Cultural commentator in shock conclusion: "pop's not what it used to be"

If rock stars are our functional equivalent of Greek gods, cultural criticism is our version of scholastic debate. The big wheel has turned, now the arrow is pointing at grunge. Everyone it seems agrees that, while great music was made, in the end the music industry killed the Seattle Scene. Where did it all go wrong?

Colin Horgan of the Graun isn't sure but does an interesting turn trying to find out.

Two points have to be mentioned. (1) All culture is in some way retrospective. Any completely original sight or sound is in fact a new combination of old ones. Things have to be that way. Inspiration must predate composition. (2) It is difficult to make an unambigous case for Generation X passion and activism without acknowledging its obvious passivity. The climax to the generation's consider anthem is, after all, "I tried so hard/So hard to find/Oh well/Whatever/Never mind". Exhausted acceptance of the system began long before the Strokes, Is This It?

The conclusion?

In this context, hipster nostalgia makes a crazy sort of sense: rather than summon the energy for a defining statement of anger or outrage, Gen Y has only mustered a shrug, and waited as the consumerism that grunge initially fought off washes over.


"It's sad to think what the state of rock'n'roll will be in 20 years from now," Cobain told Azerrad. "It just seems like when rock'n'roll is dead, the whole world's gonna explode … it's already turned into nothing but a fashion statement and an identity for kids to use as a tool."


Rock'n'roll has gone from a linear derivative art form to an abstracted, nominal designation. It's not dead, just more or less spent.

There's just one problem. Who gives a flying monkey-wotsit if rock and roll is dead or not? The idea that pop music is some kind of vector for significant social change is based on a brief conjecture, mostly an illusion, sustained by baby-boomer arrogance. The 1960s counterculture fought its toughest battles in the United States. In the end, however, it was an attempted alternative capitalism. There is no capitalist alternative to capitalism, as all the current headscratching about the recession and the sovereign debt crisis should just be further proof. You either accept the system or you don't... as Kurt Cobain found out.

The author hints at a reason why this slow death is taking place. The medium of rock and roll is (or was) the single*, which is now an almost defunct form. At the smallest scale the cultural cycle is so fast now rock and roll seems a pedestrian art now. Whole cultural phenomena can rise and fall while a rock band spends 18 months diddling about recording its new album.

* A sub-medium would be the radio.