Quote Blog #2

The section of the Our Band could Be Your Life that I read this week, Michael Azerrad finished discussing Minor Threat, and wrote about Husker Du, and The Replacements. Through celebrating individual thinking, personal autonomy, and their artistic expression, these bands inspired adolescents and young adults in the Eighties and Nineties that either didn’t fit in, or simply didn’t believe in fitting in. They didn’t want to fit in because these musicians and fans viewed conformity as a limit to creativity, and in a way, an easy way out. Being the minority and sticking to what you believe in is no easy task. It can be financially tolling, one could face people that oppose what you believe in like police brutality and rejection from the music world.

Independent bands represented independent thoughts and motivated people to not fear voicing their opinions and sticking to their personal morals or values. In reference to underground punk music Michael Azarrad wrote, “The music was resolutely unmelodic, humbly recorded, and vastly unsexy. It was a point of honor not to reach out beyond their own nationwide tribe. It was not only a way to feel powerful at a time in life when one can feel particularly powerless: the Man would never take this music away,” (151). No one can take away your ability to express yourself and let yourself understand that perfection isn’t possible nor is it important. Sometimes having something very simple in front of you can make you think harder help appreciate the energy that came from the artist or musician that created or express the troubles of not feeling control.

Abstract drawings aren't beautiful and precise but have so much meaning and emotion in the gesture “The Man” could metaphorically be any factor that has a large presence or potentially a large influence over one’s life. “The Man” in this quote was referring to the government, law enforcers, etc. I personally thought one could also associate the term with mental illness or internal difficulties, people in your social life that you may feel pressured by or just your social surroundings in general, authority figures, and anything that may lead to insecurities or criticism. Abstract art is like breaking free from the traditional ways of viewing the world in the same sense of breaking free from social norms and what was also expected in the music world during the Eighties and Nineties.  

Here are some abstract drawings I have done:

Music Video to Husker Du's "Makes No Sense At All"