Smashing guitars and homemade videos

This mid-February roundup will get your gears grindin' (and then lubricate them. ah. what a relief)

(Psst… Have you scored a Baze Blackwood personalized vinyl yet? There are about 10 left, so pre-order that thing quick! clicky clicky -> : Direct-to-Vinyl pre-order)

You might have heard about Phoebe Bridgers smashing her guitar on SNL, and I decided to take a deep dive into the historical context and consider the controversy through the lens of prior art.

What follows is an excerpt of the post’s conclusion. Read the entire post on my blog: https://blackwood.io/.

What do you make of it? Artistic expression or silly stunt? Ambivalent?

Smash a Guitar, and You Go to Jail

In the internet era, our culture wars are decentralized to some degree, but the dichotomy of those who would shame or punish outsiders is apparent in modern music as well. Even among those listeners who consider themselves progressive, the urge to contain or shame an act considered transgressive continues. Whinging about Bridgers’ ability to sufficiently destroy the guitar is just more evidence of the valuation of technical prowess over expression and emotion. In this worldview, something can only be reified with symbolic relevance if it achieves exacting standards of performance. The power structures of maleness that permeate the genre create a psychic boundary that cannot be crossed, just as Hendrix’s reclaiming of rock from hegemonic whiteness ruffled more feathers than a poofy 1960s blouse. Even if Bridgers had smashed the instrument more definitively, to some, her very attempt would still be viewed with distaste by nature of her gender’s “latecomer” status to the field.

Then, others decry that the act wasn’t spontaneous; Bridgers had the blessing of the manufacturer, Danelectro, and she bashed the guitar against a fake monitor. It would follow that those with this complaint would then dismiss any performance that has any pre-planned component. This isn’t just an unwieldy philosophy, it’s an impossible one. How should one go about separating what is essential to the music and what is essential to the performance? Is the line between them not incredibly hazy, if practically non-existent? Someone who views themself as a traditionalist might argue Ozzy Osbourne’s orally-induced bat decapitation is a prime example of “actual” spontaneity. Nonetheless, Ozzy now hawks a plush toy commemorating the incident. If there is something resembling spontaneity among rock legends, it can be assumed that they’ll retroactively capitalize on it and sap it of its essence.

In a sense, Bridgers has already won: arguments over the relevance of the performance have continued for nearly a week, which is substantial when compared to the minimal buzz generated by other performances on the faltering sketch comedy show. Destruction is an act that people are unlikely to turn away from, even if they believe it’s a hamfisted or trite rendition. Controversy has a tendency to shore up opinions of both appreciators and detractors alike, and in a sense having prominent critics in the old guard of rock is a blessing, since giving them the middle finger simply cements outsider status.

Ultimately, destruction reminds us that music is attached to the real world, and has real consequences. It isn’t just “auditory cheesecake” as the famously and unendingly misinformed Steven Pinker rationalized. To those who would say “let the music speak for itself”, I would counter that music is itself, one of the means by which we in fact “speak”–and hardly the only one. And when what you want to express can’t be fully captured by music, make sure you’ve packed the lighter fluid.

Homemade Music Video

In case you missed it, here’s a little music video I made for The Life of the Bee, which was on that winter music compilation Deer Friend put together to benefit the progressive candidates in the Georgia Senate runoff elections.

The footage is all from a park really close to my apartment. I feel really lucky that I can get outside and take a walk there every day, so I felt it fitting to have the park be the main star of the piece. Are there any little routines that have kept you sane during the pandemic? Let me know.

Signing off,
Miles