Requiem For The Songs

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Requiem For The Songs , or (When The Music Dies - Part 2)

Music, once the very core of tribal communion, has gone through an evolution that in many respects mirrors the changing face of our social consciousness. Maturing from the simple pattern of drum beats to the multi-tracked orchestration of sounds, (harmonious and disharmonious alike), that form the loosely translated perception of modern music. This tribal cohesion that music originally fostered has morphed into a rivalry between genre and sub-genre where derision between variations on the theme is now the norm. What's hot today soon becomes passé, and woe to the "un-cool" among us who have not adjusted our taste accordingly.

Whether through the complexities of human nature or, in spite of it, today's modern compositions have somehow become more, a means of, division than union. The instinctive yearning for a unified voice, within the dark recess of the primitive psyche, lost forever in the today's cacophonous backdrop of mass produced pop hits. Genres, within genres, within genres becomes the norm, each requiring of it's devotees a particular behavior, mode of dress, speech and mannerism designed to immediately identify the "individual" within the subgenre of their choice. A mere variation on a theme is enough to spawn a new sub-genre, replete with a coven of followers and sub-followers each relishing the "individuality/non-conformity" of their particular group, yet vociferously demanding a place in the big picture of our current musical collage.

The sheer volume of music produced today seems to be designed to deny skillful musicianship the audience it deserves, instead relegating them to a following composed primarily of other musicians. The prodigy is forced into a back seat, cult following, pseudo genre , as more garage bands, or talent show divas force their way onto the already overcrowded music scene. Now add to this a cash oriented mentality of a music industry that, through psychological marketing, dictates the current "latest trend", espousing quantity, at the expense of quality. Mass marketing to the point where talented musicians "dumb" down performance levels to fall into the acceptable range determined by these corporations. The result; a mass produced music scene, where any real show of musical artistry is quickly relegated to a niche in the "Progressive" category.

The conscious intent, on the monetary level, to control our listening interests leaves us with a huge selection of undeniably mundane music designed to quickly root out and segregate this progressive element. The lowest denominator of the least followed sub genres usually consisting of society's self proclaimed misfits. These "misfits" lay claim to a minority status in the genre wars as if it were some badge of honor as they rail against whatever serves as the cause du jour. We are pied piper-ed by today's music which in reality is the same old, same old in a different mode, poorly done covers of old hits and thinly veiled rip-offs. We are creating an audience of music illiterates who listen to "dance" music as their cars roll down the street, bass booming so loud that any actual harmonic structure that may accidentally have been inserted into the composition will be forever lost to all within earshot.

Divide and conquer or more precisely divide and cash in, for when it comes to our desire to identify with something/anything we have a tendency to spare no expense. Besides we all know that if you are not on track with the latest trend you won't "get any". This message is evident to even the youngest among us who have no clue as to what it is they won't get, but are every bit as certain they won't "get it"

Of course, this is just an opinion, so, like elbows and other body parts , everybody has at least one.

HDBluse