The iPhone makes it’s debut today. Meanwhile, I just found out about Slacker Radio - a slightly backwater revolution that is taking place in the radio business. Since radio for the past 75 years has worked in basically the same way, I was surprised to finally see Slacker take some steps to advance the industry. Check it out.

When I first created an account, it took me straight to the “Top 40″ Stations, so for the first time in memorable history, I actually listened to some of that stuff. Through the sludge of Paris, Mandy, Justin, and Christina, I began to think a little about Top 40 radio and its function in our society.

Two weeks ago I was at the Civic Center getting ready for Wikicclesia when I bumped into Petty Hunter, the president for the local chapter of the NAACP. He had been given the conference room neighboring ours, and was thumping hip-hop loud and clear into the hallways. I enjoyed the irony of “Wikicclesia” meeting right next to “NAACP Hip Hop Summit” as I walked up to Petty. He and I talked about Hip Hop and the negative culture that surrounds it. We talked about how on Top 40 stations you truly do hear the same songs twenty times a day, many of them carrying the same messages of sex, gangs, drugs and hate. Petty talked about how he was hoping to expose teens in his conference to positive Hip Hop that doesn’t make it to the radio. You go Petty.

In a culture of constant noise, Top 40 radio is America’s method for meditation.

Throughout the day, as we drive in our cars, work on our homework, or even talk to our friends, we insert the little white buds of enlightenment, connecting us to a larger world that we cannot see or taste or touch. We allow the music to play constantly while we busily go about our lives, while subconsciously burrowing animistic messages deep into our brains. It is the brain candy of our generation - it is the cocaine of our culture.

What’s nuts is that music we listen to on the Top 40’s is simply chosen for us. Music labels pay BIG BUCKS to get their songs on those rotations, because they know that if consumers hear a song 20 times a day, they’re going to go out and buy it. What they could care less about is what they’re selling. Katrina once told me that in art, you could put a piece of poop on a pedestal, and with the right lighting in the right art gallery, you could sell it for a fortune. Pop-music and the big music business is not far off.

But what happens when the music of our culture is SOLD TO US, rather than us buying it? Or what happens when movies or TV is produced with product placement in mind? When art is more about marketing than simply making art? Our culture ceases to become a culture; it simply becomes the host for the parasite of the marketing monster that consumes its consumers.

Which brings me back to Slacker! Unlike traditional Top 40 radio, you have the choice to make a choice in what you listen to. You are listening to an online radio station (there are hundreds to choose from), and yet you have the choice at any moment to skip a song you hate, and it’ll never play that song again. Not only that, but its commercial free. Art made for art’s sake.

I feel like the concept of music meditation could be developed further here, but I’ve run out of words. It seems like our culture is better at mysticism than it realizes. We just have to discover what it is we are focusing on minds and spirits on. Thoughts?

Last 5 posts by Mark

• Chicago Spiritual Map: Hyde Park - August 28th, 2008
• Off the Blogger Bench - August 27th, 2008

This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 9:06 am and is filed under Culture, Human Nature, Meditation, Money, Music, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.