DJ Jim Q's Playlist: REVIVAL
Our friends from the Fort Worth chapter of CreativeMornings selected the theme this month. REVIVAL is a great one to reflect on—renewal and rebirth are quite relevant to music, especially these days, as rapid musical innovation seems to have waned in recent decades and instead given way to constant reinvention and revisiting of previously explored musical ideas.
I recently saw an interview where someone described this phenomenon in this way: if you were to play music from the ’50s to someone living in the ’40s, it would likely be unrecognizable to them as music. If listeners in the ’50s were to hear some of the more experimental music from the ’60s, they too would be blown away and find it completely shocking. And listeners living in the 1960s would similarly be amazed by the more innovative music from the ’70s. The synthetic and metronomic electronic sounds of the ’80s might sound like science fiction to listeners of the 1970s. Hip hop would likely confuse these listeners; sample-based compositions in general would sound completely foreign to them.
However, in the ’90s, drastic innovation seemed to grind to a halt. At this point, any music created after about the mid-’90s would sound relatively familiar to listeners. And it has been this way for the past 30 years. Even microgenres like hyperpop would not surprise listeners from the ’90s who were used to artists like Stereolab, Prodigy, Newcleus, Ministry or KMFD.
So what does that mean? Is it a bad thing? I’m not sure. What we now see is music is a constant state of revival, reinvention, and renewal. But it is almost always referential. I noticed this most obviously with the resurgence of guitar rock in the early 2000s. Coming out of an era dominated by pop, electronic, and sample-based music, a movement of back-to-basics musical styles emerged. Bands like The Stroke, Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The White Stripes, The Libertines, Interpol were resuscitating a certain strain of instrument driven music. Most of these artists—with few exceptions—heavily referenced styles of the past. The thriving Brooklyn music scene was filled with artists reinterpreting garage rock and post-punk of past decades with dogmatic accuracy and deference. Again, though, all this would sound perfectly familiar to listeners from the ’90s.
In recent decades, we have seen genre revivals come and go, and the cycle seems to be accelerating. The proliferation and accessibility of music through digital distribution services has spawned countless concurrent cycles.
With substantive new genres absent, we see artists seeking to reinvent or reinterpret through mixing elements of different musical styles. Hybrids like country hip hop, electronic folk, hyperpop, and synthwave chipwave are all recombinations of other styles we have heard before. These microgenres can seem novel, or transient, or even superficial. I sometimes wonder if the microgenre is simply a marketing ploy by artists in an attempt to communicate originality where little may exist. I’ve heard of some pretty creative genre labels, but often the music itself isn’t as unique as the genre title. “Oh, we make doom-folk-wave.”, “Hmm, sounds a lot like Hawkwind to me”.
This is not to suggest that wholly innovative musical genres are necessary for great art. I don’t think they are. In fact, I think it could be argued that refinement is better than invention. While the novelty of something new is lost, the nuanced exploration of the intricacies of each musical territory yields something different—and maybe even more thoughtful and reflective.
There is an academic element to this sort of genre interrogation. Aware of the stylistic origins and the canon, new artists adopt a curriculum and express themselves through the rules of the musical style. Who am I to say what is better? As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. But also—if it’s new to you, does it matter if it’s original or simply a revival of something from the past? Maybe a more rewarding aim would be to find new meaning in what we already know.
Recordings of rebirth, refreshment, and renewal—the theme this month is Revival, and we are exploring it by looking back and pulling forward. From Gloria Gaynor’s life-affirming rebound anthem “I Will Survive,” to The Misfits’ macabre march of reanimation, “Night of the Living Dead,” to Kendrick Lamar’s song of redemption, “Reincarnated,” these songs will resuscitate your soul and breathe life into your listening experience. So tune in and revive your algorithmic recommendations with these hand-selected tracks of rejuvenation.
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy these playlists, I would love to hear from you. Give a holler on Bluesky or X and be sure to follow me on Spotify. See you next month with a renewed selection of songs.