Music and Youth culture

Most of my sources are actually books that contain a section about my specific topic. I am going to orient this discussion around youth culture since the late 1990's onward to the present day and how it is effected by pop music mostly from a technical standpoint.

Thankfully, I have 4 books all on the subject.

For the sake of time (and sanity) I will only look at one book and one internet source.

First is Pop Music, Pop Culture. By Chris Rojek, which is the most recent as it was published in 2011.
He Starts with distinguishing Pop versus Popular music saying that Pop implies a short life and is a dismissive term as well as being a completely different genre in how it is organized; rock, rap, and techno can be Pop, but Pop is not built of a musical Genre but as a collection of Genres.

He uses very technical terms and, as a musicologist (those exist?), analyses the counter arguments in the opening alone to a superb degree citing several definitions of "pop". He also goes on to say and I quote "for those under-30 demographic, the normal ways of producing and consuming music are microchip-based." The book itself is splint into chapters pertaining to The Field of pop music, theoretical perspectives and the mode of production(which is what I mainly want to focus on).

Second is an article from Slate on the subject of popular music growing in a simple, predictable and perhaps boring way over the past 60 or so years. The analysis is rather plane and to the point saying that, according to a study done by the Spanish National Research Council where they used a computer to analyze nearly half a million songs, they found a clear evolution or devolution, in musical quality. They say that the music has  become "blander and louder" than it used to be, which is strong at creating imagery that could be misleading. 

At first glance I thought I could use the analysis in my study to introduce my topic and show off the dynamics of this generation. now after close analysis, I can say that it has only some flaws near the introduction, after which it becomes rather technical and in depth. The fact that the website was once owned by Microsoft would support its credibility. The article also linked to a yYoutube channel, The Loudness War , discussing the actual change of the depth of the sound mixing (which was a point in the article that volume was being vamped up) that has resulted over the years which actually provides some interesting insight into the pop music that is effecting pop culture. (Plus there is a whole college level audio tech tutorial that is almost 40 videos long that I am geeking out over)

With regards to Logic and YOLO

If you only life once, then you should do all you can to make life worthwhile.
If everyone else likes to be irresponsible and/or party in a manner that degrades their life, then that should be what makes my life worthwhile too.
You only life once
therefore I should be irresponsible and/or party in a manner that degrades my life

Bandwagons are infuriating. Time and time again, no matter where you look, you will see people doing dumb things justified by sayings like YOLO and the mindset that If I don't like something no one should! If you take a look at the many modern songs, take Nicki Minaj for example and any of her, "i'm a gangsta who has sex and all yall are just jealous," who actually manages to get some airtime on the radio, and pop culture influences (look at any of the magazines near the checkout of a supermarket and tell me what you think) that are essentially telling kids its alright to get drunk, have sex and break the law on a daily basis then destroy their futures. See above pic.

Why is it implied that the only way to be happy is by partying and getting some boring job so you can make money and spend it on things you don't need so you can continue the cycle of mundane work doing something you don't want to? Maybe I have just seen too much of this thing happening ending in tears or fights over something that no one likes that it really stands out to me but we can do better.

So then how do you fix this?
First off, don't imply that everyone likes partying and being irresponsible. Those things are not going to benefit you at all on the long run just like disrespecting others won't earn you respect.

Second. Don't say that you need to do what everyone else does or think that others doing things you don't like or understand is flat out wrong. I'm not saying somethings are not inherently wrong or implied as such (killing stealing rape etc.) mostly because I don't want to get into a debate about Cartesian Skepticism, but rather to say that maybe you should think twice before judging someone who has a different opinion than you.

Lastly, you have to find out what is worth living for ( its not part of the logical argument  I know, but it is needed to make it sound) and then do that, not run around in circles pretending that you are happy and that everything is fine.

Also...

So do your thing.

Maybe instead it should read something like this.

If you only life once then you should do what makes your life happy and meaningful
You only life once.
therefore you should do what makes your life happy and meaningful.


And with that my rant is over.

Reflection on Essay #1

Essays can be fun and if nothing else then interesting. That would have to be the main thing I have found out about writing. The process also seemed to be very different to that of writing in high school where much less "fluff" was involved. The information found via the group discussion was also very prurient to dispelling what I thought I knew about essays; I understood writing much more from a fictitious narrative perspective versus as a formal paper. I did notice that my style revolved mainly around rhetorically presenting information and questions so as to direct the reader as opposed to showing the information, I included connections.

The topic of the essay itself made me question who I was as I went along and what I was doing with in my own musical ventures. Over all, it inspired me musically to do more and create more, writing included. I was truly able to delve into my topic which I found to be more and more intriguing as I went along.

Last but not least, I was pleased with the end result and thought it was very enlightening to find the significance in what I was writing through the rhetorical situation, audience and overall goal of my paper

Interviews and thoughts

As I progressed through the topic I choose I found it difficult to choose a type of fieldwork to fit my concept. In the end I settled with doing interviews of musicians, one who is a local dj and producer and one who is a classical fanatic. The results I expected were that the electronic musician would be more involved in the online musical community and be able to provide feedback on the topic of cultural change via music, and the classically trained and oriented musician would opt for the technical information found between music between different cultures which would distinguish them.

I asked the Electronica artist the following; What effect is there on culture by music and vice versa, and how do you think the connection is today (between a culture and its music) versus before recordings, to which he replied saying that music was everything. He went on the talk about the interactions people had via music and how as time progressed there was more of a melting pot which changed the face of music, and in a way universalized it, changing it from something performed once by a symphony with limited access to something consumed  by the masses.

I asked about the digital age’s effect on music as a whole. He responded saying that the internet and the vast availability of it all, no matter the song or style, universalized it and allowed for an even larger mass consumption of sorts.

The final question I asked was on the idea of a sort of cultural merger, much like what the United States of America has done to produce a nation of similar peoples, in the context of music. He responded saying that every culture is unique and that although they are different each is able to build unity because everyone can relate to it now; the crossbreeding of genre’s was what he specifically mentioned. Again he mentioned the internet and it being a tool for musicians and a source for music of every genre saying that it was breaking boundaries.

I have yet to finish my interviews as I have not yet talked with the classical oriented student.

I found it interesting that a Producer would have immediately jumped on the idea that music was everything in defining culture, and mentioning that it was the digital technology that acted as the universalizing force behind music because the availability. As for any other details, they were about what I expected.

In the end, I found it intriguing how others agreed that there is a social change that is spurred forward by the technological distribution and creation of music. I will certainly incorporate this into my paper.