tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post2235012808871873226..comments2024-03-28T21:56:51.675-04:00Comments on Face to Face: No more clingy girlfriend songs in our cocooning age?agnostichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-77423348045036354712015-03-21T05:20:18.999-04:002015-03-21T05:20:18.999-04:00Plus, in the Midcentury, without as much striving ...Plus, in the Midcentury, without as much striving and relationship breakdown as people move on to something better, songs where one partner just can't let go wouldn't be popular.Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-43378633764100253302015-03-21T05:17:20.715-04:002015-03-21T05:17:20.715-04:00Striving and economic inequality links up to the m...Striving and economic inequality links up to the marriage vs divorce cycle right? And people climbing the ladder from one partner to another, so I'd look at that as an alternate. In a striving era people are more "YOLO. Let's move on to my next Achievement." so I'd expect them to mull over heartbreak and lost relationships less.<br /><br />I get the impression the '30s and '40s had songs which stressed attachment to their girlfriend / boyfriend a lot... but at the same time those songs were a lot less emo intense than in the Rock Era, generally both because of being less passionate and excitable and more sleepy via the cocooning type pathway and more stoic, via the accommodating vs striving pathway - "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" type stuff (limp doo wop, specifically contrasting striving and love).Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-18019911343532146782015-03-20T15:34:43.310-04:002015-03-20T15:34:43.310-04:00Slavs mostly came over during the floodgate phase ...Slavs mostly came over during the floodgate phase of immigration during the Gilded Age and early 20th C. They're "recent" enough to have their own pejorative ethnic names -- Polacks, Hunkies, etc., joining other recent-enough groups like the micks, krauts, wops, dagoes, kikes, towelheads, niggers, spics, and chinks.<br /><br />Only the founding stock are free from those terms -- English, Scottish, Welsh, Dutch, and yes even the French ("frog" is British).agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-57659919701905154592015-03-20T00:07:38.502-04:002015-03-20T00:07:38.502-04:00I really wonder if America's sweeping demograp...<i> I really wonder if America's sweeping demographic changes, that have intensified a lot since about 1990, have upset this cycle. </i><br /><br />Ya think? <br /><br />By they way, Slavs (who had been here since Jamestown) really belong with Semites and Africans.PAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-90426236167727695012015-03-19T22:58:39.984-04:002015-03-19T22:58:39.984-04:00"The last outgoing phase lasted about 30-35 y..."The last outgoing phase lasted about 30-35 years. Do they last longer than cocooning phases? If they don't, than the cocooning phase has at least another decade to go. "<br /><br />I really wonder if America's sweeping demographic changes, that have intensified a lot since about 1990, have upset this cycle. Agnostic recently pointed out that the South's historically much higher level of racial diversity has hampered regional unity and thus, regional strength. <br /><br />Has the South been less prone to extremes of outgoingness because of diversity? Have these cycles been more pronounced in the parts of the West with the greatest homogeneity? Like the British Isles, Scandinavia, Pre 1990's Northern U.S. and so on.<br /><br />It's interesting too that in the climate of low outgoingness/high inequality that's reigned since the 90's, we've seen the elites of the most homogenous NW Euro white countries go to incredible lengths to flood these countries with the most alien elements possible. Slavs, Arabs, Asians, African "refugees" and so on.<br /><br />These foreign cultures typically are less imaginative and open than Western Euros. In addition to greater diversity per se contributing to cultural torpor and sclerosis, there's also the toxic multiplier effect caused by the presence of groups either:<br /><br />- venal/clannish (Slavs, Semites, Asians) <br />- obstreperous (Blacks, Semties)<br />- or both! (Semites)<br /><br />It's easy to understand why people in late 50's/early 60's America would want to get out more often. But that America, racially speaking, no longer exists. Ferylnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-67507071576490875032015-03-19T18:54:22.818-04:002015-03-19T18:54:22.818-04:00You're largely right, but there are a few such...You're largely right, but there are a few such songs in current times. A few examples are "Bel Air" by Lana del Rey, "Forever" by Haim, and especially "Wildest Moments" by Jessie Ware.FCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-15614891776885725482015-03-19T18:40:41.400-04:002015-03-19T18:40:41.400-04:00The last outgoing phase lasted about 30-35 years. ...The last outgoing phase lasted about 30-35 years. Do they last longer than cocooning phases? If they don't, than the cocooning phase has at least another decade to go. FCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-37363667759043488002015-03-19T17:56:42.416-04:002015-03-19T17:56:42.416-04:00Swift is also good friends with Lena Dunham, who s...Swift is also good friends with Lena Dunham, who she credits with turning her into a feminist.Marissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11734624055833603768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-89637877658722197392015-03-19T16:41:12.341-04:002015-03-19T16:41:12.341-04:00"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"..."We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" = the clingiest thing a girlfriend could ever say.