==============================
I've always been grasping to define that quality that makes "80s" music distinctive. Now, the reason I put "80s" music in quotes is because by "80s" music we mean white, middle-class 80s music. There were many other types of prominent 80s music (for example, hip-hop, hard rock & metal...which corresponded, roughly, to working-class blacks and working-class whites, respectively), so it is interesting in and of itself that white middle-class 80s music was able to get itself defined as the flagship for "80s" music.
(BTW, this is kinda how my vulgar Marxist mind might approach music in America:
*Pre-1950s: Jazz: middle-class blacks and white adults. Other orchestral/big band dancing music and classical music: middle-class and bourgeois white adults.
*1950s: Rock & Roll: extension of music to middle-class white youth.
*1960s: Motown: extension of music to middle-class black youth. "60s" hippie music: more music for middle-class white youth, especially for disillusioned middle-class white youth.
*1970s: Funk: music for middle-class and working class black adults. Disco: music for middle-class white adults. Hard rock, southern rock, classic rock (Alice Cooper, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston, respectively): music for middle-class and working class whites, both youth and adults. Singers & songwriters music: music for middle-class and working-class adult whites who feel lost and disillusioned amid the turbulent, increasingly-materialistic
'70s.
*1980s: hip-hop: extension of music to working-class black youth. Hard rock & metal: working-class white youth. "80s" pop: middle-class white youth.
So only by the late 1980s do we have music for everyone in America. This is mirrored in TV programming. Until the early '70s, there wasn't any programming for blacks that featured blacks at all. Then there were some shows illustrating the lives of middle-class black families. Only maybe in the '90s were working-class black characters acceptable (as with working-class white characters...such as Roseanne, which was a landmark show).
At the point of the late 1980s, the music styles of the different ethnic groups and classes were the most dissimilar. Since then, the music styles and viewerships have come closer together. (Consider techno: a white middle-class musical taste, which is also heavily influenced by rap in its "house music" form. Or the likes of Eminem.)
Part 2:
Okay, now back to 80s music as materialist romanticism.
Basically, it's romanticism, that much is obvious. But it's distinctive from any previous romanticism in that it is not organicist, not supernatural, but entirely "instrumental" (in a philosophical sense) and materialist. It is the white middle-class hopes and optimism of the Reagan years distilled into sound. It appears to them that finally the tide in the class struggle is turning, as well as the tide in the inter-imperialist struggle with the Soviet Union. The civil rights struggle has stabilized. Blacks have been decimated by drugs (some pumped in by the CIA, of course) and gangs, gays are being punished with AIDS, and finally we can return to the 1950s...except not quite. We are less innocent now. Life is more stressful. Maintaining status is more difficult. But we can use music to affirm our white middle-class lives, our oh-so tortured and deep and complex social lives (stressful because they revolve around status and material success so much) and emotions that are so worthy of respect and contemplation, etc. That's what 80s music is all about. White, middle-class materialistic romanticism.
Now I give you about a dozen case studies....
Part 3:
I'll start with by far the best example:
Human League -- Don't You Want Me Baby?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUqoKjU3D4
This is the materialist romanticism unmasked. The newfound affluence displayed, the pride in it, the anxiety over status, the naked social power politics, the effeminate male (tortured by his middle-class anxieties ("Oh, poor me, life is so difficult and complicated for me, who are other social classes to complain? etc.). And yet it's still romanticist, somehow, oddly enough. The shadowy assassins. The ghoulish male. The darkness and mystery. The blond, clean-shaven young guy in the car at 43 seconds is classic 80s: strong face, blazing, full of power and mystery and mission.
Uptown Girl -- Billy Joel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F-nt7aC_JQ
Again, pretty obvious. Status, material success, bagging a supermodel woman from the upper class, not because you really "love" her, obviously, but as a point of pride and as a ladder to success (although the word "love" is, of course, still used...and the corniness. Not realistic at all, still totally romanticist, in the style of an ole-time, seemingly innocent musical. That's why these 80s music videos are so insidious and dishonest. They can claim to not be talking about crass power and social status and other materialist things and whatnot thanks to the veneer of innocent whimsical or romantic style, but there's always cold, calculating, mechanistic, capitalist self-interest being expressed underneath).
By the way, this is the classic 80s girl: tall, blond, curiously Aryan and masculine in her chin and collar bone. I still haven't figured this one out, but this type of woman is ubiquitous whenever the ideal woman comes up in an 80s video.
Sweet Dreams -- Eurhythmics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQHrspjw4aA
This is the counter-attack against the naked, calculating, capitalist self-interest being expressed under the veneer of romanticism. The lyrics are pretty self-explanatory. The ghoulish, tortured romanticist imagery, while admittedly exposing the deceit of other 80s pop-culture, also happens to reinforce another theme of white middle-class 80s music: the "white middle-class life is so tortured and difficult, oh have sympathy for us, empathize with us, we are just hard-striving (not hard-working, hard-striving...in the sense of anxious ambition, not diligent work) people."
