Capitalist Pig-Dogs! And The Insider

In a late-stage capitalist society, one might argue, music serves a function not unlike that of the university, albeit on a more populist level: the reproduction of the prevailing (state) ideology. One might further argue that the specific mechanism of this ideological apparatus, especially as transnational cultural industry begins to render state boundaries more irrelevant (as the twin flows of capital and labor become global rather than regional) is to reproduce the prevailing ideology via the illumination of the boundaries thereof; that is, in a late-stage capitalist society, music serves to show the boundaries of acceptable behaviors within the context of seeming rebellion.

Both the subsumption and the paradox of this apparent rebellion are easily visible in the profit motive and industrialization of music: no longer an oral or folk tradition, though the argument could be made that such traditions fit neatly into the feudal system, with 'groupies', drugs, and other elements of the so-called 'rock 'n roll lifestyle' composing perhaps a symbolic subset of the traditional Droit de Cuissage, the rise of the "music industry" shows clearly the hypocrisy of artists who claim to distrust the so-called system while at the same time profiting from its capitalist-industrialist nature.

Oh, and here's a couple of tracks from a new album that Seattle instrumental hip-hop artist The Insider just put out earlier this year. Album is available for free at this site. Don't be a part of the system. Check it out.



The Insider - The Insider Theme


The Insider - A Little Woozy, I Guess


Have a great day!