3 Ideas

“Whereas psychedelic rock musicians tried to look like their audiences, many glam rock fans tried to duplicate the looks of their favorite performers.” (Auslander, pg 60)

Whatever the newest pop sensation is within our society there will always be imitations and representations from both sides (audience and performers) that reflect what the current status of conscious is. By reflecting the audience’s look, the performers within the counterculture movement were representing this idea of self-reflection and introspection. Although gender relations may not have prospered during this time period I still feel that the counterculture movement as a whole was necessary in stepping towards reaching our greater potential as humans. The process of introspection lead to understanding more about the power and freedom every individual within society has and how to tap into that energy. By dressing out of the norm Glam rockers and their audience reflected another important aspect of humanity that had yet to come into the public sphere. That is the idea that every individual being is as equal as the next, and therefore no matter how crazy or unnatural you look you are still a part of the whole.

“Gender identity was another front on which glam challenged psychedelic rock…because it disputed the ideology of authenticity by posting gendered identities as constructed rather than natural.” (Auslander, pg 40)

The psychedelic rock and hippie counterculture movement provided a new space for conversations to take place. Unfortunately these new spaces still did not involve gender identity and understanding. Yes, there was a side to it that spoke of open-mindedness and sexual liberty but in the end the hippie movement still embodied straight male dominated views. Glam rock focused on the campy aspects of performance and in turn caused a whole new space for conversation about gender identity. By bringing ideas such as transvestism into the public sphere, Glam rock made our culture question what roles are assumed within society.

“(Glam) reacted against the obligation to be socially conscious by returning to Rock and Roll’s favorite themes: girls, cars, dancing and sex.” (Auslander, 51)

Themes brought up in Glam such as girls, cars, dancing and sex are entirely fabricated and synthesized to fit into our hegemonic culture. Unfortunately for society popular culture tends to create patterns of oversimplification and generalizations. This has a negative effect on people and our society because it limits our ability to evolve, diverge and progress as a species. I feel that even though Glam rock was the counterculture for all but fifteen minutes, the actual idea of it being counter to anything is almost laughable. Glam embraced these ideas of hegemony and at the same time challenged them in ways not seen before in pop culture; such as the cross-dressing and female personas. Unfortunately this challenge and embrace of ideals within our culture ultimately failed to act a s a catalyst for real change because the music was mostly awful and it supported the idea that humans were simply here to have a good time. Although I would like to believe the latter part, I am not going to sit around in a state of ignorant bliss such as the Glam rockers because I know the world and humanity can evolve to a much higher state of understanding and conscious.

Are you listening?

When playing music how often do you think the person/people listening are actually listening? I use the term with emphasis because I feel there are two derivations one can acquire from the word ‘listening’. As I’m writing this blog I have music turned up, although it’s playing through my stereo I am still able to write with a steady stream of consciousness. I cannot actually listen to the music in a sense of connecting to the words and the instruments, but I can hear the song playing. If I were to stop writing and focus on the lyrical content and instrumentation of the current song (Jimi Hendrix- Crosstown Traffic), I would be truly listening rather than hearing the song.
This idea of listening has been around for about as long as humans have been communicating, maybe even longer if you believe there is conscious communication between other organisms on this planet. I feel that the cultural root of connecting to music is engrained in our history of spoken tradition. Early human beings used language as a way to communicate ideas and pass along knowledge; therefore oral tradition became a form of connecting. Music provides a space that utilizes more than just an oral tradition, but introduces instruments as another form of communication. Early civilizations used ‘simple’ instruments such as hide skin drums and rattlers but now we have access to an almost infinite number of instruments (talking about the use of computer programs to synthesize sound).
I feel that often within popular music today the lyrics and production are not geared towards reaching out and connecting to the audience. This is a transformation from the radical 60’s and 70’s where the ideas of feminism were just beginning to mesh into the public sphere. Whiteley discusses how folk music evolved beyond purely acoustic and this caused a shift in the music “in that the blending of musical boundaries led to a more broad-based acceptance of stylistic diversity.” (Whiteley, pg 74) This diversity therefore allowed artists to express themselves in new ways and open new doors such as discussing feminism in the public sphere. By changing the musical content these activists continued the evolution of consciousness.
Joni Mitchell provides a good example as someone who used these new opportunities to speak her mind and express her feelings. Another artist Whiteley mentions is Buffy St Marie who projected a diversity of images, “to write unconventional love lyrics and songs which confronted social and political issues, national and its impact on the American Indian.” (Whiteley, pg 74-75) This openness relates to my point about listening. The artists who speaks from their thoughts and their emotions is the one who wants you to listen. Although I admit to not listening to music 100% of the time, I make it a point to play music that was made to be listened too. The female artists of the 60’s and 70’s exemplified this aspiration to express themselves and therefore open doorway’s for women that had never been there before.

Janis Joplin and the Endeavors of Societal Pressures

Some believe that Janis Joplin was a hero for women and the feminist movement, I feel that she was an insignificant character in the long run but provided a new light within the changing gender dynamics of the 60’s. Although she may have brought people together with music during her lifetime, she did not have an overall greater positive effect on societal views and beliefs in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy most of her music. There’s something so raw and emotional about Janis that makes me feel what she’s feeling. I just think that Janis as a person is a reflection of a side of society that we try and ignore. She was insecure and tended to have addictive behaviors.

