End of the decade, start of the century.

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:53:00 -0500

As Corporate Mofo has already so eloquently put it, “Future historians will note that American culture peaked in the 1960s.” While one might disagree with the particulars of his argument, it is pretty undeniable that as the 2000’s draw to a close, nothing interesting has happened for yet another decade. All of our art and culture has been entirely dictated, circular, nostalgic, or some combination of the three. What happened to rap music has happened to us: after a golden age on the fringe, we’ve been invited in and can never go home again.

The most significant cultural event of the last decade will be remembered as the rise of the ipod - a second rate mp3 player turned into market leader through digital monopoly and slick marketing. If we even remember 9/11, it’ll be because we feel guilty not to: for all of the media coverage the only creative echos can be heard in some laughable country music, bad political art, and a handful of ill-conceived films. We are so uncomfortable with our own time that we rush to a reassuring package or to familiar cultural cues, often taken straight from the youth of our parents. James Murphy pegged the current generation with ‘borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80s’ and as scary as that might be, is it really all that different from mining semi-obscure disco only to be hailed as a trailblazer? Even the barely functional retards stitching together beats on their Macbooks or crafting pitch perfect blog mixes are at least trying in their Sparks addled way to push things forward. But is this all we have? One look at Pitchforkmedia’s top 10 albums of 2008 reveals that every album is either a shining example of something past being ‘re-invented’ or a commentary on the current state of music. Even if this is the product of critical navel-gazing, the fact that it so baked into the minds of the foremost arbiters of indie is distressing. We’ve wasted nearly a whole decade digging around the foundations of a culture that doesn’t work, hoping to find a game changer amongst all of the things discarded on the way here. There is one year left, and something has to give, because it is fairly obvious that this road leads right back to where we started… or worse.

Unfortunately, I think no one will step-up. There is no clear boundary between pop, indie, and industry, and therein lies the problem. In times of crisis and recession traditionally alternative forms spring up, whether they be the blues, hiphop, or punk. However, everyone is on the same generic or genre splicing page. If we can’t do it when we have money in the form of jobs, trust-funds, or what have you, how can we bring shit when we can’t buy a new laptop to run a new pirate version of Garage Band? In the days before crack maybe some kid might get on the brown and wail away in a loft, but it is more than likely this time around he’s going to run home to mom or pawn his shit for crack or meth, which has really give us so much in terms of art and culture. I’m going to ahead and say it, 2009 will be the year of the jock jam and stoner ballad. We’re going right back where we started from: welcome to 2009-ty.

Hipster Elitist

End of the decade, start of the century.