Oh, forgot to mention...about Uptown Girl...did you notice the stereotypical black driver? Hmmm, I wonder, WTF is that supposed to suggest?
To continue with the emo "Oh-poor-me" theme of 80s music, I give you:
I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight --- Cutting Crew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmR65FHcJ6s
The name of the band says it all.
This is also a good example of the "personalization" of politics. This is the vague notion that there are no real political problems in society, and that our primary problems in life are personal problems, not socio-political problems. Or, rather, it is the intense anguish and attention towards personal problems that obscures consciousness of socio-political problems in oneself and others.
Also, that last video was totally romanticist. All of the mysterious imagery, the skinny and pale women looking sad and dejected, the cold atmosphere of the colors, etc.
Also, the problems of dealing with the material culture of the 80s: drugs and whatnot. Clearly materialist as well.
One more example of both the "Oh-poor-me" theme and the "personalization of politics" theme:
Living on a Prayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE11Zrrp24I
Despite the religious diction, this song is entirely focused on maintaining the worldly material well-being of the characters. "We gotta hold on to what we got..." "We're halfway there!" As if to say, "Another 15 years, and we'll have our second mortgage paid off, honey, and then we'll have achieved SUCCESS!!!!"
Also note the dig at the unions. In this song, unions are outside forces that prey upon your making a living, rather than self-generated and self-directed tools of liberation.
Also, "She brings home her pay for love...for love." A capitalist exchange. Materialist, calculating, yet they managed to make it seem romanticist at the same time.
Also, personalization of politics, in that "It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We got each other, and that's a lot." Yes, suddenly love will triumph over all. Hmmm...will this love put food on the dinner table? Very romanticist. Also, "Take my hand, and we'll make it I swear." In other words, there are no social/political causes for your misery. It's your own fault, and the only way to overcome it is to work harder and rely on your personal life.
Now to a different theme of white middle-class 80s music:
We didn't start the fire -- Billy Joel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKu2QaytmrM
Civil rights discrimination? U.S. imperialism? Consumer abuse? NOT OUR FAULT!
Also, this is the antithesis of historical understanding. In this framework, everything changes, but nothing ever really changes. The superficial names and events and fashions change, but the fire just keeps on burning, and you can't put it out. These fundamental problems are just a part of our nature, no use in expecting to change them, just "do the best you can," or rather, don't do anything, or even reinforce the problems, but then retroactively say that you did the best you could. Revolution doesn't happen in this universe.
Also, showing the family life is only showing half of history. You could show a family kitchen of a loyal Nazi family in the Third Reich over the years, and it would still look just as playful and charming and harmless and full of good-natured family mirth and whatnot. Also, by portraying the 60s rebelliousness and whatnot as just a natural phase, it denudes it of political significance even more.
Also, notice the sleek austerity of the home in the 80s? It's a romanticist piece of imagery that conveys more of the "Oh-poor-me, life just isn't the same for the white middle-class people like us as it used to be" theme.
In a similar vein...
Toto -- Africa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPT_3PEjnsE
1. Religious words. Romanticism.
2. Ole-time European exoticism towards Africa:
"Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies"
"The wild dogs cry out in the night"
"I seek to cure whats deep inside, frightened of this thing that Ive become"
---this last line is almost straight out of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
3. Romanticist desire to experience that wonder and excitement of discovering and mastering Africa for the first time once again
"Its gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
Theres nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do"
---Now, of course, he's partly talking about a girl. But the "hundred men" line just echoes too much of the old European romantic conceit of mastering a whole continent with 100 men or so. But, this time it's different because...
4. "I bless the rains down in africa"
"I know that I must do whats right
Sure as kilimanjaro rises like olympus above the serengeti"
---So this time we will approach Africa from a benevolent standpoint. We promise. We're good guys this time. We really have good intentions. Puh-leaze. Get off your while middle-class liberal high horse. (And thus the "Save-Darfur" liberal hypocrites who are the types to call for U.S. intervention were born. (Of course, not all "Save Darfur" people are interventionist.)
Also, in the video...obviously more exoticism. Searching for the page that's missing the mysterious page fragment. The mysterious black woman. The lion's head. And then the angry native comes with the spear and ruins it all. The fire symbolizes the passing away of the Africa that the Europeans knew and loved so well. Oh...those were the days, when benevolent colonialism ruled, and when Africa was our exotic playground...
By the way, did you notice in the "We didn't start the fire" video that there was a picture of a slave bound in ropes, and then the famous picture of the Vietcong being assassinated? Oh, but we're not responsible for that. Those were just regrettable things, handed down from the past, nothing we could do about them, the fire just kept on burning.....puh-leaze.
