I often wonder if counterculture is done or if I’m just 40 and don’t know about it anymore. I fear it’s the former. “Selling out” doesn’t seem to be a dirty word in a rapidly changing landscape, and to me that’s part of the problem, not that the 90s/00s landscape I grew up in was anywhere near perfect for artists. Old man sigh.
The best antidote I’ve found is to consume art as deliberately as I can. Actually listen or watch with no second screen going, etc. I hope for something more and for it to stop feeling like swimming upstream.
I totally feel you. That was the culture I grew up in! "Keep it real," "don't sell out," etc. Now it's like young artists are climbing over each other for brand partnerships with no shame. I like to think that these things go in cycles of ebb and flow. People who grew up in the sixties might consider the nineties to be totally commercialized in comparison too.
What I try and do is keep an adventurous spirit in everything I do and try my best to stay curious and open to the compelling stuff that makes it through the filter.
I'm mostly too busy listening to music (for the transcendent experience, naturally) to listen to interviews (ugh people talking! It's EVERYWHERE!), but that Nick Cave interview was beautiful and made me feel proper joy. Thanks.
I often wonder if counterculture is done or if I’m just 40 and don’t know about it anymore. I fear it’s the former. “Selling out” doesn’t seem to be a dirty word in a rapidly changing landscape, and to me that’s part of the problem, not that the 90s/00s landscape I grew up in was anywhere near perfect for artists. Old man sigh.
The best antidote I’ve found is to consume art as deliberately as I can. Actually listen or watch with no second screen going, etc. I hope for something more and for it to stop feeling like swimming upstream.
I totally feel you. That was the culture I grew up in! "Keep it real," "don't sell out," etc. Now it's like young artists are climbing over each other for brand partnerships with no shame. I like to think that these things go in cycles of ebb and flow. People who grew up in the sixties might consider the nineties to be totally commercialized in comparison too.
What I try and do is keep an adventurous spirit in everything I do and try my best to stay curious and open to the compelling stuff that makes it through the filter.
I'm mostly too busy listening to music (for the transcendent experience, naturally) to listen to interviews (ugh people talking! It's EVERYWHERE!), but that Nick Cave interview was beautiful and made me feel proper joy. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it. It felt so different from the conversations that get thrown in our face all day long.