from psycodrama to whitehouse

[hsu%uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU@a.cs.uiuc.edu (William Tsun-Yuk Hsu)]

Greg Taylor writes:
>And we could lead this into an interesting attack on the whole aesthetic
>of "industrial" music here, couldn't we? Of course, if I do that, I
>guess I'm just a wimpy new-age dilettante, exchanging mail with my
>racist pal Jim.... ;_)

I started typing out a long and meandering response but nixed it in
favor of a few random comments...

It's obvious that the subject matter of much "industrial" culture, be
it music, graphics or fiction, is negative and nihilistic. Many 
"industrial" artists are obsessed with violence, sexual deviance,
technology and death. It is not clear that the more extreme ones 
actually take a stand against these things, and some have admitted to
using sex and violence as shock effects to attract (in a perverse way)
an audience. For instance, Whitehouse, in an interview with J. Smith 
of Interchange (one of the best abrasive music zines, thanks to Brad
Goins for lending me his copies), said:

"As far as avant-garde electronic music is concerned, Whitehouse must
be the most commercial group around for the simple reason that we cater
for the subjects that cause the most interest.

"Most groups talk about 'we love you baby' and 'rock 'n' roll tonight'
which is bland and yet people buy News of the World (a Sunday paper)
for the violence and sex --- and these are the subjects we cater for.

"If we weren't doing that type of thing I think Whitehouse sales would 
go down."

Whitehouse makes some of the most powerful and abrasive music I've come
across, comparable to early Controlled Bleeding. Perhaps it's this
pandering to the (widespread but often thinly veiled) fascination with 
violence that William Davenport (publisher of Unsound, the bible of
abrasive music, and vocalist of the band Problemist) warns
about when he discusses "the pornography of violence".

What I find interesting about what is lumped together as "industrial
music" is the assimilation of techniques of avant-garde classical music
into music that is fiercely rebellious and unacademic, and the many
powerful creative statements made by so many people in an environment
that does not encourage creativity. This is not just creativity based
on some older, adopted aesthetic, but one which incorporates elements
of the present environment and is relevant to the here-and-now. Hence
this type of music is almost necessarily less-than-positive.

Even "industrial" artists who make strong statements against present
conditions are aware that they are in a strange trap: if this negative
environment happens to improve significantly, their creations become
irrelevant and meaningless because it is industrial (and post-industrial)
society which make their activities possible and relevant. Contradictions 
like this make industrial music/art/culture fun to argue about.

(Above ideas evolved out of old discussions with Greg Taylor and Jim 
Hofmann, the Industrial Culture Handbook (in particular the Z'ev chapter),
and certain fanzines, especially AC Gazette #7)

Bill Hsu