Permeating The Indie Hip Hop Analysis
The final thing to understand about indie music to understand the role of “authenticity” is the characteristics of indie music. There are many different sub-genres of indie including indie rock, indie folk, indie hip-hop, etc. However, Fonarow describes some characteristics of indie music, she states “Permeating the indie tradition is an espousal of simplicity and austerity, a hyper-evaluation of childhood and childlike imagery, a nostalgic sensibility, a technophobia, and a fetishization of the guitar” (Fonarow 2006: 39). Fonarow can state these things but still there will be people who will break these characteristics. So, what else can unify these people as a group rather than them being just some individuals who like similar music? Another
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Wendy in the sociology world, Wendy Griswold, quoted something very noteworthy about collective identity in her book Cultures and Societies in a Changing World. She said that Alberto Melucci stated “Collective identity is an interactive and shared definition produced by several interacting individuals who are concerned with the orientations of their action as well as the field of opportunities and constraints in which their action takes place” (Griswold 2013: 99). So, participants are a part of creating their social group. Jeffery Kidder in his article “Bike Messengers and the Really Real: Effervescence, Reflexivity, and Postmodern Identity” talks about how the participants in the bike messenger world are apart of creating their social groups. The bike messengers Kidder talks about have values and practices they take part in to the extent that makes them recognize themselves as a group and outsiders recognize them as a group (there are even so called “posers” that will dress similar to bike messengers and will try to belong but can be rejected). Similarly, in the indie music world there are album releases, gigs, and independent record label distribution that participants take part. Also they value authenticity and control over the music process. They recognize themselves as a group and outsiders recognize them as a group they are not a part of. So this recognition of outsiders and insiders of the world of indie music is a major part of it being a social group even though we may not be able to cleanly define it; and the fact that Morrissey said it has no meaning anymore, as stated at the beginning, may not be the case if we view it the way Kidder might and say that its meaning has changed and broadened since indie’s emergence instead of becoming meaningless. Indie music emerged out of a changing social, political and economic world in the 70s and 80s in the UK, New Zealand (NZ) and US (Bannister 2006: xvi).
Socially, there was a challenge toward the traditional idea of the masculinity of the working class man. This was because of what was going on economically which was a result of what was changing politically, this was something that was particularly affecting the working class. Working class laboring jobs were being moved rapidly out of the country and the service/information sector was replacing these jobs being moved away. Working class unemployment rose. The middle class was affected similarly. The government was being shrunk so the public sector was shrink and the private sector was being grown so many people were making the move from the typical middle class job of the public sector to the private sector (which was considered “selling-out” and becoming “yuppies”). Many of the indie artists came from a family with a military background and the privatization and restructuring that took place really affected them. Thus, this disruption of middle class and working class lives led to the emergence of a music world that emphasizes authenticity amid sellouts. Fonarow said “Indie is generally a middle-class phenomenon, yet it idealizes the working class with its supposed “authentic” experience” (Fonarow 2006: 52). So, these changes and uprooting at the time meant betrayal, insecurity and a general worsening of the lives of many young people (Bannister 2006: xvii). Philippe Bourgois in an article about drug dealers in Harlem talked about how economic changes like these can affect people particularly working class people. He talks about how they lose control in the service jobs from manufacturing jobs and having to deal more directly with a boss and the disrespect that is experienced in service jobs. There is no union to defend their rights and they cannot “publicly maintain their autonomy” in these service jobs
(Bourgois __: 27). US indie bands particularly arose out of this situation.
Many blamed the 1960s for the poor effects of the entire social, political and economic changes that took place, however, indie and alternative music of the 70s and 80s drew from the 1960s music counterculture (Bannister 2006: xviii). One important thing they drew from the 1960s was the idea of music as a way of life. Another thing that has affected indie music is that the “…1960s also offered an idealized vision of youthful innocence that resonated strongly with some white teenagers who perhaps felt that they had never really had the chance to be children [because of all those social, economic, and political changes], leading towards a consideration of infantilism and childlike regression in indie culture” (Bannister 2006: xviii). This is why, as Fonarow put it, there is “hyper-evaluation of childhood and child-like imagery” in indie music (Fonarow 2006: 39). Another thing related to the 60s that has affected indie music that is particularly related to “authenticity” was the idea of identity. Because of the social, economic and political changes that affected people, identity became something that was “formerly something you grew into…today it is something you have to acquire’”(Bannister 2006: xix). The indie music identity was something you had to acquire and earn credibility in. One place this starts for the artist is with the independent record label.