Additional thoughts on Toto's Africa:
*Notice the very serious, alarmed, deadpan face of the main singer when the native throws the spear.
*Also, we never actually see the face of the native. The native spear-thrower is a faceless force. No human identity associated there.
*The juxtaposition of the dreary modern world ("12:30 flight") with the exotic allure of Africa. "Hurry there, she's waiting there for you!" could refer to the girl or to Africa, or both.
Also, in case you are thinking that I am making a big deal out of nothing, I've actually heard conservatives apologize for America's past shortcomings (slavery, etc.) by saying, with an obvious nod to the song, "You know, we didn't start the fire." This idea is now firmly entrenched in our culture.
Modern knight-in-shining-armor...
*1980s: hip-hop: extension of music to working-class black youth. Hard rock & metal: working-class white youth. "80s" pop: middle-class white youth.
So only by the late 1980s do we have music for everyone in America. This is mirrored in TV programming. Until the early '70s, there wasn't any programming for blacks that featured blacks at all. Then there were some shows illustrating the lives of middle-class black families. Only maybe in the '90s were working-class black characters acceptable (as with working-class white characters...such as Roseanne, which was a landmark show).
At the point of the late 1980s, the music styles of the different ethnic groups and classes were the most dissimilar. Since then, the music styles and viewerships have come closer together. (Consider techno: a white middle-class musical taste, which is also heavily influenced by rap in its "house music" form. Or the likes of Eminem.)
Part 2:
Okay, now back to 80s music as materialist romanticism.
Basically, it's romanticism, that much is obvious. But it's distinctive from any previous romanticism in that it is not organicist, not supernatural, but entirely "instrumental" (in a philosophical sense) and materialist. It is the white middle-class hopes and optimism of the Reagan years distilled into sound. It appears to them that finally the tide in the class struggle is turning, as well as the tide in the inter-imperialist struggle with the Soviet Union. The civil rights struggle has stabilized. Blacks have been decimated by drugs (some pumped in by the CIA, of course) and gangs, gays are being punished with AIDS, and finally we can return to the 1950s...except not quite. We are less innocent now. Life is more stressful. Maintaining status is more difficult. But we can use music to affirm our white middle-class lives, our oh-so tortured and deep and complex social lives (stressful because they revolve around status and material success so much) and emotions that are so worthy of respect and contemplation, etc. That's what 80s music is all about. White, middle-class materialistic romanticism.
Now I give you about a dozen case studies....
Part 3:
I'll start with by far the best example:
Human League -- Don't You Want Me Baby?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
This is the materialist romanticism unmasked. The newfound affluence displayed, the pride in it, the anxiety over status, the naked social power politics, the effeminate male (tortured by his middle-class anxieties ("Oh, poor me, life is so difficult and complicated for me, who are other social classes to complain? etc.). And yet it's still romanticist, somehow, oddly enough. The shadowy assassins. The ghoulish male. The darkness and mystery. The blond, clean-shaven young guy in the car at 43 seconds is classic 80s: strong face, blazing, full of power and mystery and mission.
Uptown Girl -- Billy Joel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Again, pretty obvious. Status, material success, bagging a supermodel woman from the upper class, not because you really "love" her, obviously, but as a point of pride and as a ladder to success (although the word "love" is, of course, still used...and the corniness. Not realistic at all, still totally romanticist, in the style of an ole-time, seemingly innocent musical. That's why these 80s music videos are so insidious and dishonest. They can claim to not be talking about crass power and social status and other materialist things and whatnot thanks to the veneer of innocent whimsical or romantic style, but there's always cold, calculating, mechanistic, capitalist self-interest being expressed underneath).
By the way, this is the classic 80s girl: tall, blond, curiously Aryan and masculine in her chin and collar bone. I still haven't figured this one out, but this type of woman is ubiquitous whenever the ideal woman comes up in an 80s video.
Sweet Dreams -- Eurhythmics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
This is the counter-attack against the naked, calculating, capitalist self-interest being expressed under the veneer of romanticism. The lyrics are pretty self-explanatory. The ghoulish, tortured romanticist imagery, while admittedly exposing the deceit of other 80s pop-culture, also happens to reinforce another theme of white middle-class 80s music: the "white middle-class life is so tortured and difficult, oh have sympathy for us, empathize with us, we are just hard-striving (not hard-working, hard-striving...in the sense of anxious ambition, not diligent work) people."
Oh, forgot to mention...about Uptown Girl...did you notice the stereotypical black driver? Hmmm, I wonder, WTF is that supposed to suggest?
To continue with the emo "Oh-poor-me" theme of 80s music, I give you:
I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight --- Cutting Crew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The name of the band says it all.
