Assignment 2 (Four Aims) - Success and Liberation

Songs for "Success" Aim - 
"Stadium Love" - Metric - Indie - 2009
"Dyke March 2001" - Le Tigre - Feminist Pop - 2004
"Big Business Monkey" - Daniel Johnston - Indie - 1983
"Fortune" - Little Dragon - Indie - 2009
"Show Stopper" - Peaches (See Video Below) - Pop - 2009

Songs for "Liberation" Aim - 
"Cycling Trivialities" - Jose Gonzalez - Indie - 2007
"Golden Age" - Beach Fossils - Indie - 2010
"Cape Dory" - Tennis - Indie - 2010
"The Pirate's Gospel" - Alela Diane - Indie - 2009
"Cold War" - Janelle Monae - R&B - 2010

The following assignment examines the Hindu themes of “success” and “liberation” and what role these ideas have on American popular culture, particularly in the music being created. Although Hindus make up a small percentage of the United States population, many of their practices and beliefs have entered the vernacular of American life. While searching among a number musician’s song lyrics, I found the themes of “success” and “liberation” to be widely expressed in the music being created—in my opinion, neither theme was particularly difficult to find. However, the Western ideas of “success” and “liberation” and how to achieve these ambitions are sometimes much more different than the spiritual approach rooted in Hindu values. For example, although Peaches’ lyrics are often characterized as satirical, her song “Show Stopper” nonetheless describes the wealth, power and fame that stems from being able to capture an audience’s interest or attention. Ultimately, Peaches’ idea of “success” is grounded in a level of narcissism and egotism that the Hindu concept of “success” does not perpetuate. As stated in class lecture, the insatiable desire for success centers too much meaning in the self, which is too narrow approach to liberation.

In the Peaches’ video, the director and cinematographers have taken a unique approach and combined a narrative with real behind-the-scenes look at the fame and wealth that comes with the success of being a pop star. Naturally, the video is awash with a level of consumer capitalism, stardom and the advantages of wealth. Merrill Beth Nisker, the real name of the stage performer Peaches, is seen in the video trying on a number of expensive costumes and being interviewed by a renowned magazine in a elaborate, decadent-looking hotel. However, throughout the video, Peaches seems to maintain that she is not a product of the entertainment industry and insists that she has made her own choices. Ultimately, Hinduism encourages individuals to perceive the world as unreal and as a result, not to place value in material success—undermining not only Peaches but all of the examples of “success” in American music. Ultimately, the only way to achieve freedom or “liberation” is after karma has been resolved and realization of the self and god has been attained. Although Jose Gonzalez’ “Cycling Trivialities” and Alela Diane’s “The Pirate Gospel” come close to the ideas of Hinduism’s “liberation” there is still a lasting difference in renouncing the world and escaping from its trivialities or hardships. 

Assignment # 1 (Four Aims) - Pleasure and Community Service

Songs for "Pleasure" Aim - 

"Excuses" - The Morning Benders  - Indie - 2010

"Sunlight" - Tune-Yards - Indie - 2009

"Sun Was High (So Was I)" - Best Coast - Indie - 2010

"Ghost Pressure" - Wolf Parade - Indie - 2010

Give Us A Little Love - Fallulah (See Video Below) - Indie - 2010

Songs for "Community Service" Aim - 

Cannibal Resource - Dirty Projectors - Indie - 2009

Noah's Ark - CocoRosie - Experimental - 2005

Redemption Song - Bob Marley - Reggae - 1980

The World Is Yours - Nas - Rap - 1994

After The Rain - Little Dragon (See Video Below) - Indie - 2009

The following assignment examines the roots of American culture and whether the culture’s music reflects any of Hinduism’s four aims, particularly the “pleasure” and “community service” aims. Unsurprisingly, the “pleasure” aim is much more prevalent  than the “community service aim”  in American culture and consequently, American music. The songs that I chose are just a few among many I could have selected as themes of romance, recreational drug use, and sex are widely used in American song lyrics. I believe these themes are so prevalent in American music because our contemporary culture has been so deeply shaken and shaped by pleasure—the constant desire to be pleased or gratified. In Hinduism, there is an emphasis on pursuing pleasure intelligently and within  the moral confines of the religion. Pleasure is naturally embraced however it will never truly satisfy one's true nature on their path towards moksha. American culture reflects an entirely different approach to pleasure, as one simply has to turn on their television and witness the unremitting commercials advertising products for the clearest skin, diets for the most weight loss, or the most mouth-watering beer. Despite American culture's affinity with pleasure, I do feel as though the disproportion of the “pleasure” and “community service” aims will change over the course of the next decade. Ultimately, the themes that characterize "American" music currently—sex, drugs and money—will become less prevalent with the growing concern for basic human rights and presence of spiritual values—values that are evident in Hinduism's teachings.

Ultimately, I’m professing that this concern for basic human rights will spill over onto the production of music and the gap between the “pleasure” aim and the “community service” aim in American music will be much less significant. For example, a number of popular movements in the 1960s arose advocating for equal rights for African Americans and an end to the Vietnam War. Ultimately, the concern for basic human rights influenced the music being created during the era as well. The Beatles first became popular in the United States during 1964, a band that introduced many altruistic themes and ideas in their songs that parallel many of the notions that encompass the Hindu “community service” aim. In the songs that I selected for my blog regarding the “community service” aim, I did my best to incorporate songs that were produced more recently but still accurately depicted a value on the community as opposed to the self—a value that is rarely seen in American lyrics because of the unremitting focus on the self or individual. In conclusion, although there are a number of lasting cultural differences that have created a disproportion between Hindu's "pleasure" and "community service" aims in American music,  a growing concern for basic human rights could create less of a focus on the individual and instead concentrate on the community.