Wendy in the sociology world, Wendy Griswold, quoted something very noteworthy about collective identity in her book Cultures and Societies in a Changing World. She said that Alberto Melucci stated “Collective identity is an interactive and shared definition produced by several interacting individuals who are concerned with the orientations of their action as well as the field of opportunities and constraints in which their action takes place” (Griswold 2013: 99). So, participants are a part of creating their social group. Jeffery Kidder in his article “Bike Messengers and the Really Real: Effervescence, Reflexivity, and Postmodern Identity” talks about how the participants in the bike messenger world are apart of creating their social groups. The bike messengers Kidder talks about have values and practices they take part in to the extent that makes them recognize themselves as a group and outsiders recognize them as a group (there are even so called “posers” that will dress similar to bike messengers and will try to belong but can be rejected). Similarly, in the indie music world there are album releases, gigs, and independent record label distribution that participants take part. Also they value authenticity and control over the music process. They recognize themselves as a group and outsiders recognize them as a group they are not a part of. So this recognition of outsiders and insiders of the world of indie music is a major part of it being a social group even though we may not be able to cleanly define it; and the fact that Morrissey said it has no meaning anymore, as stated at the beginning, may not be the case if we view it the way Kidder might and say that its meaning has changed and broadened since indie’s emergence instead of becoming meaningless. Indie music emerged out of a changing social, political and economic world in the 70s and 80s in the UK, New Zealand (NZ) and US (Bannister 2006: xvi).
Socially, there was a challenge toward the traditional idea of the masculinity of the working class man. This was because of what was going on economically which was a result of what was changing politically, this was something that was particularly affecting the working class. Working class laboring jobs were being moved rapidly out of the country and the service/information sector was replacing these jobs being moved away. Working class unemployment rose. The middle class was affected similarly. The government was being shrunk so the public sector was shrink and the private sector was being grown so many people were making the move from the typical middle class job of the public sector to the private sector (which was considered “selling-out” and becoming “yuppies”). Many of the indie artists came from a family with a military background and the privatization and restructuring that took place really affected them. Thus, this disruption of middle class and working class lives led to the emergence of a music world that emphasizes authenticity amid sellouts. Fonarow said “Indie is generally a middle-class phenomenon, yet it idealizes the working class with its supposed “authentic” experience” (Fonarow 2006: 52). So, these changes and uprooting at the time meant betrayal, insecurity and a general worsening of the lives of many young people (Bannister 2006: xvii). Philippe Bourgois in an article about drug dealers in Harlem talked about how economic changes like these can affect people particularly working class people. He talks about how they lose control in the service jobs from manufacturing jobs and having to deal more directly with a boss and the disrespect that is experienced in service jobs. There is no union to defend their rights and they cannot “publicly maintain their autonomy” in these service jobs
(Bourgois __: 27). US indie bands particularly arose out of this situation.
Many blamed the 1960s for the poor effects of the entire social, political and economic changes that took place, however, indie and alternative music of the 70s and 80s drew from the 1960s music counterculture (Bannister 2006: xviii). One important thing they drew from the 1960s was the idea of music as a way of life. Another thing that has affected indie music is that the “…1960s also offered an idealized vision of youthful innocence that resonated strongly with some white teenagers who perhaps felt that they had never really had the chance to be children [because of all those social, economic, and political changes], leading towards a consideration of infantilism and childlike regression in indie culture” (Bannister 2006: xviii). This is why, as Fonarow put it, there is “hyper-evaluation of childhood and child-like imagery” in indie music (Fonarow 2006: 39). Another thing related to the 60s that has affected indie music that is particularly related to “authenticity” was the idea of identity. Because of the social, economic and political changes that affected people, identity became something that was “formerly something you grew into…today it is something you have to acquire’”(Bannister 2006: xix). The indie music identity was something you had to acquire and earn credibility in. One place this starts for the artist is with the independent record label.