It’s manufactured rebellion, and the youth of today buys into it as if it were crack or something.
It makes my brain hurt. Doesn't the youth of today care about quality? Doesn't anyone appreciate actual talent anymore? It seems as though it should be easy to tell the difference between people who actually play by their own rules and break new ground rather than having an "image" thrown in our faces of "gahh, I'm a rebel, and Rich too!." I bet their parents are getting wealthy off of this nonsensical garbage.
Corporate over saturation has reduced or marginalized the arts so heavily that all kids today can get a pass from my curmudgeon-ing because they have only eaten what they were fed in a world that is built to make them stupid trolls who like garbage like it was their life essence.
This is why it’s better to have been an absolute dork as a teenager. Sure, you’re way more embarrassed, then, but by the time you grow up, you aren’t left with any physical traces of the horror.
What disappoints me the most about “music” that young people today listen to is how much it celebrates the status quo. Rebellion is always presented as achievable through consumption and materialism. Mass produced non-conformity will always equal conformity. There probably should have been a fart joke in there somewhere. Now I just sound bitter. The only thing is that there isn’t really a way out of it. Non-conformity and rebellion are factored into the structure, it’s expected and accepted. Sure people complain or fight against it, but in reality, everyone knows that it is going to happen and is going to either fade, or be brought into the larger, acceptable system.
Technology and the overall speed at which society now moves, has turned all forms of rebellion into commercially viable products. Time was, a “scene” would form and it would take the mainstream public and advertisers a while before they caught on. Now, these companies track these scenes, sponsor them and exploit them before they have a chance to develop a counter-cultural stance. The absolute end of youth culture occurs when non-conformist tendencies are subverted and manufactured, rather than develop organically. The speed really is the terrifying aspect of it. It actually seems to have reached the point where the scenes aren’t even tracked, but are birthed by money making schemes.
America is a country that is built upon the concept of rebellion and revolt, or at least the self-aggrandizing myth of revolution. Any rebellion, no matter how true and honest, is eventually swallowed up by the status quo because “rebellion” is what “America” is.
This whole “Fraggle Glam” movement needs to be stopped. These kids look like transgendered muppets.
