Modern Music

     Hipster: "a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter"
          -Urban Dictionary

      We all have one or two friends who pride their individualism above all else. Often using it to mentally place themselves above the "culturally-sheltered mainstream society". Once or twice we too have claimed to be totally "in" to something obscure or unknown to seem cool or "in the know". More often than not, this thing is our music; the most massively produced art in the world.

      Even more often than that, one frequently claims dis-interest in mainstream. We reject it as "too typical" or holding to the idea that it requires no talent. Music, just like every other art, is subjective. That is to say that everyone has their own personal taste when it comes to auditory art. Music is meant to be appreciated; made to please the ear and alter the emotions of the listener. There lies the catch twenty-two of art. The "goodness" of something is most commonly measured in how well it achieves its purpose. So how can we tell what music is good or bad? Many argue that it is not possible or necessary to dictate which music is better, often claiming it is like "comparing apples to oranges".


     First, I would like to suggest to the reader that it is indeed possible to compare apples to oranges. To do so, one must state a value and criterion to measure the achievement of such value. In the case of music why not make the value happiness? This seems a perfectly good value as it is arguably the purpose of all that is "good". So, now for the tricky part; how do we measure happiness? The reality is that music which more people like clearly provides the most happiness.


   Here lies the rub, music these days has a backside, another value, a more obscure/variable criterion: cool. Music needs to be "cool" these days. A new science has emerged because of it; one that dominates in art, culture, and technology. This sport is known as "cool hunting". Cool hunting involves polls, studies, and social engineering, all centered around people ages 12-20. The new generation of young people will be more studied than any other group of people in history (this includes Roman, Greek, British, and Asian empires). Ironically, the biggest enemy of cool hunters is themselves. This is because once they find cool, they sell it. And sell it and sell it and sell it, until everyone has it. Then it is no longer cool. The self destructive nature of cool hunting goes back to the first article of To Be Considered: Push and Pull. We want what is unique, harder to obtain.


So, is it fair to say mainstream is not as good as Indie? Or that we should all adopt a taste for the same "manufactured music"? It depends on what you value. As far as determining which one is better, a value debate is in order. To determine the better of apples and oranges, we must first decide which aspect of the fruits we are judging.