blue sky, white snow

So, I've been thinking a lot lately. Surprisingly.

My computer has been broken for about a week now. Because of this, I have a lot less dead time- time usually reserved for hours on facebook, and downloading films/music.

Now my time has been filled with reading, of all things, and putting together insights.

One thing I thought about today: In Rock Faith and Pop Culture we talked about rebellion. I started to think, but did not share with the class, this idea that a lot of the artists I listen to rebel in ways that allow growth and maturity.

One of the ways "rebellion" was described today was "unconventional creativity" - moving away from cliche music making, to exploring new ways of doing music.

I started listening to Matt Good's new album, "Hospital Music", recently- and album Good wrote after an overdose, and a week in a hospital. In interviews Good talks about being diagnosed with Bi-Polar. All of this produces a raw, uncomfortable, honesty in Hospital Music.

I think this form of rebellion has a lot to do with musical integrity. If you really want to make money as an artist, sell hundreds of CDs, you aren't supposed to write songs about your personal state. Culture itself tells us that being too personal is weird, that deep pain is something to be worked out in private.

Our culture, I am discovering, is less about personal, sincere, honesty and more about being generalized, an average person... being a statistic instead of a person. Rebellion is, I believe, about making music that seeks to questions one's personal state and heart, rather than partake in a consumer-culture saying "this is how you are supposed to write, and live".

In this case Good rebels by writing deeply personal work, rather than write about a car he just bought, a bitter feeling towards an ex, or a late-night in a club. As Sia, another artist I'm listening to, explains, "Some people have real problems".

Thanks for reading. Let's talk.

- Adam