The Gradual Death Of Culture
With the Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa hologram tour hitting UK shores this month, Prog writer puts the case against…
The creation, production and consumption of music have always been driven by changes in technology and an eye on the bottom line. so while the shift in emphasis from recorded music to live work has seen any number of bands reunite for one last payday – often through gritted teeth and separate travel arrangements – the emergence of hologrammed performances from deceased musicians now ensures greater margins but with none of the hassles attached to feuding bandmembers.
Which is all well and good for the bean counters and the owners of the late artist’s estate, but less so for everyone else. shorn of the context and circumstances that led to the creation and subsequent presentation of a work, what we are looking at here is the gradual death of culture.
this may sound pompous and over-dramatic, but consider the evidence. at a time when new talent is facing increasing challenges in the face of small- to medium-sized venues struggling to stay open, and music platform algorithms determining what gets played and promoted, what’s needed is a concerted effort to invest in our future and not to be stuck in a loop that’s forever reliving the past. Moreover, nostalgia is one thing, but we’re now entering the kind of territory that formed the basis of ridley scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic, blade runner, where someone else’s memories are being experienced in an ersatz fashion by those who weren’t there.
and let’s not kid ourselves that this is the way for new fans to discover the music. as long as there’s a back catalogue to be listened to, then converts will always be found. supporters will argue that fans will be able to hear freshly unearthed recordings that will be brought to life for the first time while conveniently forgetting that things stay buried for a reason. but crucially, the personality and very humanity that beats at the heart of any given musician’s popularity and performance will be removed and replaced by scripted tropes and moves to render the notion of spontaneity utterly redundant.
by all means, go and listen to your favourite recordings by your favourite artist but make the effort to look forward and not back. We need to be progressive in our outlook or it’s game over.
Updating the oft-repeated phrase erroneously credited to frank Zappa, watching musical holograms is like dancing to digital architecture. and really, where’s the fun in that?
Julian Marszalek