Sold Your Soul for the Scene.
Sold Your Soul for the Scene
I have always found the idea of a person being an anti conformist to be a laughable yet perplexing concept and the idea of an anti conformist type culture seems like an even more laughable notion. I like most people support individualism, but it seems rather foolish for a person to make such a conscience effort to stand out. This notion of anti conformity and rebellion has spawned all sorts of angst filled fashion, music, and art. The irony is that in large the idea of being an anti conformist in a capitalist society is a vague and dismal daydream. All these things that people feel make them an individual in our society become cheapened and commercialized with time. I would argue that these self-proclaimed anti conformists are nothing more then charades. What is it about a grown man wearing mascara, a bandana, and a Rage Against the Machine shirt that makes him an anti conformist? Americans live in a society in which most things are based on materialism, even ones individuality. A vast portion of artistic endeavors have been cheapened and dulled by pop culture and the marketing potential of our celebrated individualism.
Punk rocks conception was largely due in part to a notion of anti conformity and individualism. Early punk rock acts like the Sex Pistols and the Ramones often acted the role of the social outcasts and disenfranchised youths. So inherently, these bands to some became the voice of all those who felt disenfranchised or like they had been shunned by the rest of society. This in turn spawned a whole sort of subculture inside of the rock and roll scene, which became known as punk rock. Now, the thing that made punk rock beautiful to me and so many was that it had no mold. Punk rock was about being oneself and being a critical consumer and thinker. As the popularity and potential of punk rock grew though it became a culture based on hypocrisy.
A type of music that at one time celebrated individualism in the same breath tells consumers to buy this and wear that and listen to this or you aren’t really different. Even though I find mohawks, piercings, tattoos, and loud music as entertaining as the next, I find the idea that these things make you an individual to be a shallow marketing scheme. Does it make you more of an individual then me because I buy my t-shirts from Wal-Mart, while you buy the same shirt at Hot Topic with an even larger price tag on it? The irony is that both shirts are produced in same corner of Malaysia for the same price but your shirt has been deemed unique by the counter culture elitists. So what is it that makes these so-called counter culture lifestyles so unique from the rest of us? Punk rocks values and ideals of freethinking and individualism fell to the wayside and it became nothing more than a cheap way of getting attention.
Hip-hop was another type of music that spawned a culture that in turn spawned a new contingency for big business to market to. Like punk rock, hip-hops conception was based on celebrating ones uniqueness and individuality. As hip-hop matured though it abandoned its original ideals like punk rock in search for more lucrative and popular things. When hip-hop was born in the streets of New York nobody could imagine the sort of commercial success that it would reach today. A music and culture that was based on poetry, break dancing, graffiti, and beat boxing, became based on consumerism. It is no longer about who has the most intricate beats or lyrics or the most unique break dance and graffiti, but about who has the biggest, the best, and the most. Hip-hop groups like Public Enemy who rapped about social outcry and the need for unity became a thing of the past and rappers, who glorify their egos and greed took their place. Hip-hop and punk rock have been hijacked by the same perpetrator, capitalism. Societies need to label and pigeonhole itself will inherently eventually corrupt everything that is pure, including music.
I find it hard to listen to a rapper proclaim himself as the beacon of social outcry in an impoverished African American community while he telling me to buy Vitamin Water and wear Sean Jean. The vast majority of hip-hop sold out long but society sheepishly gives credit where it has not been earned. Although hip-hop was not so much the manifestation of anti-conformity that punk rock was, it was the voice of rebellion and individualism in the African American community. Hip-hop gave the disenfranchised African America a new medium for protest and expression but it quickly gave way to the hypnotic powers of money.
Although all individuality is not absent from society, it is hidden by the conception that you are what you consume. Does it make one less of a conformist by celebrating the things that makes them an individual or perhaps by calling attention to your individuality you are simply conforming to this other sort of popular culture? We as a society have such a large focus on materialism that we often overlook the things that make us truly unique and different. The way you look or the thing you like does not determine who you are so why in turn would they measure ones individuality? The people who thrive on standing out and being different from the rest of society make a conscience effort to be part of this certain part of society and not this other, isn’t that still conforming? If a person is to allow themselves to become wrapped up in the things that they feel separate themselves from the rest of society then they will eventually lose sight of what makes them who they really are. Our experiences, thoughts, and ideas are what truly make us unique and different from everyone else. It is our capacity to think which makes us all individuals, not the pop culture or the counter culture that we like to identify ourselves as a participant in.
Punk rock and hip-hop are casualties of the war between art and commercialism, in which commercialism holds a decisive advantage. All forms of artistic expression are thought to be based on the ideas and feelings of an artist, so why do people feel the need to label themselves with another person’s medium for artistic expression? If things such as punk rock and hip-hop try to portray individualism then why do they portray an image? The emergence and subsequent corruption of these profound musical rebellions displays the need in our society to express oneself uniquely, while not losing any sense of belonging.
Zelda Movie Trailer
(check the date)