RE: The Mind Owned - The story of traditional music versus the modern music industry staking out the mind as territory
A reply from my friend Tom in Australia not on Steemit,
That was a good read, well structured. The first four paragraphs paints the foundation in black and white and from there you have done well moving through the rest of the article towards the desire to be extra ordinary, like we all should pimp out our lives and join the pop circus.
I agree with your view, the modern evolution of music from my perspective seems to be like that of a funnel that concentrates down to one category/output which is popular pop music, and as you wrote void of substence. Music, like all forms in the family of artistic expression has great power through experiencing it. We all know the times we experienced a piece of cinema, music, a novel etc that shook us down to our core and in hindsight seen how that touched us in ways that helped shape our perspective on life, positively speaking.
But as you noted that coin can be easily flipped to a negative impact, I do wonder what perspective I would have if being born a generation later with the influx of 'smart' devices and being bombareded with the latest pop culture at a much earlier age.
Growing up with Disney and later MTV helped influence my enjoyment of stupidity, of course it wasn't all bad but I could have invested much of my time elsewhere but through a developed interest in cinema where I discovered good filmmaking I was able to sort out the shit from shinola. As long as its consumed it will be reproduced, I suggest to get off the main roads and explore.
Here is my reply with edits,
I'm also at this point. Learning to be ordinary. Which before, would have shat me as a life not good enough or not worth living, yet now is my panacea.
So yeah, there is still residue of my crazy life before that bleeds into this requirement to be ordinary, but actually, I can now honestly say that even my old desires are fading away as I stop reacting to them. I still have the occasional urge to stir the pot and have inspiration to write about 'important' subjects. But I realise now that written or not, these things on paper aren't going to change the world and that's ok.
It's nice to believe it does though, and separating that belief energy from reality is certainly challenging.
Because real reality, the one I live in today, is just plain. Getting used to this plainness is all there is to do, anything 'extra' is a bonus, but not to be missed if it is taken away. We live in a world where we are constantly told we can have more than life and that's why we have so much trouble living life as it is because we have becomed accustomed to eating rich foods when reality is just potatoes and oranges.
It suits consumer society to have us craving what doesn't exist but what does it do for our happiness? I've met happy people living simply in small villages and when I say happy, I just mean content. Not abundantly joyful but satisfied with the work of their hands and their lives.
We lack this in western consumer culture. I explored this living in a forest squat south of London for eight months back in 2011. I have never been more satisfied with my living. Making my own house, digging a well for water and becoming accustomed to simple pleasures and really enjoying them.
Thanks for your views on the article. This subject has been a realm of observation close to my mind a lot in the past few years. I've finally spat it out in a way that is digestible. So getting it out and really feeling it, and putting it right down to a point in a short article gives me a personal boost because now I can engage in informed discussions on the subject by sharing it.
I also wonder what life would be like if I was born one generation later would I still have found a way to be so 'individual'?
One thing I've noticed with myself is if I ever get too lost in the electronic world I lose motivation to do things I would like to do outside of the electronic world and I also lose that authentic creativity which I keep in a small room in my heart.
By isolating myself from apps and technology, living a normal life and doing things like writing with a pad and pen, finding a routine and generally taking care of myself - I've found a balance.
It's like people need to be taught to walk again.