tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6388160584739793679.post2755504305523510549..comments2024-03-25T22:10:23.864-07:00Comments on ReynoldsRetro: a reasonable economySIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6388160584739793679.post-49668894315452685302021-09-19T23:32:25.134-07:002021-09-19T23:32:25.134-07:00I more or less agree with your larger argument but...I more or less agree with your larger argument but would like to add some caveats. Trends in pop culture are driven by the young so no matter the general social and economic conditions, the reflection will largely be a case of how youth perceive their situation. Furthermore, with culture so fragment, different demographics within youth culture will perceive the larger world quite differently. I don't think there is any doubt that the rise of gangsta rap is in many ways a reaction to the assault on working-class blacks and blight of crack cocaine (a reaction that spread virally, in part, due to the grim situations facing many groups of young people across the world. A similar argument could be made about grunge and the despairing realization among a large segment of white youth that the steady jobs and security their parents had would not be theirs (and was in fact, being lost by their parents as well). Also, I don't pop music can always be directly linked to particular events - such as Trump/Biden. Biden ain't no MLK and feels like a very distant figure of a politics from which young Americans feel themselves unserved. RAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11212466455309077919noreply@blogger.com