Adventure 15: The "Boffo" Finish Boing Boing:
"As I said at the beginning of this program, I'm constantly amazed at the 'pop culture amnesia' that seems to be an epidemic today. People have forgotten some of the greatest achievements of mankind... and what have they replaced it with? Infomercials, current events clowns, celebrity gossip and patently phony reality shows. Now, I can already hear you saying... 'Well. me and all my friends know about important stuff... all kinds of stuff!' Whenever I ask one of my archive interns what kind of music they listen to, I always get the same answer- 'All kinds of music!' Then I ask, 'Who's your favorite country and western artist?' or 'What's your favorite opera?' and I get blank stares. It turns out that 'all kinds of music' means 'acid house, electronica, trance, darkwave, eurobeat, speedcore, etc.'- a million different names for the same kind of music. It isn't their fault that they're ignorant of the cultural riches of the 20th century. Big media has kept them in the dark so they can spoon feed them 'pre-packaged, pasteurized entertainment product'.
The 'good stuff' is all out there. You don't need a fancy shmancy archive. All it takes is a 'breadcrumb', a clue, a YouTube video clip, an MP3, a name to Google- and this wonderful world opens up like a flower. It turns out that the world we live in isn't such a drab and dreary place after all!"
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Adventure 15: The "Boffo" Finish Boing Boing
Oh so true. Pop Culture is so shallow these days... and that is, of course, by design.
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The best photography class I took in college didn't involve the darkroom or my cameras, it was Intro To Photo History. Learning about Eugene Atget and Brassard and Garry Winograd did more to shape my style and vision than any "hands-on" class I took in school. Today's culture isn't standing on the shoulders of yesterday's giants, it's recycling the crap of 15 minutes ago.
Yes, I'm sure my Dad would say the same thing about my music as I say about today's artists, but 25 years ago you could feel the roots of Kraftwerk in what New Order played, you could see the strains of The Supremes in The Pointer Sisters, you could hear the echoes of Led Zeppelin in The Cult, and while we may not have appreciated it at the time, it was there for us to discover as we grew older.
That sense of history is gone from today's music. I don't like the Beatles, (I'm an Elvis man), but at least Sir Paul McCartney can write a symphony, Stewart Copeland from The Police wrote an opera, and Run_DMC's cover of "Walk This Way" was so good it re-launched Aerosmith's career. Are Lady Gaga or Jay-Z capable of the same kind of success?
I doubt it.
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