These songs/tv shows etc are being viewed ahistorically.
We'd obviously look sideways at them being written now, but they are of their time.
Obvioulsy we then have to seperate what comes to us from the past from what is repulsive to just questionable attitude to gender/race etc. But we also (as with the Lennon song quoted) have to see the perspective and target they seek to hit.
It sounds complex, but it really isn't. It's just common sense...sadly in short supply with a few people it seems.
No I get it. Which is why I’m not calling for them to be banned.
I’m saying *my* views have changed. And my tastes will change with it. At 18, I listen to Eminem and thought the lyrics were funny. At 38 my view is different. I’m not the same person.
I’m dead set against censorship. It’s all art and there is a context always (I used friends as an example earlier). At the same time bernard manning was a sign of his time. Let’s face it he was an unfunny **** but it was deemed acceptable. Same with Roy chubby brown. Are we saying we should allow them space now as they were just a sign of the time? You don’t have to ban them but times change.
my favourite genre is rock n roll. The generation of bands that took music generated by black artists and made it hugely popular. Which then spawned other generations of musicians and rock n roll became predominantly focused on white males despite its routes. I wonder how much of me liking rock n roll is due to the genre being represented by people like me, talking about things I can relate to in a way I can understand.
I wonder if it’s harder for women or people of colour to relate so much as they have a different experience than that.
There just isn’t much space in rock n roll for women.
And with music in general, I was trying to think of a woman producer the other day and, apart from songwriter producers (like sia or Taylor swift for instance), I couldn’t think of one.
So I’ve tried to make more of an effort to seek out and listen to female artists a little more. For a different perspective. For a different voice. For a different sound. (Agnes Obell is great btw).
I just find it interesting and I don’t think it’s wrong to question a status quo. To challenge yourself as a person. To consider your taste and wonder why they are framed the way they are. To understand the context to it all.
www.thejournal.ie
