Conversation

Replying to
This 2011 essay by makes a similar point. “the political implications of retromania are disconcerting… we are kept contented by access to a vast museum of musical memories that used to signify, among other things, rebellion and invention.”
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Replying to @Meaningness
I like the @SimonRetromania theory that music as a process of linear development and innovation ended at some point in the 90s. So really, what is there that's new to say? jamesdrever.co.uk/blog/retromoni
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I appreciate all the suggestions of things to listen to sent in replies. I spent much of yesterday evening going through them and listening, and enjoyed many of them! My original tweet was off-the-cuff and unclear…
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A related, natural misinterpretation led to suggestions of obscure bands/artists/genres that may indeed be involving for connoisseurs… what I’m concerned with is the future of our culture and society at large, rather than whether serious music geeks have something to geek about
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Evidence from replies has been split; this from makes the case I’m concerned about: kids aren’t excited about music any more.
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Replying to @Meaningness
That's how it feels to me, too. I got satellite radio in my car in 2015 and lost track of the latest hits, but it hasn't been noticeable because no one ever brings up music! And my students never talk about having a favorite song or artist.
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Could music just die? Analogy (h/t anonymous): poetry had a central role in culture a century ago in a way now unimaginable. A few geeks still read and write the stuff, but it has zero cultural significance. Maybe music in twenty years will be on a par with poetry.
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If music is now culturally irrelevant, it may not matter if something with a similar function has replaced it. Several replies suggested video games. I note that I used to tweet about music quite often, and stopped, and tweet occasionally about vidya…
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Replying to @DoTheWeirdStuff and @Meaningness
Self-expression *distinctively through music taste* has I think been falling due to 1) less-communal music listening (the Walkman revolution and way beyond) & 2) the huge rise of other more-socially-fertile identity-meaningful media (especially videogames & the Golden Age of TV).
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Broader concern is the progress studies thesis, that we’re in a period of stagnation due to people having lost hope/understanding that a better future is possible. If teenagers have nothing to look forward to except more of the same, but gradually worse, …
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“No future” is a self-fulfilling foreboding. How will we regain the sense that we create the future together, as generations, cultures, and societies as well as individuals?
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Replies to this thread (so many! thank you) interestingly split between “of course music is still exciting, here are examples” and “yeah it’s over as a major cultural force.” I’m left without a clear opinion…
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Replying to
I think this is an unfounded worry. I suspect musical self-expression is a consequence rather than cause of having a sense of a future. If there’s a problem, it lies deeper. I don’t think there is. The instincts have just been diverted to newer media.