>Excuse me for being out of my seat again. Thank you for your input.
>These are all very good, well-articulated points of view. For the most
>part, I agree. But what about the cultural aspects of music, like
>fashion, fashion, and fashion?
<snipped for length>
thanks. music is a cultural pointer. the popularity of a type of music (especially since the 70's to now) shows the social trends and idealism of the time. it can also be a pointer how a culture evolves over time. for example: prior to the 1920's there was a large socio-economic gap between the rich and middle classed. one party then would be called a ball and the invitees would be higher on the socio-economic hierachy. the music at the party would be classical.
jazz/swing of the 1930's introduces the club situation. a different social interaction which seems more separated from a higher classed "ball".
preformance also has changed. a classical music audience is sitting in a huge concert hall dressed and listenning. a standing, wild audience of "fans" doesnt happen till the 40's-50's with the birth of rock n roll. you can see where that leads to.
since the 70's there have been several sub styles (unintentoinal alliteration ;-) such that social groups formed around them.
a recent test about stereotypes was done. several teens were question about certain social things: what music they like, what they do in there spare time. another group of teens was supposed to guess these things based on how the person looked, was dressed etc. for the most part the teens guessing were right most of the time, especially about the music the others liked. i think this shows a strong relationship to social behaviors (fashion, speech patterns etc) and a style of music.
marilyn manson's success is due to his format of condensed rebellion. there is a certain conformity amongst teens towards rebelling against there parents and such. (as a 14 year old i notice it a lot) his music (lyrics, cd title "anti christ superstar" specifically) upsets parents. most parents never even read the lyrics but are upset because of what they hear from other people (who probably didnt read the lyrics either). children, noticing what would happen if they listenned to the music, buy the cd. then they are part of a social trend and will respond by a completely different fashion.
now the question is: does the music follow fashion or does fashion follow the music.... or both?
~the great tinkerer