The Political Force of Musical Beauty

Music, Philosophy, and Political Consciousness

Exercise 1 – The Political Force of Musical Beauty

Argument Reconstruction:

In relation to politics, there have been many apparent links that we can think of in the realm of music. Many artists' or groups’ fanbases are driven by a strong social justice message such as the Civil Rights movement and the push for sexual autonomy. However, Shank creates an argument that connects differing peoples in a unique way. The Political Force of Musical Beauty shows how music inherently has a force that confirms a moment of listening where there is hope of things being right. It is a force that can overwhelm people that are as polar-opposite from each other as possible. The force creates a distinct, momentary community that is endlessly dynamic for any participant listening. For example, Shank likes using the scenario of a dance floor: “When you and I hit the dance floor together, listening to the elegant dynamism of a perfect beat, we will feel a community that will never be exactly the same for either of us. The force of that difference is what propels us” (9). Shank argues that these communities are political communities because it consists of people who recognize each other as having legitimate political voices.

In Chapter One, Shank first contextualizes the history of “listening to the political.” An example he keeps on coming back to because of its significance is Moby’s rendition of Vera Hall’s song. This was the commodification of black culture for the means of popularity, which meant capital gain. Shank basically showed that structures such as white supremacy and homosociality shifted the reputation of different genres and types of music through appropriation. However, some older civilizations suggested that there was a relationship between the organization of humans and the sound produced by that organization. Shank figures that musical beauty conserved in community reinforces political ideologies (like anthems), but musical beauty’s transcendence of the intentions of the creators is what Shank is concerned with most.

The essence of musical beauty is that it emerges from the social, is non-referential, and does two things to relations. Those two things are (1) reinforce existing political relations and (2) redistribute the auditory sensible that reshapes the experience of relations of difference between listeners. Furthermore, Lawrence Kramer pushes the idea that “In music… the structure of prejudgment becomes lived experience” (19). Music makes sensuous and audible into the material, social, and political relations of its time, defining art’s relation to society. Political philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy sees this in a slightly different but perhaps more helpful lens: that music listening is a relationship to meaning and the tension between the sounds and the world.

Lastly, Shank makes a comparison between the similarities of musical community and political community. He uses Nancy to discuss the idea of a community, and the clining that is a part of it. Clining is the leaning towards others that is at the crux of community; in other words, the “being-in-common” with others (24). This clining is not influenced by an identity that the people in the community share, rather it can be created through historical concerns, political issues, or aspirations for the future. Ultimately, Shank’s claim is that the being-in-common of political formation is just like the musicality that shifts around the production of particular tones, beats, and other relations of difference.

Reflection:

My first impression of the force of musical beauty was that it was eminent in the indiehead and /mucore scenes. This scene that is made up of teenagers that force “fake nostalgia” into their ears and grown men that are musically stuck in their teens is not an inherently bad community. I believe the very fact that I can describe them in this semi-humorous way is why they are like the political community Shank describes. This community bonds over indie classics from late postmodern music to early 2000’s music. The genres of music span anything from experimental pop to post-rock to shoegaze to rap to psychedelic folk; what brings them under the unique term of indie is the distinct feeling of the “I don’t fit in with the crowd” feeling this music emanates. This liking for obscure but critically acclaimed music inevitably propelled the community into a strange position in the world of music journalism. Precisely that position combined with their memes poking fun at each other for their music taste is exactly what parallels this to a political community, where differing views are taken seriously (even if there is a means of humor). Finally, the effects of the force of musical beauty is apparent in this community, producing a capacity for taking pleasure in difference.