This is also a good example of the "personalization" of politics. This is the vague notion that there are no real political problems in society, and that our primary problems in life are personal problems, not socio-political problems. Or, rather, it is the intense anguish and attention towards personal problems that obscures consciousness of socio-political problems in oneself and others.
Also, that last video was totally romanticist. All of the mysterious imagery, the skinny and pale women looking sad and dejected, the cold atmosphere of the colors, etc.
Also, the problems of dealing with the material culture of the 80s: drugs and whatnot. Clearly materialist as well.
One more example of both the "Oh-poor-me" theme and the "personalization of politics" theme:
Living on a Prayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Despite the religious diction, this song is entirely focused on maintaining the worldly material well-being of the characters. "We gotta hold on to what we got..." "We're halfway there!" As if to say, "Another 15 years, and we'll have our second mortgage paid off, honey, and then we'll have achieved SUCCESS!!!!"
Also note the dig at the unions. In this song, unions are outside forces that prey upon your making a living, rather than self-generated and self-directed tools of liberation.
Also, "She brings home her pay for love...for love." A capitalist exchange. Materialist, calculating, yet they managed to make it seem romanticist at the same time.
Also, personalization of politics, in that "It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We got each other, and that's a lot." Yes, suddenly love will triumph over all. Hmmm...will this love put food on the dinner table? Very romanticist. Also, "Take my hand, and we'll make it I swear." In other words, there are no social/political causes for your misery. It's your own fault, and the only way to overcome it is to work harder and rely on your personal life.
Now to a different theme of white middle-class 80s music:
We didn't start the fire -- Billy Joel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Civil rights discrimination? U.S. imperialism? Consumer abuse? NOT OUR FAULT!
Also, this is the antithesis of historical understanding. In this framework, everything changes, but nothing ever really changes. The superficial names and events and fashions change, but the fire just keeps on burning, and you can't put it out. These fundamental problems are just a part of our nature, no use in expecting to change them, just "do the best you can," or rather, don't do anything, or even reinforce the problems, but then retroactively say that you did the best you could. Revolution doesn't happen in this universe.
Also, showing the family life is only showing half of history. You could show a family kitchen of a loyal Nazi family in the Third Reich over the years, and it would still look just as playful and charming and harmless and full of good-natured family mirth and whatnot. Also, by portraying the 60s rebelliousness and whatnot as just a natural phase, it denudes it of political significance even more.
Also, notice the sleek austerity of the home in the 80s? It's a romanticist piece of imagery that conveys more of the "Oh-poor-me, life just isn't the same for the white middle-class people like us as it used to be" theme.
In a similar vein...
Toto -- Africa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
1. Religious words. Romanticism.
2. Ole-time European exoticism towards Africa:
"Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies"
"The wild dogs cry out in the night"
"I seek to cure whats deep inside, frightened of this thing that Ive become"
---this last line is almost straight out of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
3. Romanticist desire to experience that wonder and excitement of discovering and mastering Africa for the first time once again
"Its gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
Theres nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do"
---Now, of course, he's partly talking about a girl. But the "hundred men" line just echoes too much of the old European romantic conceit of mastering a whole continent with 100 men or so. But, this time it's different because...
4. "I bless the rains down in africa"
"I know that I must do whats right
Sure as kilimanjaro rises like olympus above the serengeti"
---So this time we will approach Africa from a benevolent standpoint. We promise. We're good guys this time. We really have good intentions. Puh-leaze. Get off your while middle-class liberal high horse. (And thus the "Save-Darfur" liberal hypocrites who are the types to call for U.S. intervention were born. (Of course, not all "Save Darfur" people are interventionist.)
Also, in the video...obviously more exoticism. Searching for the page that's missing the mysterious page fragment. The mysterious black woman. The lion's head. And then the angry native comes with the spear and ruins it all. The fire symbolizes the passing away of the Africa that the Europeans knew and loved so well. Oh...those were the days, when benevolent colonialism ruled, and when Africa was our exotic playground...
By the way, did you notice in the "We didn't start the fire" video that there was a picture of a slave bound in ropes, and then the famous picture of the Vietcong being assassinated? Oh, but we're not responsible for that. Those were just regrettable things, handed down from the past, nothing we could do about them, the fire just kept on burning.....puh-leaze.
Additional thoughts on Toto's Africa:
*Notice the very serious, alarmed, deadpan face of the main singer when the native throws the spear.
*Also, we never actually see the face of the native. The native spear-thrower is a faceless force. No human identity associated there.
*The juxtaposition of the dreary modern world ("12:30 flight") with the exotic allure of Africa. "Hurry there, she's waiting there for you!" could refer to the girl or to Africa, or both.
