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The Silence of the Drums: The Erosion of Music’s Political Potency
From Woodstock to Spotify: A Gen Xer’s Reckoning with the Hollowing Out of Music’s Social Role
As a Gen Xer, I was told when growing up that I could be whatever I wanted to be; it didn’t really matter, just go out and do it. The complete instrumentalization brought on by the Neoliberal order had yet to materialize. I mean, Clinton was not elected yet when I was being told these things — lest we forget, Reagan and his team started Neoliberalism, but it was Clinton that supercharged that shit — and I genuinely believed these things being told to me.
Along with this notion that we could be whatever we wanted to be, was the idea of art and music, in particular for me. It should be noted that Gen Xers, especially late ones, those born in mid-late 70s like myself, were heavily influenced by the 1960s counterculture, especially the music. I mean, it was the disastrous Woodstock 2 that was produced during this period. Along with this came the idea that music and art were politics, that they changed the material conditions of the lives of the people they touched.
My Journey to Becoming a Musician
This idea was very powerful to me and was the driving force that led me to take up music seriously, and specifically the drums, and go to college for the explicit purpose of becoming a session musician and touring musician, a hired gun.
Now when I say I took it seriously, pre-college I practiced 2–3 hours every day, 7 days a week. Once in college, my first two years I practiced 8 hours a day on top of a 20–22 credit workload. My commitment was noted by the head of the percussion department, and I was awarded the one and only coveted key to ‘The Shack,’ which was the only 24-hour practice room on campus. I share this to illustrate my dedication to becoming the best drummer I could possibly be. Not for Instagram and TikTok clips I could produce, no, so that I could become ‘one’ with the very essence of the creative spirit and produce music that would eventually touch people all over the world, with the ultimate objective of changing the world for the better.
