Rockmusiikin politiikka ja massat

Författare

• Lauri Siisiäinen

Abstract

Nowadays, it is an indisputable fact that the production, distribution and consumption of popular music is a profitable branch of the world economy. This situation has been recognized by social and political scientists as well. During its brief history, popular music has either been condemned for its immoral influence or praised as an equal and democratic form of culture. However, the protagonists and antagonists often seem to share some common premises. Both seem to assume that rock music has a somewhat revolutionary political character: i.e. a subversive capacity in regard to social and political order. Unfortunately, this ”subversive thesis” has often been accepted as self-evident. The aim of this article is to show that political theory can provide us with conceptual tools, which help us question such ”indisputable” presumptions. First, the argument concerning the ”Dionysian” (and also corruptive) quality of rock music turns out to be rather dubious, if we study the meaning of the term ”Dionysian” and its relationship to the so called educative music in the context of Ancient Greece. Second, the assumption that rock music is a form of ”mass culture” turns out to be somewhat dubious, if we take a closer look at ”crowd movements” and their relationship to rhythmic forms. It would be more accurate to understand rock music as a spectacle, which prevents the formation of crowds by dividing and dissolving them. The last part of the article concentrates on the ”anti-spectacular” type of music, which truly has a subversive character and can be used as an instrument of resistance to forms of discipline. An outline of this type of music can be found by an interpretation of the philosophy of Henri Bergson