[LAU] Subconscious Affecting Music

[Rob]

Let me preface this by saying I'm not a fan of club music, but almost my 
entire social circle is made up of people who are.  

On Thursday 26 August 2010 01:37, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> Yes, this is my conundrum so to speak. Is it possible to subvert the
> subconscious minds of people in such an environment and have DJ's
>  happily play said music and people happily listen to and therefore
>  absorb it's affects?

Most people who go to clubs are not going there to think, they're going 
there to lose their minds.  Certainly going to a club and not drinking (and 
being in full possession of my faculties) is a real drag, but I do it 
anyway now and then to try to be social, not to try and gain insight or 
anything like that. 

DJs will play what gets people dancing and bars will hire DJs who keep 
people coming back to dance and drink.  I have a theory that what you think 
of as sexual music is simply music people associate with sexual contexts 
after years of experiencing them together.  Someone might have said the 
same thing about R&B or rock and roll 50 years ago, and in fact, I'm pretty 
sure they did.  But "Hound Dog" has never gotten my blood flowing.

> I have to also mention I am talking entirely about the
> Britney/Miley/Florider/... club sound now.

I'm not sure what clubs you go to, but I can't remember the last time I 
heard Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus at one (not sure about the third act 
you mentioned).  I bet you would have a few things to say about Lady Gaga 
if you heard her stuff and its remixes, though.

On the other hand, I can't recall ever getting sexual feelings out of 
music.  Maybe there are some provocative videos that go with them, or 
sexually oriented lyrics, but music doesn't turn me on that way.   
Aggression, though, sure.  There's already plenty of chill-out music out 
there, though, that's meant to have the opposite effect.  

Finally, portraying "more intelligent, tolerant, open minded, 
compassionate, altruistic" as existing exclusive of sexuality seems like a 
false dichotomy to me, though I'm not going to give counterexamples on a 
publicly archived list.

Rob