Ahh, Linkin Park! For me it was Meteora that I listened to a lot in high school - really felt like an expression of my feelings. After HS I stopped listening as I no longer felt that anger. In the last few months I’ve been listening again, but more for nostalgia, the songs give me a kind of buzzy energy now.
Emo was such a big thing, then all those bands seemed to just disappear. The poster above raises an interesting point - I’d never connected K-pop with emo before. Would love to hear your thoughts on BTS which I find baffling, haha.
Have you followed Ted Gioia's substack at all? He's self-publishing there a book called "Music to Raise the Dead," so it's safe to say he agrees that a song can save a life. It's a study of historical music, so obviously this phenomenon is nothing new, but it seems the transference from the music itself to the celebrity isn't either. It all starts with Orpheus, who in a reversal of modern boy band trends, was killed by the jealous wives of his adoring male fans. (And of course, it was Orpheus himself who convinced Hades to save his wife's life with his music.)
Less mythologically we've been set down this path ever since the emergence of Romantic music in the 1800s. I find it refreshing to see each new generation find its own saviors.
If this isn't the perfect intro to further discuss the emo-to-k-pop pipeline, and the cult of BTS.
🙏
Thoughtful post - a similar situation happened to opera star Mary Garden in 1913, thankfully the press were more sympathetic to her https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57110152/helen-hill-newby
Ahh, Linkin Park! For me it was Meteora that I listened to a lot in high school - really felt like an expression of my feelings. After HS I stopped listening as I no longer felt that anger. In the last few months I’ve been listening again, but more for nostalgia, the songs give me a kind of buzzy energy now.
Emo was such a big thing, then all those bands seemed to just disappear. The poster above raises an interesting point - I’d never connected K-pop with emo before. Would love to hear your thoughts on BTS which I find baffling, haha.
Have you followed Ted Gioia's substack at all? He's self-publishing there a book called "Music to Raise the Dead," so it's safe to say he agrees that a song can save a life. It's a study of historical music, so obviously this phenomenon is nothing new, but it seems the transference from the music itself to the celebrity isn't either. It all starts with Orpheus, who in a reversal of modern boy band trends, was killed by the jealous wives of his adoring male fans. (And of course, it was Orpheus himself who convinced Hades to save his wife's life with his music.)
Less mythologically we've been set down this path ever since the emergence of Romantic music in the 1800s. I find it refreshing to see each new generation find its own saviors.