In his book Modern Culture, Roger Scruton states that the popular culture today is predominately a culture of youth. Much of the following material comes from that book. His chapter describing the youth culture is appropriately titled “Yoofanasia.” He writes: “Among youth, as we know it from our modern cities, a new human type is emerging. It has its own language, its own customs, its own territory, and its own self-contained economy. It also has its own culture—a culture which is largely indifferent to traditional boundaries, traditional loyalties, and traditional forms of learning. Youth culture is a global force, propagated through media which acknowledge neither locality nor sovereignty…”
I am a product of the ’60s in America. When I was in the business world I noticed that when my generation of workers should be moving into middle and senior management positions, the executives that were approaching retirement age were reluctant to turn businesses over to the 60s generation because they still had the reputation of being rebellious and anti-establishment. Many of the ones that had outgrown that stage were being forced to start their own businesses in order to be a manager.
Because of technology and the dependence of almost everything in 21st Century culture on technology, the older generation has refused to keep up and has willingly turned over the world to a technology-savvy young generation. The technology changes almost every month and the adult generation cannot keep up and eventually quits trying, turning it over to the youth. The ramifications of this are just being seen here in the second decade of the 21st Century. The youth are empowered to form their own culture, and sadly, it is not one culture, but everyone is now trying to be a culture of one, with everyone seeking an identity but with a group to belong to.
The first place youth look for a sense of identity is music. As the traditional culture has been deconstructed so too has the music of popular culture. Pop music of previous generations had tone, melody, and chords that flowed one from the other so that it was a tune that could be remembered. The songs had an existence of their own so that anyone could sing them. Artists were popular because they could sing, but the songs they sang were not them. Pop music today is just the opposite.
Collins Compact Dictionary defines music as “an art form consisting of sequences of sounds organized melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically.” Pop music of the 21st Century does not meet the definition of music. Most Pop music today is Rap and Rock. Rap that you can understand the words to and they are words of profanity, graphic sexual images, parental and political rebellion, and death. Rock is a product of technology, notes produced by electric guitars and synthesizers, run through a machine that mixes and repeats them at random while the singer screams mostly unintelligible words into an amplified microphone. All the while, drums are pounding to an arrhythmic cadence in the background. There is no end to the music, it just stops.
Popular music has reversed the traditional relationship between the singer and the song. Traditionally, a song had a life of its own and the singer was used to present the song. Good singers singing good songs became stars. Most Pop music of the 21st Century consists of songs with no melody and therefore cannot be remembered and sung later. The purpose of the song is to present the performer. The performer makes noises and performs stage antics that cannot be reproduced at home except in the form of his or her music video. The music becomes the performer, the performer becomes a star, and the star becomes an idol. The idol’s music video is the way to worship at home.
Rap and Rock music have created a community in which a fan can belong without commitment and without participation. To be a fan of a certain star is to belong to his or her family. You get to be their Friend on Facebook, you get to receive their Tweets, and you get to go to their concerts with your family made up of your fellow fans that you do not know. Youth are trying to fill the void of no identity, no family, and no future. This culture presents youth as being the goal and fulfillment of human life rather than a transitional phase of mature adulthood. Everything is “now”, which opens the door to image and no substance; means with no end. That is where the next post begins.