Also, in case you are thinking that I am making a big deal out of nothing, I've actually heard conservatives apologize for America's past shortcomings (slavery, etc.) by saying, with an obvious nod to the song, "You know, we didn't start the fire." This idea is now firmly entrenched in our culture.
Modern knight-in-shining-armor...
.
A-Ha -- Take On Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIzUD7FKcBk
This modern knight-in-shining-armor is a pretty boy, sensitive, but still courageous, and has bourgeois style in his hair and clothing to boot.
Heaven is a place on earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQahvFdQVu8
Here's some romanticist princess imagery. All throughout, of course, there's still the implicit assumption that Mr. Right is a white, middle-class guy with prospects, even if it is not stated as clearly here as in "Don't You Want Me," for instance. I mean, can you imagine this song, with the girl dancing like a princess with a guy, and then a shot of the guy revealing that he is actually a black man wearing a New York Yankees t-shirt?
Anyways, the princess trope was also common in the Disney movies around this time. Whereas now, not so much....keep this in mind for when I get to talking about present-day materialist realism and Avril Lavigne.
Also, the lyrics to this song are telling..."We'll make heaven on a place on earth." So, we are striving for love and heaven, so it's romanticist. But we are doing it not in a religious sense, but in a plainly materialist, worldly sense.
Again, notice the slightly Aryan features of the girl in this video. She has that strong chin, strong eyebrows, that blond, bland look to her that, for example, most MSU girls have as well. You know what I'm talking about, right? That done-up, conformist, highlighted-hair, bronzed-tan look.
Finally, sentimental 1950s nostalgia:
Dance Hall Days -- Wang Chung
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKwO1aB1W3I
First notice the black-and-white intro, the mist, the mystery. The sense of manipulating time.
Then the gently patriarchal (although sometimes rather strange) lyrics. "Take your baby by the..."
Also notice the guy at 1:26. He looks like the guy in "Don't You Want Me." Same sort of features.
"When I, you, and everyone we knew...share in what was true." Ah, the pure innocence of the good ol' days. "You need her and she needs you." Very romantic. But there's still that materialist assumption beneath the surface. After all, why else does this song need to be so sentimental and...almost sad? It's because they realize that they cannot recreate the '50s. Society is too nakedly materialistic and calculating now. Not enough chivalry still present. So they can only reminisce...
The last gasps of materialist romanticism and the transition to materialist realism...
Run Away -- Real McCoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNIK5B9jNgE
What are they running away from? The nakedly self-interested materialist society. Notice the guy says:
"Money, sex, in full control, a generation without soul,
Perfect people in a perfect world, behind closed doors all in control,
Life, in a world of luxury, cold cash money mentality,
You gotta keep the faith, you gotta keep the faith,
You better keep the faith and run away."
Keep the faith---meaning, don't let go of the romanticism. Keep the illusion of a gentler, more forgiving, more inspiring dream.
All that she wants --- Ace of Base
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aom_Vvsmg7I
I'll Stand By You --- The Pretenders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5pECaW-VMI
Here materialist romanticism makes it to the working class. Here's a working-class couple (with a strong woman, not a princess) who are dealing with real problems of society, real material problems of drugs, financial hardship, etc., but still taking a romantic view of it, and perhaps a somewhat "personalist" view of it as well (in other words, we can solve all political problems by being faithful lovers, etc.) Nevertheless, I love this song because
1. I think that woman is so achingly attractive. Yeah, I guess I like the pale and wiry meth-head type. Honestly, I always thought Alison Cruze was actually pretty attractive.
2. It extends the materialist romanticist idea to the working class. Curious, isn't it, that this whole perspective falls off the radar just as this happens...
3. Also, I used to hear this song all the time in the car when I was a kid. Reminds me of childhood.
Materialist realism --- the present day.
Avril Lavigne -- Girlfriend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ25-glGRzI
"...delicious...addictive.
A-Ha -- Take On Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
This modern knight-in-shining-armor is a pretty boy, sensitive, but still courageous, and has bourgeois style in his hair and clothing to boot.
Heaven is a place on earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Here's some romanticist princess imagery. All throughout, of course, there's still the implicit assumption that Mr. Right is a white, middle-class guy with prospects, even if it is not stated as clearly here as in "Don't You Want Me," for instance. I mean, can you imagine this song, with the girl dancing like a princess with a guy, and then a shot of the guy revealing that he is actually a black man wearing a New York Yankees t-shirt?
Anyways, the princess trope was also common in the Disney movies around this time. Whereas now, not so much....keep this in mind for when I get to talking about present-day materialist realism and Avril Lavigne.
Also, the lyrics to this song are telling..."We'll make heaven on a place on earth." So, we are striving for love and heaven, so it's romanticist. But we are doing it not in a religious sense, but in a plainly materialist, worldly sense.
