The Theme of My Civilization
Is music a reflection of the culture from which it is born? If so then the form of popular music should indicate something about the society. I don’t pretend to know enough about either music or anthropology to do this topic justice, however, I can toss it out there for my own gratification. Besides how often will I get to tie Madonna, Britany Spears, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Napoleon together in the same article?
In the late 19th century the western world was producing music like the 1812 Overture and waltzes like the Blue Danube. The 1812 Overture features a cannon section, if orchestrated properly, and commemorates the defeat of Napoleon in Russia. Waltzes have a steady 3 beat and are every bit as rousing as a military march, another popular form of this period. What have we got here? Collectivism, the orchestra works as one, the dance floor works as one, the audience as one, the individual achieves greatness from his part in the collective. The achievement of the collective is shared by the individuals. Certainty, in the notes, the time. Its a great Newtonian experiment, A leads to B leads to C.
Its easy to see how the same society that produces the 1812 Overture also produces WW1. The individual is nothing, all that matters is the big push, enough troops, enough artillery, A leads to B leads to C, victory. Its a simple matter of overwhelming the enemy.
Jazz emerged after WW1, perhaps part of its acceptance was a result of the society being ready for a new model of the individual and his place within the society. In Jazz the individual is supreme. Jazz is a celebration of the individual talent. The band is both a collective and showcase for the individual. Its a statement about the dignity of the irrepressible individual. Not too surprising that it comes from a people whose grandparents were enslaved. Its also kind of a tribute to the American ideal, the indiviudal, the cowboy, the self made man. Duke Ellington went so far as to compose specifically for the talents of the individual musicians within his orchestra. Its said that its not possible to properly recreate the original Ellington sound due to this customization for the individuals.
In the big band era we have an orchestra and a sub group of soloists. Its kind of like a hybrid, one foot in the 19th century, one in the 20th. Its kind of like Superman, the individual can make a difference, but he has to be super human, very Nietzsche. Contrast this to the New Orleans style where all of the musicians show their stuff with a solo. In this style everyone has something to say. That’s not to say that lesser contributions are cheered along equally. Competition was brutal, musicians back then engaged in cutting contests, where they would try to upstage each other in front of a live audience. Famously, Benny Goodman was cut so bad by Louis Armstrong that he checked himself into a sanatorium. However, even the worst musician was still respected if he was giving it his all, he was still a “cat”.
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Its interesting how things have swung back the other way. In the case of a Madonna or Brittany Spears, we get the superman fronting a collection of nameless drones, supremacy of the leader. The individual is either god-like or they are mere props for the god-like. Is this an expression of the theme of the current generation? Do we look to our leaders to solve everything? Do we feel powerless, faceless? Could record companies be Macavellian enough to be doing this on purpose? Enforce the culture of the leader and the followers to get the maximum number of sales of the minimum number of performers. That’s just too tinfoil headed, even for me. But that’s ok because now I’ve tied Niccolò Machiavelli into this article too.
I think we are free to choose whichever theme we want. I guess this sort of thinking just puts me in the early 20th century. Maybe the individual can’t change things in today’s world, but they can still be in there giving it their all. They can still be a cat.
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