Are the Old Messages of Rebellion and Change being Rebranded to Corrupt and Trivialize their Meanings?

I watch in continuing amazement as another protest song from the 1960's assails me in the form of piped Muzak in a shopping mall. "Where have all the flowers gone" at the florist.





One of the most popular bands in the 1990s in the Uk advocated "girl power"





here is some of what they sung:





"Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,


So tell me what you want, what you really really want,


I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really


really really wanna zigazig ha. "





The defining album of "girl power" is wanting "zigazig ha"





Is this an illustration of how consumerism conspires to quell opposition. Take the leading edge method, remove most of the meaning from it, and market it as "edgy and rebellious"?





When it means next to nothing?





Are the Old Messages of Rebellion and Change being Rebranded to Corrupt and Trivialize their Meanings?

Are the Old Messages of Rebellion and Change being Rebranded to Corrupt and Trivialize their Meanings?
I hate to trot out a cliche, but it was different in the 60s, and NOT in a bad way. Basically speaking, the 60s was the decade with the most "be different" mentality, as opposed to the 00s "be the same". "Zigazig ha" can mean anything you want it to, but a 12-year-old can still buy the CD. Do you know how long it took me, and I'm laughing at myself here, to figure out that "Little Red Corvette" had nothing to do with a car?


Consumerism, almost by definition, DOES quell opposition. Everyone has to have the same thing, everyone has to be cool, but there has to be just enough "difference" among all the "samenesses" for people to think they are being individuals. So, add a guitar or 3, take away a violin or 2, and you can write the same song for any number of musical genres (just to follow your musical analogy).


AND Consumerism as seen above is doing its best to also quell any new messages of rebellion and change. When people think Fallout Boy and Slipknot are "rebellion" we've got a long way to go. Rebellion is best led, sorry all, by the intelligent rather than something that is allowed (and I do mean allowed) to go mainstream. Lennon was no dummy.
Reply:What about Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (?)


I at least understand what that means. (Then, she also wrote, True Colors.) I don't get zigazig ha!


I don't think these are the same messages.


I loved John Lennon's "Imagine." I haven't heard anything like that, recently.


Perhaps, we have all become trivial and don't care about anything beyond our own zig or frig. Appears so.


C. :)!!
Reply:hahaha...my son was so enamored with the spice girls when he was six or so that one of my pet names for him was stinky spice. thank you for tapping into that most pleasant memory, we laughed for days.





ahem, allow me to gather my composure. i don't think that we can seriously compare the spice girls with the likes of john lennon, joan baez, or bob dylon. consider if you will the demographics. those who appreciated the lyrics of rebellious artists were more likely to be of legal voting age. further, their music wasn't really mainstream. people buying into that genre were generally on the fringe and welcomed representation of their already formed views. if these icons of past generations have modern peers i am not aware of them. if you are please share.
Reply:Your question incorrectly assumes that the inexplicably capitalized "Old Messages of Rebellion and Change" weren't trivial to begin with.