Again, notice the slightly Aryan features of the girl in this video. She has that strong chin, strong eyebrows, that blond, bland look to her that, for example, most MSU girls have as well. You know what I'm talking about, right? That done-up, conformist, highlighted-hair, bronzed-tan look.
Finally, sentimental 1950s nostalgia:
Dance Hall Days -- Wang Chung
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
First notice the black-and-white intro, the mist, the mystery. The sense of manipulating time.
Then the gently patriarchal (although sometimes rather strange) lyrics. "Take your baby by the..."
Also notice the guy at 1:26. He looks like the guy in "Don't You Want Me." Same sort of features.
"When I, you, and everyone we knew...share in what was true." Ah, the pure innocence of the good ol' days. "You need her and she needs you." Very romantic. But there's still that materialist assumption beneath the surface. After all, why else does this song need to be so sentimental and...almost sad? It's because they realize that they cannot recreate the '50s. Society is too nakedly materialistic and calculating now. Not enough chivalry still present. So they can only reminisce...
The last gasps of materialist romanticism and the transition to materialist realism...
Run Away -- Real McCoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
What are they running away from? The nakedly self-interested materialist society. Notice the guy says:
"Money, sex, in full control, a generation without soul,
Perfect people in a perfect world, behind closed doors all in control,
Life, in a world of luxury, cold cash money mentality,
You gotta keep the faith, you gotta keep the faith,
You better keep the faith and run away."
Keep the faith---meaning, don't let go of the romanticism. Keep the illusion of a gentler, more forgiving, more inspiring dream.
All that she wants --- Ace of Base
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
I'll Stand By You --- The Pretenders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Here materialist romanticism makes it to the working class. Here's a working-class couple (with a strong woman, not a princess) who are dealing with real problems of society, real material problems of drugs, financial hardship, etc., but still taking a romantic view of it, and perhaps a somewhat "personalist" view of it as well (in other words, we can solve all political problems by being faithful lovers, etc.) Nevertheless, I love this song because
1. I think that woman is so achingly attractive. Yeah, I guess I like the pale and wiry meth-head type. Honestly, I always thought Alison Cruze was actually pretty attractive.
2. It extends the materialist romanticist idea to the working class. Curious, isn't it, that this whole perspective falls off the radar just as this happens...
3. Also, I used to hear this song all the time in the car when I was a kid. Reminds me of childhood.
Materialist realism --- the present day.
Avril Lavigne -- Girlfriend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
"...delicious...addictive.
.." ---Here's a girl comparing herself to a food or a substance.
"Hell yeah, I'm the muthafuckin' princess!" ---Here's a girl sarcastically comparing herself to a princess, disparaging that ideal that, in the 80s, formed the romanticist core of a lot of songs. Also note how Disney films have gone away from that royal romanticist plot line (Snow White, The Lion King, Aladdin, The Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Anastasia, Pocahontas, that movie with the two dogs eating the same spaghetti noodle, etc.), towards more scientific, materialist-rooted movies (A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Ice Age, Wall-E, etc.) Although the industrial, turn-of-the-century London intro sequence survives, as you hilariously pointed out at the beginning of Wall-E.
"You know what I can do to make you feel alright." ---Naked emphasis on pure sensory pleasure. Pure self-interested hedonism, lacking any sort of romanticist mask.
"I'll have you wrapped around my finger...because I can do it better."
The self-interested power relations, the social competition, the status-seeking, the gossiping...all out in the open. Well, at least it is all more honest this way.
Also note how the naive, romantic love of the redhead girl (who I think is both hotter and nicer to be around) is disparaged in favor of the Machiavellian, coldly self-interestedly calculating approach.
The deranged late-capitalist military police state portrayed in gritty hyper-realism
You don't know -- 50 cent, Eminem, et al.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpPLd3q0nbQ
Status, wealth, power, all discussed perfectly frankly. The song is even taunting those who are too delicate to face the brutal truth. "You know, but you actin' like you don't know."
Another example:
White America -- Eminem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC8VA7GFbHA
In the 80s this sort of brutal realism would have made people shit their pants.
Some additional thoughts:
Another reason why I love "I'll Stand By You" is because it demonstrates the natural solidarity of the working class, the naturally-congruent self-interests. Yes, it is a materialistic song, but the materialism in a middle-class song leads to social manipulation and petty status-seeking because the middle-class is, ultimately, a class at war with itself. Each member is trying to climb to the top, partly by pushing down those around him/her. Whereas materialism in a working-class context leads to solidarity as the only practical survival response. They cannot afford to play intrigues against each other or manipulate each other.