I was talking with a friend today who often goes to slams and is very active within the slam/poetry community. My friend asked me if I thought it was possible to create artwork (poems, drawings, etc) without utilizing extreme emotions. I think that this question is entirely based on personal experience and the individual you are discussing. In Janis Joplin’s case her emotions entirely ran her performance and her creativity. Although another factor reflected in Janis’ work is the drug and alcohol abuse she still had intense emotional outbreaks and tended to let her emotions run her actions. Interestingly enough she used the drugs to suppress her most intense emotions of loneliness and insecurity (which might just be a state of mind and not necessarily an emotion). This is all reflected in Janis’ work and even though I don’t consider her that influential in women’s rights I do think she was important to the musical movement of the 60’s and conscious awareness (as far as gender relations go).

I feel that Janis Joplin’s role as a leader and pop star was painful to learn about. It seems that Janis was thrown into a position that many artists and pop stars have to deal with, especially today. A position where they have become larger than life and therefore they are treated as idols within the eyes of the public. I feel that Janis’ role during the 60’s quickly became what some refer to as a “circus act”. This circus act I talk about is the craze that the media accumulates by focusing intensely on artists and their personal lives. At first the media said Janis needed to leave Big Brother and the Holding Company because she wasn’t the focus. Then the public criticized her for following their advice and said she was egotistical and ‘too big for her britches’. Not only was she receiving criticism from the media and public but she was also meant to lead this new band (Kozmic Blues Band) made up of professional musicians, at the age of 26. I think that Jerry Rodnitzky simply wraps up Janis’ contributions well, “In October 1970, at age 27, she died of a heroin overdose while the Vietnam War raged.”(Rodnitzky, pg 2) I use this example because it is incredibly depressing to think that an influential character (in many people’s opnions) such as Janis could only worry about her immediate problems, and in doing so managed to kill herself during one of the biggest shifts in social conscious of human history.

An artist who reminds me of Janis Joplin is Grace Potter from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Grace seems to have followed a similar path compared to Joplin as far as exploding in popularity at a young age. The two women performers also share a passion and expression of creativity that is impossible to neglect when listening to their music. I bring up Grace because I feel that she is an evolution of Janis Joplin into what Janis could have been. It will be interesting to see her development as time goes on and to see where society stands as far as gender relations go. I’m hoping we can learn from artists like Joplin and Potter to appreciate the artists for who they are and not let this cultural obsession blur our vision.

Consciousness & Media

The idea of consciousness is something I’ve only recently began to think about and discuss with others in the past several years. I feel that there are many paths one can take to learning about consciousness and how it affects the human body and mind. In the first three chapters we read from Whiteley there is a resonating theme of consciousness. She discusses why, although considered a progressive era, the 60’s and 70’s celebration of ‘sexual liberty’ allowed for the objectification of women to continue. Whiteley also discusses several examples of how women were portrayed in different lights through music and media. The idea of consciousness plays an important role in pop culture (the music Whiteley talks about) because in my opinion pop culture acts as a reflection of society as a whole and what our interests are.
Feminism is an active example of consciousness in the process of activism. While not every women who considers herself a feminist agrees with every ‘feminist’ belief, there is still a unifying idea that they are fighting to gain power (whether that be for equality, acceptance, justice, etc.) In Whiteley’s book, she discusses how the ‘progressive’ era of the sixties and seventies still degraded women in an oppressive matter. “…both the lifestyle and the musical ethos of the period undermined the role of women, positioning them as either romanticized fantasy figures, subservient earth mothers or easy lays.” (Whiteley, pg 23) This seems a bit extreme to me, but through her discussion and examples of songs such as Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones it is possible to see how she is able to make those connections. I like the first chapter conclusion and how Whiteley discusses the duality of the progressive sixties movement in comparison to the derogatory messages and ideas spread by male dominated music. “At the time, it provided a ‘commonsense’ notion of the ideological framing of women which was both spontaneous and repressive.” (pg. 29)
Whiteley also talks about Dusty Springfield, a successful female artist that struggled to deal with many of the pressures that accompany popularity within pop culture. Her self-confidence struggled as she constantly had to deal with media bombardments. “The press has also become increasingly curious about her private life, alluding to affairs with both men and women.” (Whiteley, pg 24) Pop stars within the Western world have always been idolized and worshipped, and in my opinion this causes a sense of reality distortion both in the case of the public and the star. By placing these people on pedestals we are defining what a person should look or act like. Not only does this intense focus on the individual create a false perception of that person but it also causes the pop star to undergo a lot of expectational (I couldn’t think of a fitting word) pressure, such as what Dusty Springfield went through.
With the development of technology recently, this sensation of pop star obsession has sky rocketed in popularity. In the 60’s and 70’s the only media available to the public was through radio, newspaper, and limited television (limited compared to today). Now everyone and their little sibling(s) have access to online media, and can therefore keep up with the latest pop sensation. I feel that because of this, popular culture and media cause the continuation of hegemonistic views that support the objectification and idealization of women. Media also attempts to diffuse movements by misrepresentation and false accusations. “With ‘women’s liberation’ constructed by the media as ‘bra-burning radicals’ and misrepresented by so-called progressive men…”(Whiteley, pg 29) This power of the media has been present since the development of printed news, and even before that when religious leaders lead the masses. By acknowledging media’s role in our society we can understand how it affects the consciousness of the public sphere, and in an attempt to help free society (from the shackles of white male dominance) we need to utilize the media itself to shift these ideas.