It’s the number of YouTube hits for a song called “Gangnam Style.”
Well, the computer has just red squiggled Gangnam, and for once I’m comforted. Someone, or something, is as unhip as I.
Well, if 969,133,413 people have watched, shouldn’t I? Am I missing something? Doesn’t a blogger have a responsibility to his international audience to keep himself up to date with modern culture?
I go roughly from Gregorian chant to Part / Lauridsen—is that enough? Shouldn’t I check out the latest trends in pop culture?
Well, I happened on the whole thing through CNN—a gentleman in England dropped dead of a coronary while dancing to the song. So I became curious—was there something particularly lethal about it?
The first indication that something was seriously bizarre was Wikipedia’s article. Guess, Gentle Reader, how many citations the article had!
Oh—and keep in mind that the song was released on 15 July 2012. That means it’s been around only five months.
I fear for you if you guessed too high. There are, in fact, 341 citations backing up what is one of the longest articles I’ve read—OK, skimmed—on Wikipedia.
This is the story that you—presumably—know and I didn’t. The song is by a South Korean performer named PSY. Gangnam is an exclusive area of Seoul.
Well, I took 4 minutes out of an otherwise productive life to watch it. And here, stripped of the hypnotic beat, the flashing lights (anybody prone to migraines should think twice about watching this), the blatant and annoying sexuality is the essence of the piece.
Yup—nothing. Zilch. Nada. It’s the musical equivalent of bubblegum, and it lasts about as long.
And what’s wrong with bubblegum?
Absolutely nothing.
I chew it, occasionally, and find it mildly pleasant. I don’t, however, expect it to be in any way nourishing. I wouldn’t replace with food as my steady diet.
Now, dear Reader, guess how many citations there are for the greatest song-cycle in the canon of Western Music (love that pomposity—wanted to use the word “canon” for years….)—Winterreise?
39.
So? Why should it matter? In fifty years time, no one will remember PSY, and no one will much care.
But I worry about kids that assume this is the only music there is. Or indeed, that it’s music. It worries me that people—adults, scholars, writers—encourage this belief. It bugs me that people assume that all music has equal value. Or worse, that there’s something condescending about a person who says, yeah—there’s a difference.
My other worry?
That kids’ view of the world is being shaped by this video. Nothing about it has any semblance of sense. It’s random, ridiculous, hypnotic and erotic.
It’s as far away from a narrative as it can get.
At age fourteen, with adolescence and a world looming ahead of me, would I have wanted a message like this?
I share your concern. I think it’s noteworthy that Psy is almost 35 years old and the gentleman (gosh – what are the implications of a green squiggle under that word?) who died was 46. I’m disappointed that adults of a certain age who should have gained a sense of what is meaningful in this transitory life, have not. This leads me to ponder the questions raised in your ‘Just Gale’ blog. Why do people prefer superficial self-absorption to a meaningful, shared human experience? Little children spin in circles until they become dizzy and fall down. Why do adults…and why almost a billion of them?
ReplyDeleteI have fought this fight and been beaten down so many times I have just about given up. When it comes to music, everybody thinks they're just as expert at evaluation as the person who has studied it for a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteMy unusually musically-gifted granddaughter (and it's not just because of our relationship that I say so), after five years of piano study with a superb teacher, and having been one of only two students in Madison to have earned a "with Distinction" on last spring's ABRSM exams, refused to continue with that teacher and is now taking lessons with an unqualified teacher (her best friend's) who is assigning her pop crap on lead sheets downloaded from the internet.
Another worry -- the performing arts (and I do NOT refer to the entertainment industry) are supported in the U.S. almost entirely by rich socialites who haven't a clue what they're hearing, but are adding cache to their status. How dependable will that support be in the years to come?
H.L. Mencken wrote, "No one ever lost money underestimating the taste of the American people." And today it's all about commercial 'success.'