Notice that the title of the song is "I'll Stand By You," not "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, etc." What is being expressed here is not so much love, as comradeship, which I think is much more touching and powerful. It is much more reassuring to hear "'Cause I've seen the dark side too," or "I get angry too, because I'm a lot like you." Identifying a basis for natural, non-forced, non-manipulated solidarity, inherent in two people's congruent life situations. Whereas "love" implies that you owe something in return to the lover. It is more of a temporary, conditional solidarity. Love is a selfish feeling, it is exclusivist possession of the other person, and you will love someone as long as you feel like it, as long as you see some happiness to gain by it. Whereas you will have little choice but to be a comrade to a person as long as you both share the same desperate situation, whether you like them or not. The arbitrary whims of your feelings in no way threaten the relationship. I can definitely see why Zizek feels averse to love. It is a "gift" that demands even more of the receiver. Comradeship is much better.
A note on 50 cent: just think--his name itself refers to material wealth. Very blatant. But also very honest.
Regarding White America:
Notice the parodies of the 1950s families, TV shows, etc. And since the 1980s were somewhat of an attempted recapitulation of the 1950s, the 1980s are criticized as well.
The implicit message of "White America" is that its problems are its own doing. Parents who grew up listening to 80s pop music, and who now criticize the materialism of the rap music nowadays are being hypocritical. The materialism has always been there, as have the social manipulation, the social-power politics, the status-seeking, etc. It was just that in the 80s it was hidden under a veneer of romanticism, whereas now its naked, brutal truth hits you directly in the face. And in a world with so much obvious social manipulation, status-seeking, etc. at school, how could one not expect to see school shootings? Parents mistakenly criticize this music, which is only a witness to the social strife, anxiety, status-seeking, the subtle socialite warfare among middle-class youth, etc. If these parents really wanted to get rid of these school shootings, they'd have to get rid of the fundamental middle-class status-seeking, pressures, exclusivist-materialism-in
"Hell yeah, I'm the muthafuckin' princess!" ---Here's a girl sarcastically comparing herself to a princess, disparaging that ideal that, in the 80s, formed the romanticist core of a lot of songs. Also note how Disney films have gone away from that royal romanticist plot line (Snow White, The Lion King, Aladdin, The Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Anastasia, Pocahontas, that movie with the two dogs eating the same spaghetti noodle, etc.), towards more scientific, materialist-rooted movies (A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Ice Age, Wall-E, etc.) Although the industrial, turn-of-the-century London intro sequence survives, as you hilariously pointed out at the beginning of Wall-E.
"You know what I can do to make you feel alright." ---Naked emphasis on pure sensory pleasure. Pure self-interested hedonism, lacking any sort of romanticist mask.
"I'll have you wrapped around my finger...because I can do it better."
The self-interested power relations, the social competition, the status-seeking, the gossiping...all out in the open. Well, at least it is all more honest this way.
Also note how the naive, romantic love of the redhead girl (who I think is both hotter and nicer to be around) is disparaged in favor of the Machiavellian, coldly self-interestedly calculating approach.
The deranged late-capitalist military police state portrayed in gritty hyper-realism
You don't know -- 50 cent, Eminem, et al.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Status, wealth, power, all discussed perfectly frankly. The song is even taunting those who are too delicate to face the brutal truth. "You know, but you actin' like you don't know."
Another example:
White America -- Eminem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
In the 80s this sort of brutal realism would have made people shit their pants.
Some additional thoughts:
Another reason why I love "I'll Stand By You" is because it demonstrates the natural solidarity of the working class, the naturally-congruent self-interests. Yes, it is a materialistic song, but the materialism in a middle-class song leads to social manipulation and petty status-seeking because the middle-class is, ultimately, a class at war with itself. Each member is trying to climb to the top, partly by pushing down those around him/her. Whereas materialism in a working-class context leads to solidarity as the only practical survival response. They cannot afford to play intrigues against each other or manipulate each other.
Notice that the title of the song is "I'll Stand By You," not "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, etc." What is being expressed here is not so much love, as comradeship, which I think is much more touching and powerful. It is much more reassuring to hear "'Cause I've seen the dark side too," or "I get angry too, because I'm a lot like you." Identifying a basis for natural, non-forced, non-manipulated solidarity, inherent in two people's congruent life situations. Whereas "love" implies that you owe something in return to the lover. It is more of a temporary, conditional solidarity. Love is a selfish feeling, it is exclusivist possession of the other person, and you will love someone as long as you feel like it, as long as you see some happiness to gain by it. Whereas you will have little choice but to be a comrade to a person as long as you both share the same desperate situation, whether you like them or not. The arbitrary whims of your feelings in no way threaten the relationship. I can definitely see why Zizek feels averse to love. It is a "gift" that demands even more of the receiver. Comradeship is much better.
A note on 50 cent: just think--his name itself refers to material wealth. Very blatant. But also very honest.
Regarding White America:
Notice the parodies of the 1950s families, TV shows, etc. And since the 1980s were somewhat of an attempted recapitulation of the 1950s, the 1980s are criticized as well.
