Modus Lusti?

[Andy Wainwright]

Long ago, the mediaeval church actually banned music in the major key,
saying that it was responsible for all manner of moral evils.

Rock'n'roll music drew similar criticism on it's inception. I wouldn't
call it necessarily left wing- in fact it came from the Western as
opposed to communist Eastern Bloc part of the world. However, it was
generally anti-establishment, and pro-freedom- about tearing down
barriers such as race and class etc.

Feel free to call me the conspiracy nut here, but I reckon that this
idea upset a few people. Thus they- the "establishment lobby" set about
neutralising the percieved threat, subtly but successfully.

The modern popular music industry has to be one of the most pop/rock
musician-unfriendly places I've been, seemingly actively discouraging
anything even as radical (or even just intelligent) as the Spice Girls,
let alone the Lennons, Dylans and Cohens of the world. Liberal use of
porn and swearing only goes to highlight the fact that nothing is
actually being said. There's some reactionary loons on usenet political
forums, but this pale into insignificance compared to some I've
encountered in the supposedly liberated world of pop.

Some stuff has been surreal- talking about the biggest selling records
ever at the same time as going bust through "piracy". It actually seems
like most of the major players seem to have an agenda of something other
than record sales, which is odd. As for the sales themselves I don't
trust particularly electronic systems without a paper trail because in a
world where so relatively few businesses run the show on an
international level, it's potentially open to all sorts of abuse. One
label even used malware technology as a form of copy protection. As for
anti-piracy laws, I often wonder what the deal was in return for
granting them with the authorities- maybe more spying, maybe quietly
pushing out artists that are vocal critics of this or that state or
corporate backer.

Maybe it is just conspiracy crap. There are some good things these days
though, plenty of great music out there to be discovered if you want to
look for it, thanks to the internet and cheap and readily available
digital music production technology. In fact, you'll find better music
than the ten or so records on repeat on every TV and radio station
available for free. And the great thing is now that kids and oldies
alike are discovering it.