Originally, I wanted to write about the fixation of youth within popular music. This is a topic that has interested me for some time, and it can be linked to many different cultural theories and phenomena. It’s really strange how anyone who seems to gain popularity from their music after the age of 30 seems to be portrayed as someone who has worked extremely hard, fighting their corner for years and fought through so many failures to get where they are, and that it’s a real testament to their work ethic they’ve managed to become popular at such an ‘old’ age. (see Jarvis Cocker’s prologue to Pulp’s performance of Common People at Glastonbury 1995). Obviously this is true, they will probably have worked very hard at their craft, and taken rejection after rejection to get where they are today. Why is this seen as an anomaly though? In any other industry, to be in one’s mid 30’s is to be considered relatively young, but still with a good amount of experience. There seems to be a particular fixation on youth, on one’s 20’s and even teens, within popular music that I find to be quite damaging. As a session musician, I have worked with people in their late 20’s who seem to be of the mindset that time is running out, they must act quickly or else they won’t succeed in their careers – they look up to these figures who have ‘made it’ past the age of 30 as is there is some sort of sliver of hope along the horizon – they constantly compare their age to other people and wonder whether they are doing the right things. I find this mindset to be very damaging, and it must be fed by some greater cultural issues – youth and attractiveness are marketable, which is most likely why this phenomena occurs. However, within other industries this really doesn’t exist so much. Film directors or actors may not have to worry about this so much, and there is definitely not the same fixation on youth that I have seen in the music industry.

I am interested in this topic, however I don’t feel it relates to the unit brief of ‘Contemporary Issues in Sound Art’ enough for me to write about it now. It would be good to potentially find a topic that relates more to the world of sound arts, as I feel like the link is a bit tenuous at the moment.