Minimalist Music and Social Platforms – Part III of Part IV

The Minimalist’s concept of music, as described by Keith Potter in Four Musical Minimalists, holds the “belief that their music should somehow go beyond what their own imaginations were inherently capable of inventing.” (1) With musicologists describing “It’s Gonna Rain” as an “authentic audio downpour,” (2) Reich evidenced his sonic independent compositional style throughout his various electronic tape compositions.
Minimalism’s foundation of individualism and sonic independence created an opening for the formation of Protopunk and Punk music of the 1970s and 1980s. With stripped down instrumentation, use of limited harmonic structures (i.e. power chords), repetitive, and limited, chordal progressions and instrumental lines, former Protopunk and Punk bands like MC5, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones, exemplify the similar threads of individualism and sonic independence found in their Minimalist predecessors. The young rock-trained audiences welcomed the influence of Minimalism as records began to sell in niche markets such as Seattle, Michigan and abroad. Rebellion to past Western music styles and forms was now considered acceptable as garage bands began to form and create local followings. Individualism and sonic independence became the focal point of musical expression for many bands.
More recently, bands that are categorized as “Doom” rock, such as Sun o))) and “Drone-metal,”,such as the Seattle band, “Earth,” exhibit similar Minimalist aspects of individualism and sonic independence. Sun’s songs, such as “Dylan Carlson” from their 1999 album Grimmrobe Demos, has been described by Steve Dollar as “single notes [that] flatten the space around them until they sublimate into something atmospheric – like cloud formations dark with raindrops.” (3) The once subtle idea of creating a music rebellion against style and form assisted in the promotion of going beyond the musical aspects of Minimalist structure to form integrated societal subcultures of Minimalism.
As a continuation and permutation of Steve Reich’s focus on rebellion from specific musical forms, Dollar acknowledges that “Drone-metal,” and “Doom” styles aim “to reinvent the form in their own image, throwing out the rulebook with each new project.” (4) Challenging listeners’ perceptions on many fronts, such extremes of Minimalist music forms can be found throughout music research.
When a composer set out to focus on purposeful rebellion to a form of music, the music created in that mindset will manifest similar concepts in its structure. Sonic independence is a natural corroborator of adorning individualism. Keeping in mind that not all Minimalist composers and bands may purport such strong beliefs as others, the spirit of individualism and independence can generally be found in their social ideologies.

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1. Keith Potter, Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 6.
2. Daniel Kingman, American Music: A Panorama (New York: Schirmer Books, 1990), 211.
3. Steve Dollar, “Heavy Meddling” http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=4871 (Published November 28, 2006), 2.
4. Ibid., 2.