As I was slurping down my udon today in an environment in which formulaic pop music was blaring in the background, my thoughts turned to the parallels between pop music and wine. To wit, my contention is that much of the pop music generated in the last half century has relied upon advances in technology to render the "product" more polished and superficially appealing while at the same time eviscerating the music of any recognizable emotional depth, much like the technological innovations introduced in the cellar and vineyard in the last half century have produced commodified wines that, while polished and superficially appealing, lack many of the characteristics (food-friendliness, ageworthiness) that led to the appeal of wine to many of us in the first place.
In formulating this position, I couldn't help but draw parallels between traditional musical forms such as folk, blues, gospel, jazz and classical and traditional wine forms such as old-school Barolo and Barbaresco, N. Rhone Syrah, Burgundy, Bordeaux and Mosel Riesling. These forms established emotional resonance in the listener/wine drinker that varied but relied on certain norms for their power.
In drawing a contrast between these traditional forms and the more modern, commodified forms, it's tempting to use the term authenticity as a shibboleth, but I would question whether Katy Perry is any less authentic a musicisn than e.g. Bob Dylan or whether Mollydooker is any less authentic a wine than Clos Roche Blanche. Instead, the distinction I see is a certain homogenization of expression. Whereas the traditional forms permit a musician or vigneron to formulate a unique expression in their medium, the commodified versions seek a certain similarity and consistency that obscures (if not obliterates) those same individual distinctions.
I can foresee two counterarguments to my assertions. The first is that technological change has always occurred, with glass bottles replacing amphorae and corks replacing pitch (or saxophones, electric guitars and synthesizers being introduced) and that I'm simply drawing an artificial distinction between older innovations and more recent ones. My rejoinder would be that it's the role of the technology that distinguishes them: auto-tuners and drum machines, like RO and MegaPurple, are less about new modes of expression than they are about regularizing and adjusting individual artistry.
A second, more nuanced, objection would be that I am identifying artisans, who have always been in the extreme minority and that what's really changed is the remainder. To wit, the many flawed and technically unsound wines of yesteryear have been replaced by technically sound but soulless wines of today. Put another way, for every Thelonius Monk you have thousands of people plinking away at pianos making far less memorable music. Related to that would be the criticism that "natural" wine can be every bit as formulaic as e.g. Napa Cab.
Again, though, my sights are set on a somewhat different target: the changes wrought in Napa and Bordeaux, and the investment of the "music industry" in commercial pop, both of which IMO have embraced an ideal of consistency and regularity as opposed to individual differences. And we've seen in the last decade a pushback against these trends, such as the "New California" producers who've returned to a mode of expression familiar to Paul Draper and Steve Edmunds, among others, and the proliferation of new musical acts on Youtube and other online venues.
I also suspect that similar trends could be identified in other artistic media with which I am less familiar. So, is this just the continuation of long-term trend, or something specific to our times? Am I completely off-base here? Am I just blind to the emotional depth of Mollydooker wines and Katy Perry's music?
Mark Lipton
In formulating this position, I couldn't help but draw parallels between traditional musical forms such as folk, blues, gospel, jazz and classical and traditional wine forms such as old-school Barolo and Barbaresco, N. Rhone Syrah, Burgundy, Bordeaux and Mosel Riesling. These forms established emotional resonance in the listener/wine drinker that varied but relied on certain norms for their power.
In drawing a contrast between these traditional forms and the more modern, commodified forms, it's tempting to use the term authenticity as a shibboleth, but I would question whether Katy Perry is any less authentic a musicisn than e.g. Bob Dylan or whether Mollydooker is any less authentic a wine than Clos Roche Blanche. Instead, the distinction I see is a certain homogenization of expression. Whereas the traditional forms permit a musician or vigneron to formulate a unique expression in their medium, the commodified versions seek a certain similarity and consistency that obscures (if not obliterates) those same individual distinctions.
I can foresee two counterarguments to my assertions. The first is that technological change has always occurred, with glass bottles replacing amphorae and corks replacing pitch (or saxophones, electric guitars and synthesizers being introduced) and that I'm simply drawing an artificial distinction between older innovations and more recent ones. My rejoinder would be that it's the role of the technology that distinguishes them: auto-tuners and drum machines, like RO and MegaPurple, are less about new modes of expression than they are about regularizing and adjusting individual artistry.
A second, more nuanced, objection would be that I am identifying artisans, who have always been in the extreme minority and that what's really changed is the remainder. To wit, the many flawed and technically unsound wines of yesteryear have been replaced by technically sound but soulless wines of today. Put another way, for every Thelonius Monk you have thousands of people plinking away at pianos making far less memorable music. Related to that would be the criticism that "natural" wine can be every bit as formulaic as e.g. Napa Cab.
Again, though, my sights are set on a somewhat different target: the changes wrought in Napa and Bordeaux, and the investment of the "music industry" in commercial pop, both of which IMO have embraced an ideal of consistency and regularity as opposed to individual differences. And we've seen in the last decade a pushback against these trends, such as the "New California" producers who've returned to a mode of expression familiar to Paul Draper and Steve Edmunds, among others, and the proliferation of new musical acts on Youtube and other online venues.
I also suspect that similar trends could be identified in other artistic media with which I am less familiar. So, is this just the continuation of long-term trend, or something specific to our times? Am I completely off-base here? Am I just blind to the emotional depth of Mollydooker wines and Katy Perry's music?
Mark Lipton