generally, the last years, or even decades, there was a rising interest in a specific decade - the 80s. lots of revivals, retrospectives and lots of other retros. what was significant for me was that they painted a much, much different picture of the 80s then the one i lived through. i was born on the 16th november 1980 - so basically i lived through almost all of the 80s. whether the situation in germany was different to the rest of the world and and thus different to the picture of the usually usa and uk centered retrospectives of the 80s, whether my own situation was different, or whether there is a redefinition of a decade going on as part of cultural warfare - i don't know. all i can do is write down my personal account of the 80s.
first of all, the 80s was a political decade. the left movement was strong. the peace movement was strong. the ecology movement was strong. the punk movement was strong. images of riots, demonstrations, rallies, greenpeace, left terrorism and activism on the television defined my early childhood. the left was simply a major player these years, including the radical left. it cannot be compared to our current days, where it has withered, and is far from being a hearable voice in public debate, even farther from being a force in society.
i remember in the early 2000s talking to an anarchist friend about the riots in genova and other cities, that were part of the anti-globalization then. his comment was the riots were all good, but, back in the 80s one would not have to travel annually to far away cities for this, but there were similar riots in hamburg and other large cities of germany every weekend!
apart from the anarchist rioters, the peace and fairly new ecological movements were another factor in society. and unlike the rioters their voices also had a bigger effect on debates in the more mainstream of societies. i remember my oldest brother ran into trouble at school because he brought coca-cola for the break inbetween classes. coca-cola, a money-minded corporation from capitalist usa! the teachers and parents were shocked!
of course germany in the 80s was far from being a "riot nation" - but it was, to a degree.
but getting beyond leftism, the 80s were dominated by politics either way. the cold war was in full effect, and talk about a possible war, the danger of nuclear bombs, the relationship to russia and the eastern bloc, as well as the revolts and changes that went on in the "third world" totally dominated public discourse and the media these years, till the fall of the eastern wall.
yet, there was also a wholly different thing about the 80s. it was still the space age. there was an interest in everything science, astronomy, space, science fiction, that too was a part of societal live and society. the then new synthpop music was full of space themes, science fiction movies generally attracted a large audience, there were plenty of documentaries relating to everything space on TV. if you think "interest in space" today, you think of a scifi nerd teen maybe, but if you seen some 80s TV shows or documentaries on this topic, you will remember serious, well combed and dressed adult men talking about and taking an earnest interest in "mars flights until the year 2000" or the possibility of alien life, or the future moon colonization, with a seriousness towards these things that is baffling for today's audience (because now we are sure we will not live on the moon in the next 50 years... or will we?). this definitely gives a picture of how it was then.
of course, similar with leftism, not everyone was a spacehead in the 80s. but it definitely was not the nerd thing it was by 1996 - but played a part in the societal mainstream.
this were my 80s. did i get the wrong picture due to my young age? or do people of our era can not dive deep into a gone decade, and necessarily they're the ones with the wrong picture? over the years, with snippets of tv shows or films from the 80s, i get the idea that my picture is maybe not as subjective as it might appear at first.
so, now we have 2016, and it seems that maybe these things are not as gone and far away as one might have thought between 2000-2010. there is definitely a growing interest in politics. there is real political talk and debates again. there is a heightened interest in anarchism.
space themes and science fiction, in music tv and film make a comeback. when it was announced earlier this year, that a 9th (10th?) planet might be discovered soon in our solar system, and the mainstream news was eager to pick this up and run the story, i got a positive vibe of "retro-future shock". because this was definitely close to the feelings towards these things in the long gone by decade.
Plato's Anarchy
plato's theory of forms can be seen in a purely intellectual way. of certain theories, ideas, concepts, thoughts, pure versions can be conceived. this can be seen best in the field of mathematics, with it's pure, irrefutable logic, formulas, theorems and abstractions. what is noteworthy is that in the history of philosophy, these thinkers that dealt with plato's theory of forms usually put their focus only on ideas that are friendly to existing society and hierarchy; such as the question of a pure government. yet if we assume that on an intellectual level we can imagine a pure version to any idea or thought (such as pure justice to justice, or pure freedom to freedom), this also goes for ideas that are neglected by and are dirty to society. pure rebellion, pure anarchy, pure resistance, pure chaos. the theory of anarchism and resistance has to exist on an abstract, wholly intellectual, "higher" level too (while at the same time, of course, staying a real world affair). so let's indulge in that.
