Other Voices: Race, Class, Hype, Adulthood

Happily, there has been a lot of conversation going on all over the place—too much to keep up with!—and it’s been going on for weeks now, much longer than I would have expected any topic to last on the blog circuit. I’m a little meta-’d out, but nonetheless I’ll point you to:

• Sasha Frere-Jones’s most recent response to all his article hath wrought, including a response from Arcade Fire’s Will Butler
• Carl Wilson’s two follow-ups to his Slate article, which further elucidate his points on class issues in indie (a more interesting topic than SFJ’s, I think)
• Richard Crary responds to Wilson’s point about “less being on the line” for kids who spend their twenties rocking out only to start their real lives in their thirties
• Related, Mike Barthel’s post about the “professionalization” of the indie world—both in music-making and in the blogs and other apparatus that go with it
• Matthew Perpetua and John Darnielle both try to bring a little historical perspective to the hype blog conversation [follow-up discussion to John's post here]
  
• And a re-referral to Jess Harvell’s Idolator post, which has had stellar comments that have added a great deal to the discussion

It’s been fascinating to see these three or four topics all synthesize into one larger conversation. To some extent it’s all boiling down to the same complaint: indie rock (apparently) is boring. There’s no rhythm! It’s too nerdy! It’s too careerist! There are too many bands! It’s too disposable!

While we’re at it, perhaps I can toss in one more variable into the mix: we’re growing up. A few months ago I did a post on “Adult Alternative”—basically indie rock for mellowing (i.e., aging) indie kids.

…there does seem to be such a genre, one that didn’t exist five or six years ago but which has quietly come into existence on any thirtysomething indie rocker’s iPod. Feist is far from the only one to occupy this territory. The newest Sea & Cake record, for instance, is so free of rough edges it’s practically dust. KCRW’s celebrated music programming is filled to the gills with underground soft rock. Even my beloved Midlake has garnered their fair share of comparisons to America.

Have we been snookered? How can I read Pitchfork every morning and enjoy an album so palatable my mother-in-law might even like it? How can Pitchfork swoon over [The Reminder] with an 8.8 rating?

It ties in, at least tangentially, with what Wilson and Barthel and Crary are talking about, and also applies to the underlying point just about everyone seems to be making—that indie rock (suddenly!) is boring. Another interesting parallel, while we're at it, between Wilson's posts on class and the boringness of indie and adult alternative is the recent phenomenon of Bruce Springsteen supplanting Brian Wilson as the indie rock muse du jour. Can we talk about the disconnect between Bruce's working-class lyrics and his mostly well-to-do fanbase? Not to mention these bands Wilson tags as "future knowledge workers" covering Bruce at every turn? There's irony in there somewhere, though I don't know that I'm a big enough fan of Bruce to unearth it (full disclosure: I'm not a fucking fan of Bruce at all).

Anyway, I think all of this is related and there's probably another massive post gestating inside me right now, though I think I need to sit on it for a while—I love the conversation but I need to get back to listening to music for a bit.

Comments

[curm]

Don't forget the discussion here:

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=59843#unread

[Richard]

I definitely thought of your earlier post about the mellowing of indie rock in the course of all of this...

Given the array of counter-examples/genres tossed about, I wonder if those of us who thought there was something to Sasha's argument (and think there's more to Wilson's) are mostly older, but because of where we came from musically, we're still sort of easily tapped into a certain strain of indie music, which seems to us to lack something earlier instances of that strain did. But tapping into other musics requires more work and dedication that those of us with full-time (non writing about music) jobs and maybe families don't have available to us anymore (even with the Internet making some of that process more immediate). Roll that in with the fact that even the good stuff we still like is smoothed out, like Feist. Even the new Spoon, which I'm increasingly digging and which has grooves and syncopation and whatever, is way smooth.

Etc. Naturally.

[DW.]

> Can we talk about the disconnect between Bruce's working-class lyrics and his mostly well-to-do fanbase?

I don't buy the contention that his fanbase is "mostly well-to-do"....

[Matthew]

Kinda surprised that you're not including all the post-Oink shutdown discussion, that seems to be a lot more urgent and key to the bigger idea you're pushing at than, say, the Sasha thing.

[scott pgwp]

dw - I could be wrong there - like I said, I'm no fan in the first place - but my perception of Bruce's fans is that they are middle/upper-middle class. I can't back it up, but...

Matthew - to be honest I'm not usually very interested in sites like oink or hype machine or limewire or whatever. Actually I'd never even heard of oink until everything went down last week. I've been skimming the posts but not reading very deeply. Now I feel like I'm missing something!

[Matthew]

The story there isn't really the actual technology, but the way a large chunk of p2p users in general have come to think that they are owed unlimited free music, and have basically deluded themselves into believing that this attitude in some way is progressive and positive for artists.

[the wife]

scott -
i don't think springsteen's fans are only middle class; he began and has succeeded with a large working class fan base as well. (rock it out, new jersey!) the interesting thing about his working class fan base, to me, is how they've morphed from sharing his political views to predominantly filling the christian right wing. remember in the 80's when the working class filled the democratic party? as everyone can see, in the last 15 years or so, the republican party has turned the tides by focusing on religon-based issues. no poll data to support my observation, but just a general idea... i think it's interesting how bruce managed to keep his ideals and his fans... (my guess is that this falls in line with your observation to some degree - more of his vocal fanbase now does seem to be middle to upper middle class, but maybe more as a reflection of their class mobility than his conversion rate to the uninitiated? or is it just a reflection of the ever widening divide between upper and lower, with very little middle class in between?)

so what does this all mean? is this a sign that the country on a whole is longing for the good old days of democratic leadership, as signified by the rekindled obsession with bruce? if "magic" sells really well, does it mean that the democrats will sweep the 2008 election? yeah!!

or is it just a reflection of the nostalgia of a buncha liberal hipsters and their longing for more innocent days?

it's really early in the morning, so i don't know if i am making full sense... but my one personal shout out to bruce would be about his politics. you know how i feel about those goddammned sax solos.

[scott pgwp]

someone needs to do a graph charting political affiliation, religious blief, economic bracket, and love of Springsteen between 1980-2007.

[the wife]

yes!! a venn diagram, please! i wish i had access to those kind of stats... ny times, we need your help!