as a member thereof (Grayck, T. cited in Auslander, 1998); “the pleasures of live music performance derived from interaction with others: the individual listener has the opportunity to commune with fellow fans and to experience an illusory bond with the performer”.
Music is an essential factor in youth sub-cultures that help ease the transition to adulthood, and distinctive music is considered to have been important in the formation of youth identity in post-war years (Nilan, P. Youth Culture. Public Sociology: An introduction to Australian Society (Germov, J. & Poole, M. ed). 2007. Allen & Unwin, Chapter 6). The notion of music as an integral part in the formation of identity, especially amongst youth, is reflected in the different perspectives and identities offered by youth sub-cultures primarily defined by music and fashion, most of which act as an alternative to what youth perceive as the limited and constraining roles offered by adult society, work, school, gender, and class divisions (Muggleton 2000). Further evidence of this can be seen in the intriguing concepts concerning second-generation migrant youth and their preference for ‘black’ music as a means of identification and a symbol of common marginalisation and alienation by a hegemonic culture (Bennett, 2000; Butcher & Thomas 2006, p.20 as cited in Public Sociology).
How such perspectives relate to non-mainstream music is intriguing to consider and explore. From the early 1980’s, a sub-genre of heavy metal grew into an underground force to be reckoned with. Black Metal; forged from the pseudo-Satanic shock value of early Venom, the teenage dabblings in darkness of Bathory, and the flamboyant appreciation for esoteric and abstract occultism of Celtic Frost, a group of youths in Scandinavia found a black flame in the midst of the black forests and long, bitter winters. This was to be their firebrand to cast into the aged timbers of historical churches that had been erected many centuries earlier upon the stone horgs of their Viking ancestors. Despite the wanton destruction committed by the early Black metal bands, both upon others and themselves, theirs is an intriguing example of resurgent atavism.
Over the course of their careers, and for some even from the beginning, several bands rose to prominence within the circles of extreme music in Scandinavia; through not only their musical talents but a passionate appreciation and unearthing of their ancestors’ culture. Bathory, Enslaved, Unleashed, and many others fused their Black and Death Metal sounds with semiotic references and openly anti-Christian sentiments, all unfurled beneath the banners of the one-eyed Aesir God, Odin. Kadmon wrote in his superb treatise “Oskorei” of the Odinic Wild Hunt and similar Teutonic folk-lore; where fervent worshippers would don wolf skins, and would fuel themselves with cacophonous and demonic noise and music, aided with liquor, shamanistic ritual, and a Berserker-like psyche veiled beneath hideous masks.
To the townsfolk, they were spirits from beyond, fallen warriors awaiting Ragnarok, fertility demons seeking placation, macabre spectres from realms beyond the human – and though the end result was arguably the de-mystification and subsequent disapproval and condemnation of young men participating in such sectarian rites, it bears a uncanny resemblance to the actions of the Black metal youths of Scandinavia (Kadmon, 1995).
Within their grim apparel of tortured, ghostly ‘corpsepaint’, ashen-smeared faces screaming and growling of dark forces beyond, or more atavistically, the strength of their Viking ancestors, the gods of Teutonic folk-lore, and all manner of esoteric Nordic myth; these musicians have found their culture, their identity, and particular values and perspectives they feel are worth fighting, and perhaps, dying for (Moynihan, 1998). Such is the nature of primordial images (Jung, 1956), despite their contemporary appropriation.
Further examples outside the realm of Scandinavia can be readily found despite non-mainstream success. Sepultura, the Brazilian Metal band that was formed by two brothers from the ghettoes of Belo Horizonte, was hugely influential on Thrash and Death Metal. But by following their own cultural traditions, they embraced a ‘tribalistic’ vision that saw a significant inclusion of traditional South American instruments, including Djembes, Berimbaos, and Timbaus; more diversity in their percussive patterns and lyrical concepts reflecting social awareness, political activism, and appreciation for their Brazilian heritage, exemplified in the song Sepulnation:
A Nation Built On Sweat
A Nation Built On Blood
A Nation Built On Dreams
Before The Tongues Are Mute
Before They Hide The Truth
We’ll Be The Ones Who Speak
We See Without Our Eyes
We Walk Without A Path
We Fight With Unity
Search For A Better Way
Change What’s Been Done Before
Make Our Own History
Rise Up, Rise Up
Resistance Won’t Be Stopped
Rise Up, Rise Up
Sepulnation
Rise, Rise
Corruption Undisguised
Rise, Rise
Sepulnation
Confronting With Our Minds
Destroying All The Lies
Unmasked By Purity
Burning The Eyes Of Greed
No Fear, No Disbelief
Our Faith Is Your Misery
Rise Up, Rise Up
Resistance Won’t Be Stopped
Rise Up, Rise Up
Sepulnation
Rise, Rise
Corruption Undisguised
Rise, Rise
Sepulnation
One Nation Above All
Founded On Our Faith. (c) Sepultura 2001.
Clearly appreciating and actively embracing their heritage and culture with a social awareness influenced by the dictatorial political regimes they grew up in, Sepultura would also make a world-first in recording live traditional tribal healing chants and music with the Xavantes tribe, in their home of Aldeia Pimentel Barbosa. The song was titled “Itsari”, which translated from the Xavantes language to English means ‘Roots”. Problems sadly arose within the band and saw vocalist, lyricist and guitarist Max Cavalera, leave. His subsequent band, Soulfly, has delved further into tribal lore, myth, and percussion, world music, reggae, dub, and spirituality; arguably all fuelled by the initial exploratory atavism of Sepultura.
Aside from Metal and its’ sub-genres, there has been an increased popularity in recent years of traditional Irish and Scottish music being fused with the working-class ethos of Punk. The Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, two of the more favoured exponents, seemingly tap into the atavistic qualities of working class community, Celtic/Gaelic ancestry, folk-lore and cultural pride for their respective homeland; despite living in the USA.
Many similar observations can be drawn from other musical genres. One could surmise, however, that the disposable and superficial nature of mainstream music’s “community” lacks the far more pronounced and passionate response evoked by bands like Sepultura, Flogging Molly, and Bathory; suggesting far more unity and collective identity can be formed through appreciation of non-mainstream musical entities.
References:
Avelar, Idelbar. Heavy Metal Music in Postdictatorial Brazil: Sepultura
and the Coding of Nationality in Sound. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2003.
Auslander, Philip. Seeing is believing: Live performance and the Discourse of Authenticity in Rock Culture. Literature and Psychology; 1998; 44, 4; Academic Research Library.
Birrer, Frans A. J. (1985). “Definitions and research orientation: do we need a definition of popular music?” in D. Horn, ed., Popular Music Perspectives, 2 (Gothenburge, Exeter, Ottawa and Reggio Emilia), p.99-106.
Frith, Simon. 2004. Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, Retrieved from http://blackboard.newcastle.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_1294330_1
Jung, Carl Gustav (1956). Two Essays on Analytical Psychology. Meridian, New York.
Kadmon. Oskorei. Aorta, No. 20. Vienna: Aorta Publications, 1995.
Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
Moynihan, Michael & Soderlind, Didrik (1998). Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House, Los Angeles, CA.
Nilan, Pamela. Youth Culture. Public Sociology: An introduction to Australian Society (Germov, J. & Poole, M. ed). 2007. Allen & Unwin, Chapter 6)
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[...] Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. This particular perspective sugghttp://ramonamac.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/atavism-collective-identity-and-non-mainstream-unity/Community Links Bloomington AlternativeApril 9 was the 11th anniversary of the death of Yank [...]