Re:Do We Live in a Society Without a Counterculture?
by NovaPenguin on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @10:59PM
(#34621871)
Frank Zappa said that when he first heard Bob Dylans "The times they are a changin" on the radio, Frank believed that he didn't need to get into the music industry because the change in the world was already on its way. Frank quickly figured out that this was not how it was going to go down and that Dylan was very quickly absorbed into the main stream.
Credit to Frank, he managed to walk the fine line of being in pop culture but never fully embraced by it.
>It’s hard to listen to Rage Against the Machine without laughing.
People like music for all kinds of reasons...and I see what you're getting at, but this example is a little cheesy. "I think you're all sheep for thinking your not sheep and it makes me laugh." is essentially what I'm reading.
While counter culture does get co-opted, it's not like RATM was gonna actually do anything to help us socially since music had already been commodified for a long time. Counter Culture can even START co-opted e.g. Label Music/Industry Plants.
Where this book misses is the failure to ask the question: What is the purpose of viewing yourself or acting in favor of counter culture. To look cool? To feel powerful? If those things work in your life model who cares if it's not the most "punk" thing ever. Some people live their whole lives happy being "posers" and I would consider that successful for them.