There was a time

Posted on November 8th, 2012 by James Higham

There was a time, don’t know what to call it, when strange things came out musically. Good, bad? Don’t know:

It was different, perhaps inventive, liked by people who like different and inventive:

Seems to me it was the end of independent, real, challenging. Went downhill after that:

Filed under: History & Culture, Music

4 Responses to “There was a time”

  1. JD, on November 8th, 2012 at 22:49 Said:

    this is better -
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99PDbwrMc3s

    :)


  2. James Higham, on November 9th, 2012 at 05:20 Said:

    JD, you’re wont to use this expression that something else in music is “better”, as if it’s a competition. The pieces presented here are just different aspects of music which had their place at the time and which could be said to have been historical signposts.

    What is art? What is dross? We could agree that Britney Spears through to Winehouse is dross but at least with the latter, there is some sort of artistic integrity.

    Did Dali have artistic integrity? Did the typewriter band? I’d say it’s a grand idea as far as it went, as with Devo. The other two pieces above – jury’s still out.

    Devo, for example, had not only a strange but interesting syncopation [see Jocko Homo] but a message about devolution or if not a message, a running gag:

    The name “Devo” comes “from their concept of ‘de-evolution’ – the idea that instead of continuing to evolve, mankind has actually begun to regress, as evidenced by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.”[4] This idea was developed as a joke by Kent State University art students Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis as early as the late 1960s. Casale and Lewis created a number of satirical art pieces in a devolution vein. At this time, Casale had also performed with the local band 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band).

    They met Mark Mothersbaugh around 1970, who introduced them to the pamphlet “Jocko Homo Heavenbound”,[5] which includes an illustration of a winged devil labeled “D-EVOLUTION” and would later inspire the song “Jocko Homo”. However, the “joke” became serious, following the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, which Casale witnessed.[editorializing] This event would be cited multiple times as the impetus for forming the band Devo.

    That idea that we’re de-evolving, unbeknowns to them, has now become a reality and I’ve seen that these past few days – there’s a post coming up at eleven on it.


  3. JD, on November 9th, 2012 at 08:08 Said:

    why do you intellectualise everything?

    …beware the ‘philistines of verbal orthodoxy!’

    :)


  4. James Higham, on November 9th, 2012 at 10:24 Said:

    Because if we don’t over-intellectualize, we’d leave no room for the free spirits such as yourself, JD, to ask: “Why do you intellectualise everything?”

    And then where would we be? Every free spirit needs a curmudgeon to throw him into sharp relief.


« »