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-36375006079788507472015-03-19T16:37:38.090-04:002015-03-19T16:37:38.090-04:00You claim cherry-picking data, meaning I've le...You claim cherry-picking data, meaning I've left out counter-examples you know about, or strongly suspect are there.<br /><br />Go through the Billboard Year-End charts for any recent year, and provide clear examples of a clingy girlfriend song. It couldn't get any simpler to understand what the basic criteria are.<br /><br />Or go through those charts for the '80s and provide clear counter-examples of a female singer with a hit whose lyrics are like "Blank Space" (boys are faceless, interchangeable, no attachment to them, move soullessly from one to the next).agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-42416392936633127272015-03-19T16:31:30.073-04:002015-03-19T16:31:30.073-04:00Taylor Swift doesn't sing about still wanting ...Taylor Swift doesn't sing about still wanting to be with the guy who dumped her. She sings anti-clingy anthems like "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". Being bummed about getting dumped doesn't mean you still carry a torch for them, only that you're miffed that someone had the nerve to wound your self-esteem.<br /><br />Her never-ending-ly played hit "Blank Space" is clear about not developing feelings for any of the numerous faceless guys she gets into a brief stormy relationship with, before moving on to the next one.<br /><br />(BTW in real life she only dates fags and comes off as a virgin, so that is pure persona-crafting by the industry. Fortunately her audience are clueless Millennials who couldn't tell how lacking in feeling or libido she is.)<br /><br />Alison Krauss is not on the Year-End charts, so it doesn't matter what she sings about (no time right now to check and see if they're legit counter-examples).agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-70014144404544630132015-03-19T13:44:43.475-04:002015-03-19T13:44:43.475-04:00Not missing the point, you're experiencing the...Not missing the point, you're experiencing the art of cherry-picking data that this here blog has elevated to an almost exquisite level. It's kind of addictive.JVnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-39706800658444381992015-03-19T12:29:34.634-04:002015-03-19T12:29:34.634-04:00Taylor Swift? Doesn't she write one song afte...Taylor Swift? Doesn't she write one song after another about how she's been dumped again and how bummed out she is? Alison Kraus also sings relationship-ending songs. Or am I missing your point somehow?Billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-31692579330452871202015-03-19T09:46:49.439-04:002015-03-19T09:46:49.439-04:00Another trend I've noticed with very late 80&#...Another trend I've noticed with very late 80's/90's music is featuring really old, often creepy looking people in videos and album covers. When this first started around 1989 these geezers looked more mundane but by 1994 they often looked just grotesque.<br /><br />This is in keeping with the shift from an exciting, vibrant pop culture scene to a much more cold and languid one.<br /><br />This topic occured to me after I saw a Youtube link for Alice In Chains' No Excuses video which showed a decrepit dude in the thumbnail. Didn't watch the video.<br /><br />Other examples from the genre I know best (metal):<br />1992 - Megadeth: Countdown to Extinction album cover<br />1990 - Sanctuary: Into the Mirror Black album cover<br />1989 - Fates Warning: Perfect Symmetry album cover and the video for Through Different Eyes from the same album<br /><br />A lot of the 90's videos I remember from memory and recent Youtube cruising also show at the very least, unattractive middle aged people, if not necessarily geriatrics. Like Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun.<br /><br />Meanwhile, in the amiable early to mid 80's, it was more common to either exclude the visibly aged altogether or show more ordinary looking older people. Like in Bon Jovi's Only Lonely ('85) or Runaway ('84). The parents looked square in these videos but they weren't nasty looking or turning to dust before your eyes.Ferylnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-56475211992748137042015-03-19T05:00:06.899-04:002015-03-19T05:00:06.899-04:00What do you think about "Walk in the Park&quo...What do you think about "Walk in the Park" by Beach House, 2010?lp1noreply@blogger.com