Since last night’s class, I’ve been thinking a lot about our potential for resistance and what resistance means for us right now. As soon as this was brought up, it reminded me of this interview Neil Young where he stated:
“The time when music could change the world is past. I think it would be very naive to think that in this day and age. The world today is a different place, and that it’s time for science and physics and spirituality to make a difference in this world and to try to save the planet.”
That statement has been a dark cloud for me over the past few days. I keep replaying the idea over to myself that if Neil Fucking Young doesn’t think that music can change the world anymore, the man whose music stood as a beacon for so many people, then what is it that we’re supposed to do?
I do not understand the math behind physics, and I vaguely appreciate spirituality to an extent, but music is something that I think I’ve come to understand, in some way or another. Music is something that most people can have access to. And, despite your politics, it’s something that is free. Anyone can make it, anyone can enjoy it. When taught in schools it makes kids smarter. It’s engaging. Maybe it’s not the music’s potential in and of itself to make a difference that’s past, maybe we’re just waiting for the right people to execute the medium correctly again.
Paraphrasing a quotation from a video we watched yesterday, that even if the effort is trivial, but contributes to happiness, then it might be on to something (I do not remember what it was called, help me out if you will). So yes, everything does get appropriated and everything sucks. Despite the fact that I’ve been pretty jaded and bitter about most things in my thinking lately, I think I’m finally getting that even if that is true, it’s at least worth a try to make some sort of change. And why not have fun doing it. It’s clear that we – our culture at large – love the idea of instant pleasure; why not use that for something positive? If everything gets worse and all of my worst fears come true (we all become bottled water drinking, hummer driving, bon jovi loving capitalists) then we can at least say we tried?
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3 comments:
what's interesting about your post is your reference to neil young's statement that music can no longer change the world. it's interesting for a number of reasons, but it's striking because i played young's "don't let it get you down" before we kicked off monday's class precisely because i've been trying to suggest that there is real potential to enact social change, not only through music but through all kinds of cultural practices. neil young may be looking to other areas that might bring about much needed changes, but to privilege one form over another is part of one's evolving views. for every neil young who feels music can't change the world, there is a joe strummer. i think you're right: it's important to grapple with these issues and to seek out pleasurable, gratifying, life-affirming ways of making change possible. it's just a matter of figuring out what works best for you.
i.
for a positive rebuke to neil young's statement, see george lipsitz's footsteps in the dark: the hidden histories of popular music.
i.
if i can get my hands on a copy, it's on the summer reading list for sure.
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