Thoughts on Music 3: Pushing the envelope and Selling Out
I remember back in the 80s the very shock and awe of Boy George. One can imagine the conversation between two dudes going like this way: Dude 1, “Hey, check out this chick!” Dude 2, “Um, that ‘she’ is a ‘he.’ ” Dude 2: “Whoa….?!” Pushing the envelope from what is the norm to the extreme is part and parcel of the popular music scene for decades.
This pushing of the envelope more often than none dissipates into normalcy, so what is extreme at one time simply is adopted into the mainstream so there will always be some heckler saying, “Yeah, been there done that.” Alice Cooper, Adam Ant, Boy George, Prince, Madonna, Brittney Spears, Lady Ga Ga, Miley Cyrus, etc., all in some way have pushed the envelope in their own way; yet, even now some may be considered a novelty, the stuff someone might say, “Wow, I remember listening to that as a kid…”
Another downside to the whole pushing the envelope idea is some attractive ideas floating around in the music scene can never be sustained over extended periods of time. Billy Corgan sings, “Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness, and cleanliness is godliness, and God is empty, just like me.” I do not even think Corgan would say such melancholy and infinite sadness is a true reflection of his own estimation of things. Sure, there are people who do slip into such nihilistic despair, but they tend to get the 5150, and none ever willingly ventures into talking about the worst thing that can happen to a person who has nary a reason to forego pulling the trigger. The true grit of the whole 90s grunge sound was for some an attractive change to the whole polished keyboard driven experience of the 80s, but none can truly live sustained in a world without reason and hope to go on.
There is a power behind a song and the performance of that song which can truly leave a lasting impression on a person. Very few can do something that pushes the envelope that leaves a lasting impact and keeps them from doing the same old song and dance. Even less can make their thunderous moment have some transcendent meaning. Songs of despair never really catch on, unless there is an undercurrent of hope within the musical journey, a light at the end of the tunnel.
There are even great performers and performances that have long been forgotten. Some just may have to be reminded of the epic performance of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
Epic songs do exists, which leave an impact the very first time they are performed, but still sound just as fresh in the present as they were years before. Some songs may have been written and recorded decades ago, but they sound as if they were done yesterday.
I do believe there is an eternal song resounding in this world, a grove which continues to play on the inner soundtrack of the soul. It is a yearning for something greater than oneself, something that last forever that everyone seeks. When all the glam and glory fade, the shock and awe wears off, do we not yearn for something more? It cannot be found in the next fad. Moth and rust will destroy the temporal things this world has to offer. Oh but if we could have something that last forever. What if life could extend beyond the 70-80 years typically experienced on this world? We grow old and we die. Loved ones try to keep our memories alive, but even that eventually ends. There are multitudes of gravestones and all one knows about them is that they have a year of birth and death with “—”(dash) in the middle, and asides from some epitaph the — is all that one can ever know about the person. What if there is a life after the afterlife? Oh the chance to live beyond the fleeting memories of the few who survive us, and to live in a new heaven and new earth.
What if God could give to someone eternal life?
— WGN
This pushing of the envelope more often than none dissipates into normalcy, so what is extreme at one time simply is adopted into the mainstream so there will always be some heckler saying, “Yeah, been there done that.” Alice Cooper, Adam Ant, Boy George, Prince, Madonna, Brittney Spears, Lady Ga Ga, Miley Cyrus, etc., all in some way have pushed the envelope in their own way; yet, even now some may be considered a novelty, the stuff someone might say, “Wow, I remember listening to that as a kid…”
Another downside to the whole pushing the envelope idea is some attractive ideas floating around in the music scene can never be sustained over extended periods of time. Billy Corgan sings, “Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness, and cleanliness is godliness, and God is empty, just like me.” I do not even think Corgan would say such melancholy and infinite sadness is a true reflection of his own estimation of things. Sure, there are people who do slip into such nihilistic despair, but they tend to get the 5150, and none ever willingly ventures into talking about the worst thing that can happen to a person who has nary a reason to forego pulling the trigger. The true grit of the whole 90s grunge sound was for some an attractive change to the whole polished keyboard driven experience of the 80s, but none can truly live sustained in a world without reason and hope to go on.
There is a power behind a song and the performance of that song which can truly leave a lasting impression on a person. Very few can do something that pushes the envelope that leaves a lasting impact and keeps them from doing the same old song and dance. Even less can make their thunderous moment have some transcendent meaning. Songs of despair never really catch on, unless there is an undercurrent of hope within the musical journey, a light at the end of the tunnel.
There are even great performers and performances that have long been forgotten. Some just may have to be reminded of the epic performance of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
Epic songs do exists, which leave an impact the very first time they are performed, but still sound just as fresh in the present as they were years before. Some songs may have been written and recorded decades ago, but they sound as if they were done yesterday.
I do believe there is an eternal song resounding in this world, a grove which continues to play on the inner soundtrack of the soul. It is a yearning for something greater than oneself, something that last forever that everyone seeks. When all the glam and glory fade, the shock and awe wears off, do we not yearn for something more? It cannot be found in the next fad. Moth and rust will destroy the temporal things this world has to offer. Oh but if we could have something that last forever. What if life could extend beyond the 70-80 years typically experienced on this world? We grow old and we die. Loved ones try to keep our memories alive, but even that eventually ends. There are multitudes of gravestones and all one knows about them is that they have a year of birth and death with “—”(dash) in the middle, and asides from some epitaph the — is all that one can ever know about the person. What if there is a life after the afterlife? Oh the chance to live beyond the fleeting memories of the few who survive us, and to live in a new heaven and new earth.
What if God could give to someone eternal life?
— WGN
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