scenes and scenesters
Our band grew out of the punk scene, but we don't really play punk rock. We sure as hell aren't punks. Punk was music to me. I didn't care at all about the scene, and I didn't retreat there to escape an intolerant society. I loved the devil-may-care spirit and rough-around-the-edges qualities of the music, and was drawn to the DIY ethos of it all. However, I always thought the nihilism and accompanying style were basically...silly. Ridiculous, even. Finding solidarity with other like-minded misfits is great, but I was never THAT much of a social maverick. In some ways I was, but I didn't really want to be.
Punk rock, at its core, seems to be grounded in the ideal that making music should never be left to the professionals. For me, that was it. Punk wasn't a way of life, and I didn't care about sticking it to the establishment (although that can be pretty rewarding at times). I never kept it real, and I have no intention of ever doing so.
I don't mean to take issue with punk rock specifically; it's just an example. I just really despise the idea of "scenes" in general. It's all very high school, and though many are formed in opposition to a herd mentality, most embody it. The problem isn't that people in scenes are full of shit. The problem is that everyone everywhere is full of shit, and a scene is a way for some people to pretend that they're not. Don't delude yourself into thinking that those who comprise your little counterculture are any more real or substantial than those who make up mainstream society. Scenes are just like any other group of people: a few winners, a whole lotta losers.
I only bring this up because, as a music fan, it bugs me when people go looking for a scene to join, rather than for bands to like. Some scenes are incidental, and come together entirely by accident, but they still tend to adopt a sameness that eventually becomes dullness. The inbred little cliques that form around music always end up killing it. Communities and scenes, however well-meaning, create expectations. Within any scene, the bands are usually joined by some musical similarity. Inevitably, unwritten rules begin to guide the songwriting. Those in the scene - however tacitly - become reluctant to venture outside the sonic niche. Once a scene establishes a "sound", people start consciously trying to emulate it, and then the whole thing goes belly up.
I music when it's a happy accident. Communities, as warm and fuzzy as they might make us feel, tend to ruin that. As a random assemblage of people becomes a "community", others start forming crappy generic bands just to be a part of it.
The only thing worse than a mindless conformist is a contrived nonconformist. Most people would like to believe that they walk to the beat of their own drums, but really, they just follow different sets of rules.
Punk rock, at its core, seems to be grounded in the ideal that making music should never be left to the professionals. For me, that was it. Punk wasn't a way of life, and I didn't care about sticking it to the establishment (although that can be pretty rewarding at times). I never kept it real, and I have no intention of ever doing so.
I don't mean to take issue with punk rock specifically; it's just an example. I just really despise the idea of "scenes" in general. It's all very high school, and though many are formed in opposition to a herd mentality, most embody it. The problem isn't that people in scenes are full of shit. The problem is that everyone everywhere is full of shit, and a scene is a way for some people to pretend that they're not. Don't delude yourself into thinking that those who comprise your little counterculture are any more real or substantial than those who make up mainstream society. Scenes are just like any other group of people: a few winners, a whole lotta losers.
I only bring this up because, as a music fan, it bugs me when people go looking for a scene to join, rather than for bands to like. Some scenes are incidental, and come together entirely by accident, but they still tend to adopt a sameness that eventually becomes dullness. The inbred little cliques that form around music always end up killing it. Communities and scenes, however well-meaning, create expectations. Within any scene, the bands are usually joined by some musical similarity. Inevitably, unwritten rules begin to guide the songwriting. Those in the scene - however tacitly - become reluctant to venture outside the sonic niche. Once a scene establishes a "sound", people start consciously trying to emulate it, and then the whole thing goes belly up.
I music when it's a happy accident. Communities, as warm and fuzzy as they might make us feel, tend to ruin that. As a random assemblage of people becomes a "community", others start forming crappy generic bands just to be a part of it.
The only thing worse than a mindless conformist is a contrived nonconformist. Most people would like to believe that they walk to the beat of their own drums, but really, they just follow different sets of rules.
posted by Pj at 1:04 PM
4 Comments:
now hey, you can't blame all those terrible generic bands on "scenes." sometimes it's just an unfortunate coincidence that they all know each other.
No, you're right; I can't place all the blame for crappy bands on the scene that spawned them. I did acknowledge the coincidental aspect of it:
"Some scenes are incidental, and come together entirely by accident, but they still tend to adopt a sameness that eventually becomes dullness."
I sound like a bit of a prick, I guess. Don't get me wrong; I like groups of people, friends getting together, etc...these things are good. For the bands, though, scenes (some much moreso than others) almost invariably stifle creativity. People - perhaps not even on purpose - might be hestitant to explore certain sounds that might not be palatable within said scene.
I didn't mean to denigrate any one particular scene. Myself, I might be more inclined to say something like, "I am from NYC. We have great bands and great people," rather than "I am a part of this scene."
It's just semantics and labeling. I'm weird like that.
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actually, i feel like "scene" is one of those words people bandy about but don't take seriously, or at least it should be. a word always said with quotation marks.
it makes more sense to say something like "i'm from such and such place, here's what's good about it," as you suggested. anyone who buys into more than that is probably making up for a number of things and shouldn't be listened too to closely.
and you don't sound like a prick, don't worry.
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