Carl sez:
> (thanks greatly to my stay in the P2 reeducation
> camps)
Heh, you know Carl, here in Kansas we have big old mothballed govt
installations that were used as POW camps for German prisoners during
WWII. Maybe they could be put to some real twang-Maoist use in
reeducating HNC fans!! <mad laughter>..... Or maybe, in a more
Kubrick-inspired move, we could use some of our mothballed
underground ICBM sites to target Nashville?? Where's Slim Pickens
when we need him!!!
But seriously
> It's a bit distressing to face the idea that a lot of the debate about
> the future of country is actually a debate about rock, but it also
> makes evident sense - esp. given the fact that none of the
> back-to-roots moves of the past quarter-century seem to get enduring
> support from the core country audience or any other sizeable swathe of
> the population.
Yep. It's a different world out there now, and in some ways the
debate about traditional styles and their relation to the commercial
constraints of the music industry (pop, rock, dance-music dominated)
could use a more sophisticated way of thinking that relationship.
Obviously, simple authenticity arguments aren't gonna get it. But
subgenres and "traditional" styles obviously have crucial roles to
play in giving voice to subcultures and elements that don't fit into
corporate music profit plans, etc. They're still extremely
meaningful on many levels for a lot of folks, but always at odds with
the media / information culture that they need to exist at present.
Often in these P2 discussions of radio, I'm surprised at the notion
that people could actually make a change in it. I'm much more of the
opinion that the music industry *manufactures* mass taste and the
need for its products. Very pessimistic on that point. I know it's
not a simple equation, but the music and radio companies have all the
cards. Popular taste is not formed before industry dreck gets heard,
it's formed *in and by* industry dreck. So that for most folks, it's
only through more mainstream stuff that they get back to what
hipsters would consider more quality roots (i.e. getting "back" to
Cash or Monroe via Steve Earle, or "back" to blues via Stevie
Vaughn, or whatever...).
Tradition and roots without nostalgia sounds a bit contradictory, but
sometimes I think that's where we've gotten to....
--junior
