Evolution, in a more scientific sense, is a form of natural
selection. A lot of things appear, but those that are found to be beneficial
stick and become part of the next generation and those that aren’t, eventually
abandoned. It’s a continuous process. But obviously this is not science, it is
art. Then again music, like every art, is constantly evolving as well. If it
didn’t, we would be listening to knocking rocks (not a band name…yet?) rather
than Joy Division. If music did not evolve, all those songs we love would have
never existed. If art did not evolve, being blind, deaf etc. would not be that
big a deal.
And say there was this magic button, that whenever you are
satisfied with the stage of the genre, you could press “stop” and nothing would
ever change. As magical as that sounds, it would be oh, so dull. We would have
ten “Hey Jude”s and ten “Macarena”s! Also, once again, crappy music is a
necessary parasite to masterpieces. It existed then, but in this scenario it
would be crappy and identical, so double the crap!
All these are quite literal and practical arguments,
something which in no way corresponds to music. Music corresponds to
imagination, feelings and depiction of current reality. So, if our reality is
changing, our feelings given closer examination and our imagination wild and
roaring, how can music still be about “the way you sip your tea” and “the way
you comb your hair”? We have Starbucks and curling irons; you sip you tea
though a paper cup trying not to spill it over your white shirt and you are
using ten different stinking sprays to minimise the damage from the curling
iron. Life is high paced, 12 minute songs bore you. Music is, luckily,
relevant.
This has been bugging me since the very first word I typed.
I hate Skrillex, I really do. I find that his songs pinch that one particular
part of the brain, right at the front. But I do love Muse and I do love the
Horrors and White Lies and a thousand bands post Pink Floyd. None of those just
emerged out of nowhere, not even Pink Floyd themselves! They evolved, they
transformed, they handpicked the best parts of past music and made wonderful
additions. And I know loads of people that like Skrillex and at least one song
I like which was inspired by that hipster with the terrible haircut.
So my personal conclusion is Viva la Evolution! It has
worked out quite well in many areas (my ecological alter ego has some
objections here); I have no reason to doubt it. And I am curious to see where
it is going and hell, if I don’t like the end results, I will just whine about
how my children’s generation wrecked music. Looking forward to it.
