One weekend my sophomore year of college, my sister-ish (Nicole) and the closest thing I'll ever have to a mother (Wendy)and I all went shopping. We were in a department store looking at shoes when we came across the ugliest pair of shoes I had ever seen. They were a pair of Nike athletic shoes that had a separate big toe holder. They were similar to the pair in the picture, but with an even uglier color scheme.
I jokingly held one up and showed Wendy. I QUIETLY made a joke about them being camel toe shoes. Wendy, completely oblivious to camel toe meaning anything other than the hoof on the animal with the humps, holds one over her head and yells at Nicole to "Look at the Camel Toe Shoe!" Immediately embarrassed I grabbed her by the arm and told her she couldn't yell that in public. She was so confused. By this time Nicole had come to the same side of the rack as us and we were both laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe, so much as speak.
Wendy just looked at us bewildered and and kept saying "What is a camel toe?" You would think that she would pick up on the fact that it was something inappropriate just by our reactions, but she kept going. Finally she said, "If you girls don't tell me what a camel toe is, I'm going to ask someone." Nicole and I did our best to try to contain her to our side of the isle while laughing so hard we were doubling over. Unfortunately, Wendy was very determined and walked to the end of the aisle to this poor man who was probably in his mid-twenties. She says to him, "Excuse me, could you possibly tell me what a camel toe is?"
The look on his face was priceless. He was doing his best to not die of laughter (like Nicole and I who were hiding behind the other side of the rack pretending not to know her.) The way she asked him was like she was asking him the time or for directions. He had this huge smile and just said, "I'm sorry I don't know what you are talking about." Clearly the poor man didn't want to explain to a 46 year-old woman that it was when a woman wore her pants too tight.
Nicole and I managed to put ourselves back togther, more out of the fear of her asking someone else, than out of the situation not still being funny and tell her what a camel toe was. She was so pissed at us. She couldn't believe that we let her ask that guy what it was.
That year on Wendy's birthday, Nicole and I happened to come across a pair on sale and we bought them for her. The look on her face when she opened the box was almost as good as when she first realized what she had asked a complete stranger.
Music is a means by which our culture communicates. The use of music allows us to relate within our culture and identify with subcultures. Mass media has changed and amplified the ways in which we experience music. With Internet access, we have exponentially increased our exposure and accessibility to all types and genres of music. In essence, music changes with culture, and culture with music. We even build communities around music, make assumptions about people with certain musical preferences, and evolve our musical repertoire as we evolve as people. Music is so ingrained in culture, that the two are impossible to separate. This means that as mass media creates one mass culture, music and the ways in which we experience it change in parallel.
Each individual's experience within culture is unique. There is no way to quantitatively explain how the internet has changed how my generation or any individual within that subgroup, has experienced music. We all have distinctive, but interconnected experiences with music. The best I can do is to explain the experience in the context of the ways in which I have been exposed to music in mass media, as I am a part of mass culture.
Most of us go through music evolutions in our lifetimes. We often start off listening to whatever our parents expose us to and then move on to what our older siblings tell us is cool. Eventually we develop a musical taste of our own. Before mass media, music was much more regionalized. There was a distinct sound to each genre based on locale. While that still exists, to some extent, it is not to the same degree due to the increased ability to find influence without geographical barriers (Peterson, 1974). The ways in which we are exposed to music have also progress with time. It was only about 120 years ago that the first sounds were recorded. My generation (born in the mid to late '80s) started leaps and bounds ahead with cassettes and moved to CDs and now we get most of our music from the Internet. The Internet and MP3 players are exceedingly more convenient and portable than any device we have had in the past for listening to music. Not only is the technology revolutionary, so is the way that we gain access to new or previously unknown artists. There is yet to be a better way than the Internet to discover new artists and increase exposure to unfamiliar genres. The Internet is a tool that music lovers, including myself, use to expand our musical knowledge and inflate our music libraries. The Internet has become an integral part of how my generation buys music, decides whom we will listen to, and where we go to see live music.
As a youngster, I had mixed exposure to music. My first concert was Robert Cray when I was four. Unfortunately, I would have rather been at a New Kids on the Block concert. I was a little obsessed, owning way more New Kids on the Block memorabilia than any one child should ever, ever own. Even now I will fess up to having “Hang Tough” on my itunes. It is funny how the Internet has even allowed me to keep up with my guilty pleasures in music. Now I would not even buy a New Kids on the Block CD from the bargain bin, but the dollar seemed worth the laugh that I get every time it shows up on shuffle.
While I still have musical skeletons in my closet (like most people), I cannot quantitatively explain how much the Internet has changed my repertoire of music or even the genres I chose to listen to. I can say that it has enlightened me in many ways and contributed to my love of music. The best example is how I fell in love with the blues. I used to think that blues was for old people and that it was the same ‘done me wrong’ lyrics with a different mix of words. Then I saw my dad watching a video of Johnny Lang online. Johnny Lang was in his mid-teens when his first album came out. It gave me a new perspective on what the blues was. Now I cannot get enough. My love of the blues spread to different artists and even different generation of musicians. I discovered a truth and vulnerability that, for me, is lacking in so many other genres.
