Hardship
is a powerful catalyst for change. When the chips are down, governments are
failing and hip-pocket nerves are raw, a rising undercurrent of musical angst
invariably follows. And when the banks of that river of discontent burst and
overflow into the mainstream airwaves, you have yourself a music revolution.
The cycle of social unrest reflected in a wave of musical angst has revolved
for 5 decades, and in 2012 the planets of financial pain and social discontent
are lining up once more. Change is a'-comin'...
Some
of the most enduring and game-changing music of the past 50 years was borne
from the roots of global economic downturn or war. The hugely unpopular Vietnam
War, under the guiding hand of an even more despised President Nixon, spawned a
decade of protest songs that changed the shape of music. The blissful naivety
of the '60's 'Hard Day's Night' era gave way to a new wave of angst and biting
lyrical cynicism moving into the '70's, the likes of which had not been seen
before, in the shape of Dylan-esque epics like 'All Along the Watchtower',
rip-roaring Hendrix riffs of anti-Americanism, and a second-wave of mid-'70's
protest prodigies, the likes of Springsteen and Don Walker (the reclusive, brooding
and largely unheralded genius behind Cold Chisel).
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| Yeah, we get it, Bob. More or less... |
The '80's saw a rebirth of disco-infused optimism and synthesized bubblegum pop commercialism dominating the airwaves in the wake of a new global economic boom. But when the ass fell out of Wall Street in '87, suddenly there were stockbrokers base-jumping from skyscrapers without parachutes. Devastating financial aftershocks rippled across the world, squeezing suburban hip pockets for another 5-7 years. Jobs were hard to come by and interest rates spiralled. For the jobless and the struggling, 'I Should Be So Lucky' just didn't ring true anymore... luck was hard to come by. Clean-living, pink shirts and pointy shoes gave way to drugs, faded flannelettes and grimy beanies. Big-haired lycra-clad '80's glam-rockers the likes of Poison and Motley Crue became an urban joke. The kids wanted some gritty reality in their music that reflected the harsh realities of life.
When three struggling young underground punks from Washington DC calling themselves
Nirvana signed a deal for a second album in '91 with rising Seattle label
Geffen, that wish was squarely delivered. The raw and biting anti-pop punk-rock
masterpiece 'Nevermind' gave the world a much-needed shot in the arm of gritty
angst. Cobain and his crew spearheaded a new urban assault against
superficiality, commercialism and authority, symbolically knocking Michael
Jackson from the Billboard number 1 spot, and unleashing the grunge revolution.
Nirvana's meteoric and sweeping global conquest took the industry by storm and
forced the corporate puppet-masters to rethink the face of music, opening the
floodgates for a legion of emerging underground hard-rock talent who gave the
metaphorical finger to mainstream pop- the likes of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and
Alice In Chains.
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| Moisture is the essence of wetness... |
Down
under, a bunch of unknown 14-year-old kids from Newcastle, originally known as
The Innocent Criminals, and later adopting the alternate tag Silverchair
(derived from Nirvana's 'Sliver' mis-spelled, and You Am I's 'Berlin Chair'),
released a gritty little garage-tinged EP which doubled as a school music
assignment, which went ballistic on a global scale on the back of their debut
single 'Tomorrow'.
Pop once more faded into irrelevance, unceremoniously brushed aside by the global
bulldozer that was the grunge revolution.
As economies gradually rebuilt from the ashes of the '87 crash, the rising
breed of Gen X-ers found they had more green lining their pockets, and less to
complain about coming into the new millenium. Cobain had long-since become a victim of
his own anti-everything. Suddenly
their little sisters were jumping about on the couch in tube skirts and red
wigs to the sounds of a group of lip-synching Poms, aka the Spice Girls, a
manufactured product of the re-invigorated corporate world. The global boom was kicking into full
swing, the punters' bank accounts were swelling, and plasma TV's appeared in
every living room. Optimism was back with a vengeance, and along with it, the
return of pop.
As
the fortunes of the guy on the street grew, it now seemed OK when
synthetic iTunes popstars crooned shamelessly about the size of their own
bloated wallets, gloated over their stable of Mercedes, their diamonds, their
bling and perfect lives. The kids lapped it up! Why? Because this was their destiny in the new millenium. Bling-pop connected with the rising belief amongst GenY-ers that every kid was
destined for fortune, fame or both.
But
the only certainty in this world is change. And just as it had done every 20
years or so for half a century, change arrived like a tsunami in '07 in the
form of a titanic Wall Street correction, spawned by the very same
taking-success-for-granted attitude that had become an endemic theme in
commercial pop music and living rooms around the world. The aftershocks of the
GFC continue to ripple globally, and pundits predict a much slower recovery
than in '87, perhaps another 5 years (and probably far longer for the likes of
Greece and Spain).
Whilst
many punters have been insulated from the full impact of the GFC thus far, as
time goes by and the ripples continue to spread, that insulation is likely to
be eroded. And as unemployment inevitably grows and hip-pocket pain starts to
grate over the coming years, a change in attitude in music, and a re-emergence
of angst and protest in mainstream airwaves is on the cards. What form that
change takes remains to be seen... a re-emergence of angsty pop-punk? A new
wave of gritty industrial electronica? Or a re-awakening of informed and
cynical hard-rock?
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| Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Killer: The Early Years |
Whatever
shape it may take- change, she is a'-comin'...
Viva
La Revolution!
