07-29-2003, 09:41 AM
From Kurt Cobains hysterically dumb "As beautiful as a rock in a cops face" to gangsta raps bone-deep hatred of any authority at all, it seems that most modern music teaches people to ignore, disrespect, and often hate authority. I imagine the writers and artists see some kind of informed political engagement, even a revolutionary potential, in their music. Of course it isnt. Hip hop does nothing but enforce racial stereotypes, and idiotic messages like that of Kurt Cobain do nothing at all.
But it seems to sell. Positive music doesnt. Hip hop is the biggest seller in America - and most of it is about shooting someone - mostly authority figures. Hip hop fans talk about how it is real, its about civil rights, how blacks can make it in America. But what's the point when its only message is if you kill other people, f!@k b**ches, and smoke weed you can make it? If hip hop is a cry against the oppression why is it far more violent, misogynist, anti-authority than 50 years ago when blacks really were oppressed? Or the fact that most of the buyers of hip hop are white? Shouldnt something more positive work better - say the message given by A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC, or De La Soul?
Teenage angst in guitar music is played by twenty-somethings who hate their parents and sold to pre-teens and angry adolescents. Most twenty somethings dont hate their parents - they know it was just teenage rebellion. The more succesful whinging bands oft he 90s such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc had alot of complaints to make. And all of them were in their thirties. Most guitar bands seem to hate the government - along with a seemingly disrespectful view of the rule of law, and unspoken societal rules. Why? Musicians are synonmous with their abuse of illegal drugs, underage sex, and bad behavior. And most of the time they get away with it. This is the message for us? Travel the world, make money getting drunk, drugged up, get 16 year old girls pregnant, and then complain about authority? Why? And why do we listen? Musical heroes tend to be addicts (in some way), yet we see them as tortured souls. Kurt Cobain is a dead heroin addict and society elevates him to a frail social poet - why? Rage Against The Machines main message was that American authority and power is bad. More respected artists such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen rejected the idea of American power as a legitimate good. Musicians want to be activists - opposers of laws, corporations, power, government, whatever intangible thing they see as authority. The 60s wasnt about free-love, it was about people hating their parents, the government, the police, the past. The message of the 70s was that the naive optimism of the 60s didnt work - and that it was simply about ignoring authority. Why does music hate authority?
But it seems to sell. Positive music doesnt. Hip hop is the biggest seller in America - and most of it is about shooting someone - mostly authority figures. Hip hop fans talk about how it is real, its about civil rights, how blacks can make it in America. But what's the point when its only message is if you kill other people, f!@k b**ches, and smoke weed you can make it? If hip hop is a cry against the oppression why is it far more violent, misogynist, anti-authority than 50 years ago when blacks really were oppressed? Or the fact that most of the buyers of hip hop are white? Shouldnt something more positive work better - say the message given by A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC, or De La Soul?
Teenage angst in guitar music is played by twenty-somethings who hate their parents and sold to pre-teens and angry adolescents. Most twenty somethings dont hate their parents - they know it was just teenage rebellion. The more succesful whinging bands oft he 90s such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc had alot of complaints to make. And all of them were in their thirties. Most guitar bands seem to hate the government - along with a seemingly disrespectful view of the rule of law, and unspoken societal rules. Why? Musicians are synonmous with their abuse of illegal drugs, underage sex, and bad behavior. And most of the time they get away with it. This is the message for us? Travel the world, make money getting drunk, drugged up, get 16 year old girls pregnant, and then complain about authority? Why? And why do we listen? Musical heroes tend to be addicts (in some way), yet we see them as tortured souls. Kurt Cobain is a dead heroin addict and society elevates him to a frail social poet - why? Rage Against The Machines main message was that American authority and power is bad. More respected artists such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen rejected the idea of American power as a legitimate good. Musicians want to be activists - opposers of laws, corporations, power, government, whatever intangible thing they see as authority. The 60s wasnt about free-love, it was about people hating their parents, the government, the police, the past. The message of the 70s was that the naive optimism of the 60s didnt work - and that it was simply about ignoring authority. Why does music hate authority?