While blues might not resonate the same way for everyone else, the capability of musical exploration gives each one of us a chance to find that song, artist, or genre that makes us look at life with a new perspective. The Internet allows us to be our own DJ. There is no one who limits our musical exploration. At the click of a mouse, you can hear music from all over the world. The Internet has made the world seem smaller in a way. This availability has even assumed a new role in the way that my generation experiences music. We experience it together in the form of fan sites, reading blogs from our favorite artists, watching youtube videos, downloading mp3s, and even though the use of places like myspace and facebook. Before the Internet, the limits of musical exposure were the radio, TV, the contents of your pocketbook, and the time to takes to dig through record store bins.
I find most of the new music that I fall in love with by perusing through favorite musicians that my friends list on myspace or facebook. Many of my friends send me links to videos or myspace pages dedicated to different musicians. If the link comes from someone that I mesh with musically, I will always listen to a few songs.
I am frequently added by bands on myspace. Sometimes they are just local bands that are looking for people to come out to their shows; sometimes they are growing national acts. In terms of advertising, it is perfect because the viewer has the chance to decide whether they are the target audience and it allows the band to spread their music. This is a great example of how the Internet allows for mutually beneficial music sharing.
Sometimes people magnetize to certain genres. You don’t have to be eclectic to benefit from the ease of the Internet. We can all culturally identify with the genres we love. In some ways, music is a means to relate or even pretend to be someone were not. My best friend and I grew up on a large horse farm out in the country. Growing up in the situation that we did, with country music on in the barn everyday, it is almost impossible to not love Country even just for nostalgic reasons. We have not gone to a single country concert where we could not pick out a whole mass of people pretending to be “country.” The pristine cowboy boots that have never seen a stirrup or a puddle of mud, the cheap cowboy hat and the mini-skirts gave it away. We always found it amusing that all of these people were there listening to the music that is not about anything that they had ever lived. They were frontin. They did not understand what it meant to be out in the barn at 6:00 am everyday or how much work it was to put up hay or fix fence. So what was the draw? Is it this “increasing cultural homogeneity”? Country, much like other genres (Blues, Rap, etc.) has spread beyond its once regionality and even once present class associations (Peterson, 1974).
So what drives the city kid to a go to a country concert or a suburban kid to a rap show? The answer is simple. The exposure to the culture somehow makes us feel like we want to be part of the subculture. In essence, with each computer with Internet access, the cultural lines get closer and closer. It is exceedingly common to enjoy what may have once seemed like completely opposing types of music. In a way these online communities that have spawned real-life communities, are blending the lines and dissembling the groups core. At one time music spoke about where you came from and what your ideals were. With the addition of members to a community with a different background, diversity is increased within the group, but homogeneity is increase amongst the entire population. Alan Jackson pokes fun at the phenomenon in his song “Gone Country.” The song is about how these “Country” singers decide to become country when they see the prospect of money, not because they relate to the music or the subculture.
She's been playin' in a room on the Strip For ten years in Vegas Every night she looks in the mirror And she only ages She's been readin' about Nashville and all The records that everybody's buyin' Says 'I'm a simple girl myself Grew up on Long Island' So she packs her bags to try to her hand Says this might be my last chance (Alan Jackson, 1994)
Not only has music allowed us to relate to others, it has given us the chance to experiment with our own identity. The information available on the musical communities and what each genre is rooted in, is endless on the Internet.
This leads me to the next way that the Internet has helped my generation expand our musical outlook. The Internet is a convenient way to track when your favorite artists are going to be in your vicinity. I use online resources to track the Madison and Milwaukee music scenes. Recently I have become dependant on a Facebook application which alerts me when one of my favorite musicians is playing locally. I’m sure there are multiple applications with similar functions, but the one I use is called ilike. This application’s use is two fold. Not only does it tell me when my favorite musicians are coming to town, it will tell me who else on my friends list is interested or planning on going to the show. It is easy to drop a message or a comment to any of my friends and arrange to meet up for the show. Concerts are always more fun with someone to share it with. . The Internet is a convenient way to track when your favorite artists are going to be in your vicinity. I use online resources to track the Madison and Milwaukee music scenes. Recently I have become dependant on a Facebook application, which alerts me when one of my favorite musicians is playing locally. I’m sure there are multiple applications with similar functions, but the one I use is called ilike. This application’s use is two fold. Not only does it tell me when my favorite musicians are coming to town, it will tell me who else on my friends list is interested or planning on going to the show. It is easy to drop a message or a comment to any of my friends and arrange to meet up for the show.
