The Changing Psyche of Modern Music in Three Easy Steps

Or, one tragedy that has a happy ending, at least for now.



Rilke

First: (in the world of the 1970s, on whose grave we now love to dance)
love is perfect or tragic, life is beautiful or horrifying, all that matters is us.

(see: early Jackson Browne and Simon and Garfunkel who beautifully embodied the Sincere, Romantic tradition before it was cheapened by a million loathsome acts that have lost all sense of art but remain unapologetically self-involved.)



Then: (30 years later, the dawn of a new century)
(subconscious:) wow the world really sucks, everything is dying slowly but
(Id:) LOOK AT MY AWESOME TIGHT PANTS AND $300 MULLET!!!!11 I'm ripping off artists I've never listened to! I'm stupid and misogynist but it doesn't count because I might be kidding!

(see: the cover of Spin, most bands who like to name-drop 30-year-old "underground" acts)


Agnes Montgomery

Now: (no one can think up a way to describe now without using "post." (Are we dead?))

The World Is Really Fucked Up BUT we've found the Beauty that's survived AND we're going to carve out some more.

(see: Animal Collective, Panda Bear, TV on the Radio)