Ted Gioia explores the oddity of musical tastes on TikTok:
When I was a child, a band called Alvin and the Chipmunks enjoyed a brief taste of fame. Hot bands come and go, but this one had a bizarre back story.
First of all, it didn’t really exist. The band consisted of cartoon chipmunks. In this regard, Alvin and his rodent colleagues get credit for anticipating the anime pop stars of the current day.
Second, these singing chipmunks were more a brand than a band. Because these animals were make-believe, they couldn’t go on tour — but they could sell boatloads of merchandise, from lunch boxes to comic books. This, too, anticipated much of our current music industry — where the side deals often make more money than concerts and records.
But even stranger, this group aimed to imitate the sound of singing chipmunks by speeding up recordings of human vocalists. The end result was arguably the most annoying sound in 20th century music (a rare distinction, that). I can’t stand listening to these tracks, but they somehow won five Grammy Awards. Alvin and the Chipmunks actually enjoyed two number-one singles.
That’s two more than Bob Dylan can claim.
In all fairness, these same tracks sound even worse when slowed down. So maybe there’s something to be said for getting to the end of the song as fast as possible.
But here’s the most surprising part of the story. This sped-up sound also anticipated the contemporary music of our own time — it’s actually one of the hottest trends on TikTok.
The whole music culture, it seems, is now under the sway of a chipmunk aesthetic. This, to my way of thinking, is even more foreboding than all those people who want us to eat bugs and compost our deceased loved ones.
I’m starting to think that Alvin and the Chipmunks belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe I can’t stand listening to the stuff, but these cartoon critters clearly pointed the way to the future. A dark dystopian future, perhaps, but I guess that’s what happens when you treat rodents as role models.
Anyone who discusses “music culture” as a coherent thing right now can safely be dismissed as irrelevant. We live in an age of incredible diversity in music, with a tremendous, almost unthinkable wealth of styles. Want to listen to traditional Mongolian music? Mesopotamian poetry? Rap in Latin? Symphonic metal? New orchestral pieces? Acapella? String quartets? Barbershop quartets? Bluegrass? Choir music? Music written on the ass of a man in a painting of Hell? All can be had at the low cost of a few mouse clicks. YouTube, Spotify, and other venues will provide any song you want (none of these examples were not arguments ad absurdum–I’ve personally listened to examples of each of these). If you get board you can go to Pandora, EveryNoise, and Boil the Frog, among other websites, to find new music to suit your tastes–or provide you with entirely new styles of music you’d never heard of. Record stores–real vinyl records–are also on the rise. You can return to the days of flipping through records to find new music in a physical location in almost any large town in the nation.
There is NO singular direction that modern music is going. For every “chipmunk aesthetic” there are a thousand other bands producing high-quality, entertaining music, most for the sheer joy of producing the music (the money doesn’t hurt but very few get rich off it). To put this in evolutionary terms, the selection pressure has been drastically reduced via the collapse of gatekeepers and the proliferation of self-production in music, and we are witnessing one of the greatest diversification events in music history. The only direction music is going is everywhere.
This comes at a cost: You need to actively engage in music. The days where you can simply tune into the radio station of your choice and experience the best music has to offer are over. Modern radio and social media focus on what’s popular, which means (it’s a mathematical necessity) catering to the lowest-common denominator. Passive listening means you get the dregs, the stuff without meaning, without message, without soul. If you want good music you have to look for it. On the flip side it’s never been easier to find. Anyone capable of writing a blog post by definition is capable of finding the best of whatever style of music they prefer.
In other words: If you find modern music boring, trite, or annoying, it’s YOUR fault. YOU have failed to put even a minimal amount of effort into the experience. And you DESERVE insipid and annoying music because of that failure.
Comment by Dinwar — December 2, 2022 @ 09:16