My main interests as a journalism student include music and performance entertainment. Metal and other types of heavier rock have been my passion for 7 years now, but I don’t know the history of the music. I’d love to have the background knowledge of the culture of metal and the development of the music as a background for comparison to current artists as well as to better understand the motives and techniques of today’s music. As most music fans know, much of music becomes repetitive through generations and genres, so having this background knowledge will help me even in an always changing music scene.
When the theory of disenchantment began being discussed in class, it clicked for that this was what had happened both for me and a large number of friends throughout high school regarding the local music scene in our town. We went to local concerts every weekend to see our friends perform this music that was both rebellious and unifying. We all had similar ideologies about everything going on in our minuscule lives, and we were all searching for something more. Music was our escape from the tedious lives of high school. Simply said, this was my small-scale re-enchantment through music. Therefore, though only a theory, disenchantment and the presence of a dull culture with metal music providing an escape for the lower middle and working classes makes a lot of sense to me.
It also makes sense that metal sprung up as a post-countercultural genre of rock, where progressive rock and metal served as the fork in the road. Since the counter culture of the 60s believed in rebellion in not fitting into the conservative culture developed by the 50s, metal followed this trend ultimately creating a new genre post audiences with similar ideologies. Rather than be part of the thousands of workers in a factory, metal allowed an audience to rebel and become part of a sub-society that accepted them for what they were in an atmosphere that felt more “alive” than the mundane everyday lifestyles of the working class.
This type of atmosphere also allows the audiences and musicians to critically look at power and their role and positions of power and disempowerment. Because of this, metal often discusses power and taking that power, designated for the working class, into their own hands to have control of their lives. By taking part in the subculture of metal, audience members ultimately take control of their lives and the activities they participate in (attending concerts) as well as the music they listen to and are dedicated to.
Hi Deidre,
ReplyDeleteI think most "young people" have some sense of the dis and re-enchanting aspects of this theory and perhaps those who remain attentive to this dynamic either become social critics of some sort or maintain their youthful love of music and rebellion into their more mature lives. In the case of metal (and virtually any youth/music subculture) most fans do "mature out" eventually so new young recruits are essential to the "scene" and genre's continuation. At the same time the "ideologues" tend to be those who stay committed and help guide the "listening community" forward. Music journalists have played this role sometimes and as long as their writing is understood to be subjective and biased then it provides an important "re-enchanting" charge to music scenes I think. Of course, one could argue that much music journalism is pretty dis-enchanting in that it reads too much like "hard news"/objective reporting - nothing worse than a record review that works too hard to be objective and inoffensive (perhaps because there are financial constraints on what can be published in Rolling Stone or Spin since they depend on good relations with the music biz.
PS. you don't reference Kahn Harris in this entry so I can't give you full credit - please don't forget to integrate readings into all blogs.
Jarl