Catchiness and repetition are staples of successful commercial music. But there have been some amazing advances in the recent past, especially in the field of technology and computerization, that have opened up some new and interesting possibilities for the modern musical media.
The Rave
One development is the increasing popularity of the rave. These all-night parties are defined by electronic music, drug use, and light shows. In Cosmopolitan magazine, Nick Paul describes the philosophy and even spirituality of the rave:
All words are subordinate to the beat, all politics are subordinate to the party...
And the easy spirituality of rave is appealing to kids who've rejected the old, uniquely South African gods of their parents but decided that they do need a god after all. At a time when ecological issues have elbowed their way into the popular consciousness, the neo-pagan earth-worship of some adherents of rave is becoming increasingly popular.i
There is no doubt that the music makers who find themselves on the edge of Earth's greatest millennium are desperately trying to find the ultimate expression of art through sound and music. They have long since come to realize that, in the words of Jimi Hendrix, "music is in a spiritual thing of its own."
Psychology student Hellenique Angerou researches subcultures, including the rave culture. Nick Paul interviewed Angerou, and explains her views in this same Cosmopolitan article:
She sees rave as a positive spiritual force in many young lives, and is interested, she says in the fact that it combines archaic, ancestral, tribal influences with technology and cyberia. She points to "trance music and drumming as 'a possession of the id impulse', and lofty and esoteric as that may sound, there is something truly primal and compulsive in the way the rhythm and lights capture one at the rave" (emphasis added).ii
The Virtual Dance Party
A further development of the musical media is the virtual nightclub.
Visitors access virtual nightclubs such as long-running Club Equinox from their homes via the Internet. They can then create an online alter-ego, and use this online character to interact with other club guests or staff online, and enter a variety of three-dimensional club environments.
BLAH, BLAH magazine tells how Guðjón Már Guðjónsson, CEO of the Icelandic computer company Oz Communications, developed a method of recording electronic music using a built-in "intelligent agent" that causes the music to adjust itself according to its environment:
"The sound is influenced by space" explains Guðjón. "Information about what's happening externally is streamed into the computer creating the music which responds accordingly. If a lot of people are up dancing or the club is very busy, the tempo and type of music will reflect that. In future all music will respond to its environment. We won't need DJs at clubs either."iii
The music industry is poised, yet again, for another major transition. The public, already saturated and overexposed from the information explosion of the late 20th century, will now be subject to another, more effective way of planting demonic ideals into the soft, pliable recesses of the human brain.
Maybe Nick Paul was right when he said, "Perhaps rave truly is the music at the end of the world."iv
Read more about the brain's reaction to overstimulation in the next article
i. Nick Paul, "The home of the Rave," Cosmopolitan Magazine (March 1997): 74-76.
ii. Ibid.
iii. BLAH, BLAH 11 (February 1997).
iv. Nick Paul, "The home of the Rave," Cosmopolitan Magazine (March 1997): 76.
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Geocentricity: It's Time to Face the Facts
The Rise of Evolutionary Thinking
Earth's History: Conflicting Paradigms
Lamarck Proposes Natural Selection
Age Of The Earth Is Carbon-Dating Accurate?
Flood Chronology
Read several authors' thoughts on papal Rome's history.
This article highlights quotes from historical and Catholic sources proving the Papacy's aggressive nature.
Persecution in the First Centuries
An Era of Spiritual Darkness The Waldenses
John Wycliffe Huss and Jerome
Luther's Separation From Rome
Luther Before the Diet The Swiss Reformer
Progress of Reform in Germany
Protest of the Princes The French Reformation
The Netherlands and Scandinavia
Later English Reformers
The Bible and the French Revolution
The Pilgrim Fathers Heralds of the Morning
An American Reformer Light Through Darkness
A Great Religious Awakening A Warning Rejected
Prophecies Fulfilled What is the Sanctuary?
In the Holy of Holies God's Law Immutable
A Work of Reform Modern Revivals
Facing Life's Record The Origin of Evil
Enmity Between Man and Satan
Agency of Evil Spirits Snares of Satan
The First Great Deception
Can Our Dead Speak to Us?
Liberty of Conscience Threatened
The Impending Conflict
The Scriptures a Safeguard The Final Warning
The Time of Trouble God's People Delivered
Desolation of the Earth The Controversy Ended
Is Revelation a Sealed Book?
Revelation 1 Commentary
Revelation 1: Jesus, The Heart of Revelation
Revelation 2 Commentary
Revelation 2-3: Letters to Seven Churches
Revelation 3 Commentary
The Lamb and the Sealed Book
Revelation 4 Commentary
Revelation 5 Commentary
Revelation 6 Commentary
Revelation 7 Commentary
Revelation 8 Commentary
Revelation 9 Commentary
Revelation 10 Commentary
Revelation 11 Commentary
Revelation 12 Commentary
Revelation 13 Commentary
Revelation 14 Commentary
Revelation 15 Commentary
Revelation 16 Commentary
Revelation 17 Commentary
Revelation 18 Commentary
Revelation 19 Commentary
Revelation 20 Commentary
Revelation 21 Commentary
Revelation 22 Commentary
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