shanesolizblog3

Summary:
In an essay written by Student, Student writes of the effects and associations of Techno music, and also that Ecstasy was the main contributor to the popularity of Techno music. The essay begins with describing the origin of Techno music, and comparing Techno music to other popular music of the time, "Techno varies greatly from other genres of music; it signals propulsion, drum ‘n’ bass suggests chaos, ambient conjures calm—all without the pesky anger and alienation of rock and hip-hop or the melancholy of sad-eyed indie pop ". I find that particular line of comparison hilarious as well as informative to how trend setting the author presents Techno as being. Student also writes of how ecstasy enhances the physical feeling and emotional feelings of music listeners. This lead to "the rave scene" which is a common term associated with techno music but also a negative term.



Analysis:
As far as I can discern, the author did a very nice job in connecting social stereotypes of techno music at its inception with respect to why those stereotypes were thought of in the first place. Such as why "rave scenes" had such a negative connotation due to ecstasy. However I am curious besides techno being "upbeat and energetic" how much did lyrics play in techno music popularity? For the beginning were lyrics even an integral aspect of techno? I am curious as to how much of a role lyrics would play in Techno, this curiosity stems from another reading , the Exposure to degrading Versus Nondegrading Music Lyrics and Sexual Behavior Among Youth written by Steven C. Martino, Rebecca L. Collins, Marc N. Elliot, Amy Strachman, David E. Kanhouse, and Sandra H. Berry. According to the authors there is a strong tie between degrading sexual lyrics and high rates of sexuality among listeners. Moreover I would be interested in investigating what other factors contribute to the use of ecstasy at rave scenes and what other drugs were used. Also what impact did this have in the social standard of drugs being taboo, did rave scenes open the door so to speak for other perhaps even harsher drugs?