THE BIG LINK THAT JOINS THEM ALL: How do we deal with the end of the road? I think the word "post-modern" should be uttered here because although it's been uncool for a long time, it actually describes the situation perfectly: stuff ain't modern no more. Rock music ran out of fresh ideas a long time ago, and (very) arguably, dance music has swiftly come to the same situation.
'90s indie solution: There's really no way we can sincerely get excited about rock & roll any more, so let's do it ironically, but with a genuine sadness for what we've lost. eg. Pavement's 'Filmore Jive', Beck's Odelay, an album all about the crumbling of rock.
Strokes solution: Let's rehash the past and add nothing new, act kind of like it never happened before, Orwell-1984-style. It doesn't really matter - let's just rock & roll the night away one more time.
Daft Punk solution: Let's rehash dance and rock past, but mix them in a fresh way. Let's be ironic and sad, but still fun and loving and exciting and believe in what we're doing. It doesn't really matter - this is just digital dance music after all. We're gonna celebrate One More Time.
Electroclash & LCD Soundsystem solution: Hey, we're arty intellectuals and we know about the history of music, we know that this has happened before, so we know how to deal with it. Let's rehash the past, but intelligently. Let's mix rock and dance in fresh ways and make serious statements that are also jokes. Sincerity is important to exciting art, but it doesn't have to be genuine. It does really matter.
Keith McD's
"I Love Music" Greenspun thread contribution (via
New York London Paris Munich) just feels right. Ten years ago, it was Nirvana over Michael Jackson; now we see all these movements and we (dot-dot-dot) only connect.