Music And Politics - Part 2
there are two main points that are brought forth when talking about the connection of politics and music. the first is that one should not *force* artists to develop a connection with politics. that it is the choice of the artist whether he wants to do political or unpolitical art. what quickly becomes visible though is that the same people readily get angry about political art and artists. if it's freedom of choice, shouldn't the choice to be political be respected too? seems these types have a very one-sided definition of freedom, and of choice. but that is not the main thing i want to say. the thing is that no artwork is merely the artwork to itself. art always has a cultural connection, a social connection, a connection to the individual, the artist - and always a political connection! there is simply no unpolitical art. every art also has a political message that it communicates to the audience. it's so strange that in our times there is such a focus on the social and other connections of the artist - how was his childhood, his youth, his ethnic background, was he raised religiously - but almost no interest in the political convictions of the artist. if the culture or social surrounding influenced his artworks, why shouldn't have his political connection left a mark on his art? in fact even when there is a piece written or a documentary segment made about a band whose political connection can't be denied, like some bands from 70s punk or 60s rock, this is then downplayed to some kind of general 'social discontent' or social flux. the actual political ideas of the artists in question are rarely mentioned and almost never debated.
saying the political ideas of an artist have no influence on his or her art is like saying the social and cultural situation of jamaica had no impact on the history of reggae music.
note that this not only goes for particular "leftradical" or other artists, but every artist, because every artist (and person) has political ideas.
art doesn't exist in a vacuum and just as everyone understands that the cultural background and personal biography of an artist has an impact on his or her art, it should be understood that the political opinions of the artist have an impact on the art - whether the artist wants it or not.
which brings us to the second point. when saying that art should be political - does that put down artists that are unpolitical? well again it is no "should", but every form of art *is* political. but, what this kind of statement hints at is that some art doesn't have an obvious political statement. but take oldschool gabber or early breakcore for example, even if there was no political statement visibly attached to a track, the raw power, anger, defiance of this music was a politically anarchist and nihilist statement by itself. even more so than a lot of outright political punk bands, for example. this music was anarchist in every way, so the call for political music takes nothing away from it. now there are a lot of electro, minimal, chic house type of producers. i never "bought" that they're unpolitical. they're celebrating luxury lifestyles in their music, expensive clothing, cars, clubs. it's in their lyrics. so they're completely capitalist, hyper-capitalist, to the point it becomes ridiculous. so a lot of people think this is unpolitical music, just for dancing and having a good time at the weekend, but it's deeply, very serious pro-capitalist music actually. but the point is, even if the producers had no intention to do political music, it would be political. because every music is political. if there would be a way, that a producer is really completely freeing himself of all conscious political influence in his music, then i think this would be very risky, because some random political content would fill this gap - because music *has* to be political - and influence his audience and this would be very dangerous. so maybe, in a way, we should be glad in a way that the common techno producers of this day are capitalists. but, of course, there are much better alternatives.
so, saying that music is political is not forcing anything, or devaluing anything. it's just stating a fact.
saying the political ideas of an artist have no influence on his or her art is like saying the social and cultural situation of jamaica had no impact on the history of reggae music.
note that this not only goes for particular "leftradical" or other artists, but every artist, because every artist (and person) has political ideas.
art doesn't exist in a vacuum and just as everyone understands that the cultural background and personal biography of an artist has an impact on his or her art, it should be understood that the political opinions of the artist have an impact on the art - whether the artist wants it or not.
which brings us to the second point. when saying that art should be political - does that put down artists that are unpolitical? well again it is no "should", but every form of art *is* political. but, what this kind of statement hints at is that some art doesn't have an obvious political statement. but take oldschool gabber or early breakcore for example, even if there was no political statement visibly attached to a track, the raw power, anger, defiance of this music was a politically anarchist and nihilist statement by itself. even more so than a lot of outright political punk bands, for example. this music was anarchist in every way, so the call for political music takes nothing away from it. now there are a lot of electro, minimal, chic house type of producers. i never "bought" that they're unpolitical. they're celebrating luxury lifestyles in their music, expensive clothing, cars, clubs. it's in their lyrics. so they're completely capitalist, hyper-capitalist, to the point it becomes ridiculous. so a lot of people think this is unpolitical music, just for dancing and having a good time at the weekend, but it's deeply, very serious pro-capitalist music actually. but the point is, even if the producers had no intention to do political music, it would be political. because every music is political. if there would be a way, that a producer is really completely freeing himself of all conscious political influence in his music, then i think this would be very risky, because some random political content would fill this gap - because music *has* to be political - and influence his audience and this would be very dangerous. so maybe, in a way, we should be glad in a way that the common techno producers of this day are capitalists. but, of course, there are much better alternatives.
so, saying that music is political is not forcing anything, or devaluing anything. it's just stating a fact.
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