Page 125 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Music 109

along with new ways for music fans to dress and behave, supplants the
previous generation ’ s preferred musical aesthetic. When jazz burst into the
American popular consciousness in the 1940s, it was derided by the White
establishment as the work of sexual deviants and drug abusers, personifi ed
by the shiftless beatnik; the same criticism was leveled at rock ’ n ’ roll in
the 1950s (greasers), acid rock in the 1960s (hippies), heavy metal in the
1970s (stoners), and, most recently, hip hop (gangstas). The public moral
panics which so often attend the emergence of new forms of popular music
all share a concern that young people will be induced to act in socially
destructive or self - destructive ways by music that subdues the listener ’ s
conscience with its hypnotic beats and rhythms. Because it is sensual rather
than sensible, music presents new possibilities for the body which are
at odds with prevailing normative codes of responsible social conduct
centered on work and duty. New forms of music are considered dangerous
because they lead ostensibly impressionable listeners to question the
logic and inevitability of value systems which insist that the body must
properly be used for labor and reproduction rather than pleasure and
self - expression.
Since the dawn of Western civilization, music has been a source of pro-
found anxiety because of its ability to inspire subversive thought and
action. The ancient Greeks attributed to music the capacity to strengthen
or degrade people ’ s character. They went so far as to assign different moral
values to each musical scale, so that some tones were believed to cause
aggression and violence, while others encouraged noble conduct. Plato
posited a correlation between the movements of the soul and the rhythms

of music. He maintained that music was not a superficial means of amuse-
ment, but rather, a key component in education, the aim of which was to
achieve self - mastery over the passions and strengthen moral character.
Thus, music was not a private matter, but a public one. The cultivation of
“ good ” music led to a more ordered soul in the listener, and therefore a
more ethical and disciplined citizenry, whereas “ bad ” music dangerously

enflamed individual passions, and thus fostered discord in the community.
Plato claimed that “ the introduction of a new kind of music must be
shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never dis-
turbed without affecting the most important political institutions. ” While

Plato wrote this in 360 bc , his basic premise still resonates in the contem-
porary world. We may perceive traces of it in widespread beliefs that hip
hop music, rather than outrage over police brutality and systemic racism,
compels young men to commit acts of violence against law enforcement