The implicit message of "White America" is that its problems are its own doing. Parents who grew up listening to 80s pop music, and who now criticize the materialism of the rap music nowadays are being hypocritical. The materialism has always been there, as have the social manipulation, the social-power politics, the status-seeking, etc. It was just that in the 80s it was hidden under a veneer of romanticism, whereas now its naked, brutal truth hits you directly in the face. And in a world with so much obvious social manipulation, status-seeking, etc. at school, how could one not expect to see school shootings? Parents mistakenly criticize this music, which is only a witness to the social strife, anxiety, status-seeking, the subtle socialite warfare among middle-class youth, etc. If these parents really wanted to get rid of these school shootings, they'd have to get rid of the fundamental middle-class status-seeking, pressures, exclusivist-materialism-in
-fact, etc. (And that, I think, requires a social revolution). You can't expect to soften or hide this materialistic strife with romanticism for ever. Sooner or later the obvious illusions had to give way. Nowadays, of course, a lot of 80s music seems corny and naive. Well, of course it was, and purposefully so.
Anyways, today's White America is the result not of passive neglect on the part of parents (The "Parents aren't spending enough time with their children" complaint). It is precisely the opposite: today's White America is the result of the parents (who grew up in the first really materialistic decade, the 80s) interfering too much with their children, infecting their children with too much of their anxious bourgeois status-seeking, pressuring them too much to be pretty and popular and play sports and play a musical instrument and do ballet and do all that other trendy bourgeois stuff, all for the sake of "personal achievement" (the monetary currency of status-seeking bourgeois adolescents in late-capitalism) and "character" (the willingness to strive to whatever lengths in order to conform and meet the expectations of your parents, your other authority figures, and those around you. It is a very fascist mentality, in fact. A perfect breeding ground for little bourgeois Hitler Youth, all the marching band, football, cheerleading, school nationalism, etc.
The main point: today's White America is the logical outcome of the 80s, not a deviation away from the 80s that can be easily corrected with tougher anti-drug and anti-gang efforts, more metal detectors in the schools, more dress codes, etc. Drugs and gangs pay in material wealth. Your kids are just achieving monetary success and status---following your example. Your Eric Klebolds are just reacting to the vicious social manipulation that is demonstrated, for instance, quite nakedly in that Avril Lavigne video "Girlfriend."
But going back to the 80s naive innocence and romanticism is not an option. Putting on a superficial veneer of the happy white middle-class family will not work either---you've already tried that, but we know that however picturesque your little family photo looks (such as at the end of the video for "White America," we know full well that little Eric is in the basement loading his Uzi (to paraphrase James Howard Kunstler). One cannot reclaim innocence. We must overthrow this society of social manipulation entirely, and that means also overthrowing the economic basis of this social manipulation (capitalism and the middle-class). When everyone has a part in the control of the means of production, when everyone is a worker, when we have true comradeship, then we will have our antidote to today's troubled White America.
Anyways, today's White America is the result not of passive neglect on the part of parents (The "Parents aren't spending enough time with their children" complaint). It is precisely the opposite: today's White America is the result of the parents (who grew up in the first really materialistic decade, the 80s) interfering too much with their children, infecting their children with too much of their anxious bourgeois status-seeking, pressuring them too much to be pretty and popular and play sports and play a musical instrument and do ballet and do all that other trendy bourgeois stuff, all for the sake of "personal achievement" (the monetary currency of status-seeking bourgeois adolescents in late-capitalism) and "character" (the willingness to strive to whatever lengths in order to conform and meet the expectations of your parents, your other authority figures, and those around you. It is a very fascist mentality, in fact. A perfect breeding ground for little bourgeois Hitler Youth, all the marching band, football, cheerleading, school nationalism, etc.
The main point: today's White America is the logical outcome of the 80s, not a deviation away from the 80s that can be easily corrected with tougher anti-drug and anti-gang efforts, more metal detectors in the schools, more dress codes, etc. Drugs and gangs pay in material wealth. Your kids are just achieving monetary success and status---following your example. Your Eric Klebolds are just reacting to the vicious social manipulation that is demonstrated, for instance, quite nakedly in that Avril Lavigne video "Girlfriend."
But going back to the 80s naive innocence and romanticism is not an option. Putting on a superficial veneer of the happy white middle-class family will not work either---you've already tried that, but we know that however picturesque your little family photo looks (such as at the end of the video for "White America," we know full well that little Eric is in the basement loading his Uzi (to paraphrase James Howard Kunstler). One cannot reclaim innocence. We must overthrow this society of social manipulation entirely, and that means also overthrowing the economic basis of this social manipulation (capitalism and the middle-class). When everyone has a part in the control of the means of production, when everyone is a worker, when we have true comradeship, then we will have our antidote to today's troubled White America.
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