Not Dark Yet
agoodhardstare.substack.com
agoodhardstare.substack.com
Two thoughts about this:
- popular culture is much more fractured now into lots of small scenes - this is probably a good thing - in the UK we used to all watch 4 TV channels and a few radio channels and hear the same stuff, now everyone can persue their own diverse pathway through the avalanche of music/art being created
- In the 80s and 90s there was this sense that (some) musicians had an important message - I would sit with my friend and analyse Robert Smith's latest lyrics as if some secret of life was hidden in there (to be fair, many would say it was). Looking back I think this was due to the power of music and the lack of other easily accessible (lets call them) 'thinkpieces'. But in the 2020s, if someone has a political or philosophical message that they think is important, are they going to try and write it into songs and be a popular musician? There's much easier ways now to broadcast your thoughts. I guess social media and youtube channels have replaced the idea of musician as Guru, for better or for worse.
That's definitely a big part of it. But popular culture is also set up differently now where a different kind of person breaks through. There are some really great songwriters out there with Dylan-esque bodies of work (John Darnielle, Adrianne Lenker, Josh Ritter, Kristian Matsson are a few one might argue for). But the modern system isn't set up to create new Dylans.
A big part of Dylan's personality is his reclusiveness and mystery. He spun his own story, made up details, and generally just didn't reveal much of his true self in the press, but meanwhile the press constantly talked about him. But in the modern music industry, performers are asked to build an authentic social media presence before they can even get a record deal. If they want to go solo, they have to essentially build a direct marketing company. There's not much space for someone to be a mysterious recluse. It's part of the reason we have very, very few new "movie stars" in the classic sense of larger-than-life personalities.