And The Beat [Of Generational Music] Goes On
Posted by meredith on 04-08-2010
The other week we retweeted a post from our friends over at The Splinter Generation asking readers “Who will be this generation’s Kurt Cobain?” Along with a call for nominees, it addressed the difficulty in searching for any such singular icon today given the drastic decentralization of pop culture.
It got us (Anastasia and me) talking once again about the end of mega fame, and all that’s changed with the rise of playlists and mashups taking over for the album concept, but also on how much — teen idols, songs of summer, the premium on live shows — has stayed the same.
Even though the music scene has become increasingly fractured, and tastemakers like MTV and terrestrial radio have faded, there are still masterful pop stars that break through (Gaga), and clearly teen idols never die (Bieber Fever). What is dfferent now is that even when stars like Justin Bieber and Lada Gaga reach that tipping point of mass awareness, because their ubiquity is most heavily felt on the internet vs. radio or MTV, it’s a lot easier for non-fans to drown them out with their own alternative audio niche whether it be built through blogs, social music discovery sites like Pandora or sites that combine the two services like Hype Machine (which aggregates music blogs and the mp3s featured on them).
And while “songs of the summer” may be an overestimation of this generation’s short attention span, there are still tracks in the tradition of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that bubble up to take over a moment a la “Soulja Boy Tell em” or more recently “Empire State of Mind.” The shift to new media, in this case, often amplifying the effect by adding those ugc dimensions of parodies, mashups, etc. and occasionally allowing for the random comeback of artists like Rick Astley via internet meme (Rickroll).
Finally, our talk turned to live music and both of us got a little nostalgic. Anastasia over Jane’s Addiction/Nothing’s Shocking (which became the defining album for her group of friends in high school after seeing the band perform live) and me over the Van’s Warped Tours I devotedly attended as a young aspiring pop punk rock fan. Considering the attendance for festival shows like Coachella and SXSW, it’s clear that the experiential component hasn’t changed [personally, live music is still what the summer means to me]. More so, with new resources for navigating (apps like Superglued) and bands blogging/tweeting live shows (an update to radio promotions like “Where’s Fluffy” in “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”), it’s become even easier to do so.
So maybe what’s interesting to observe about today isn’t so much those individual artists or bands that deserve the title of “voice of a generation,” as the evolution of a new call-and-response dynamic, and the ability for fans to get their own voices heard.
Pictured above: the baby from the “Nevermind” album cover – all grown up!
Categorized under: Movies & Music