As useful as the ilike application is, myspace still has a place in keeping up to date with musicians as well. Many bands will use myspace bulletins to announce upcoming CD releases, shows, and any other important news. On myspace, unlike the ilike application, the contact between fan and artist is bidirectional. At least once every couple of days I will receive a friend request from a band. I am always on the lookout for new music, so I will give every musician a chance. Most often, they are local bands, which give me a chance to listen to them before I drive somewhere and pay a cover fee to see them. Either the national acts that have added me usually do so by adding people from the friend lists of bands that have a similar sound or from a band they are touring with. In most circumstances, it is mutually beneficial. It is a marketing tool for the band and I usually only get added by bands that are at least within the realm of my musical affinities.
Each of us finds our own way of relating to the music we love. Sometimes it is a means of therapy to which we turn if we have a bad day, been stuck in a bad situation, or even just to cheer ourselves up. Even when life is going well, music can serve as a way to keep it that way (Aigen, 2005). At the touch of a button, we can all go to the song that makes us smile. For me, it is “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison. Sometimes we need to relieve a little stress by singing our favorite angry song on the top of our lungs (or maybe that is just me.)
Whatever the motivation for the music we listen to, there is no doubt that the Internet has changed our social interaction when it comes to music. The limits on musical exploration have been lifted. With this freedom we have developed communities that are becoming increasingly diverse. The Internet allows us to span generations, genres, artists, and even communities. Each expansion and diversification of these communities changes mass culture. There is no question that music changes in much the same manner.
Sources:
Aigen, Kenneth. Music Centered Music Therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers, 2005.
Firth, Simon. "Questions of Cultural Identity." Music and Identity (1997) 108-127. 15Apr2008 FCAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA108&dq=experience+music+genre&ots=zPE4D_ObGN&sig=6p7k4VyOjvbdnkxIG6B7_3Bf4BU#PPP7,M1>.
Gossburg, Lawrence. Mediamaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture. 2nd. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publishers, 2005.
Jones, Steve. "Music and the Internet." Popular Music 1911Dec2000 217-230. 15Apr2008
Peterson, Richard A., Paul DiMaggio, and "From Region to Class, the Changing Locus of Country Music: A Test of the Massification Hypothesis." Social Locus of Country Music (1974): 498-516.
Peterson, Richard A.. "Popular Music Is Plural." Popular Music and Society Vol. 21(1997): 57-85
Wilensky, Harold L.. "• Mass Society and Mass Culture: Interdependence or Independence?." • American Sociological Review Vol. 29, No. 2(1964) 173-197. 13Apr2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
So I was going to blog about a classic story, but I'll save it for next week. I just gave myself some damn good material. My class ended about an hour ago and as soon as I got upstairs to my apartment, I decided to open a second window because my apartment was roasting. Our apartment is really cute, but in a really old building that I think was built in 1919. Anyway, I open the fist window and then try to open the second storm window thing. The whole thing falls out...screen, glass, frame...I mean the whole thing. Somehow I managed to catch it with one hand. Then it took me another couple of minutes to swing it back aroud to rest it on the window sill. This thing was heavy. I stood there for 15 mins just holding onto my window. Knowing that none of my roomates were supposed to be home for several hours, I decided to try and get my phone. After a few contortionist moves I managed to grab my purse with my foot and get my cell phone, all while not killing any pedestrians on the sidewalk two stories below. I called Chey, a guy I've gone on a few dates with, and he came over to help me. He ended up busting the screen out of the other window and hanging outside of my apartment. I was really scared that he was going to splat onto the sidewalk. He didn't and he fixed the window too. Major brownie points. And unlike my roommate who came home unexpectedly just before Chey got there, he didn't really laugh at me too much. My roommate thought it was hysterical and took pictures. (I'll post one when she puts them on facebook, which I know she will.) Maybe he's a keeper.
At the risk of sounding sappy, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed everyone in the class. I normally don't get the chance to know all of my classmates, but this semester I'll walk out knowing everyone's name. It was really cool that we all came from different backgrounds. It really made perspectives and even the blogs more interesting to read.
As you might have noticed, I could probably stand to be a little more shy, so don't be surprised if the semester ends and I still say hi to you if I'm walking down the street or just about anywhere else I might happen to run into one of you. In fact, last Friday I thought that I saw Colby at the City and was about to go say hi even though he was in the middle of a whole bunch of people. I realize at the last second that it wasn't Colby and I almost made an ass out of myself, but at least I am friendly.
Monday, April 21, 2008
The semester is winding down and most of my friends are a little stressed, but excited about graduating. I'm going to be here for an extra semester and I am dreading the end of the summer. I know I will still have people to hang out with and I'm not going to spend a semester of Friday nights sitting at home alone, but I am really going to miss my two best friends. I met them both my first week of freshman year. One of them will be moving back to Texas and the other one is volunteering in Peru/Argentina for a year. The whole college experience will be different without them. I knew this was going to happen, but I can't believe how fast these four years have gone. I don't feel old enough to be graduating from college.
I am a random mix of things that don't belong together. One of my friends described me as a redneck-hippie. I think country-liberal is a little more accurate, but that doesn't even start to account for the aspects of me that seem in opposition. Somehow it everything works together. I guess you'd really have to get to know me to understand the extent to which these traits have manifested themselves all in the form of me.
