Listening to Phil Ochs has rejuvenated my interest in rock music. It has made me wonder what the music of the 60's
might have been and
what it actually became. It might have been a raw, visceral force which rallied the energy and idealism of young men and women. What it did become is a tool which served the vested interests and hypocrisy of old men and women. While the rockers sang even louder about injustice and alienation they became insanely rich and gradually merged into the benign and benevolent embrace of the establishment. Their protestations became empty, hollow and meaningless. The aging wolf still snarled, but it had lost its bite. It had become a sheep in wolf's clothing. It sang for the herd of sheep passively grazing in the meadows.
In stock market terminology "herd instinct" is defined as "a mentality characterized by a lack of individual decision-making or thoughtfulness, causing people to think and act in the same way as the majority of those around them". Understanding and manipulating herd behavior can be profitable not only for hedge funds and bankers but also for the recording industry. The music industry thrives on periodically creating and bosting a new kid on the block who becomes
the idol for a herd of frenzied teenagers. A couple of years later everybody has moved on and discovered another kid on the block. All these idols enjoying their 15 minutes of fame create abysmally juvenile and plebeian music. Music which addresses the lowest common denominator of the listening population.
On a slightly raised level you have bands which become iconic for several generations of listeners. Their music is endlessly remastered and recycled for new generations of fans, until the boredom factor sets in and this 'trending' band is no longer trendy or fashionable. In the late 60's and 70's 'alienation' and 'angst' were trendy and fashionable words adopted by a herd of adolescents in the west. This trend gave birth to literally hundreds of bands hollering, screaming, shrieking and moaning about alienation and the empty soulless system which devoured the individual. Among the most iconic bands of these times was Pink Floyd. They released mega selling albums like Dark Side of The Moon, The Wall and Wish You Were Here. As a teenager I too was caught in the frenzy of DSOM and The Wall. But after a couple of years I got bored with the music. It began to sound juvenile and monotonous. I attempted to go beyond the hype generated by the media and analyzed the music on my own terms. I came to the conclusion that the music was soporofic and soothing. It was like a warm water soak after the grind of a hot and dusty day. It was like warming your hands in front of a cozy fireplace in the comfort of our homes. But the fire simmered gently. It didn't hiss and crackle and let of sparks in the way that the music of singers like Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and James Brown did.
And the words don't seem to mean
anything. They seem to sound 'poetic' to a vast multitude of listeners around the world, but to me they sound like excruciatingly bad poetry. Merely bricks piled helter-skelter into another wall of mediocrity and conformity.
"
Us and them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do
....Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and Down
And in the end it's only round and round and round"
"Mother loves her baby, and daddy loves you too.
And the sea may look warm
And the sky may look blue
Ooooh babe
Ooooh baby blue"...
If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
Am I missing something here