1. Why Experiment with Music? – The Viral Underground

In his futurist manifesto, The Art of Noises (1913), Luigi Russolo outlines a rough timeline of the evolution of music from the invention of the first flute to conception of the triad. Following this, he makes the observation that, with the exception of natural disasters and relatively uncommon climatic phenomena, nature is quiet. Throughout the 19th century, with the emergence of steam engines and factories in Europe came a striking increase in anthropogenic sound – “noise”, as Russolo called it. The Art of Noises was addressed to Francesco Balilla Pratella, a composer of whose musica futurista (futurist music) Russolo had just heard a performance. In reaction to its revolutionary sound pallete, Russolo writes: “… I conceived a new art: The Art of Noises, the logical consequence of your marvellous innovations” (Russolo, 1913, p. 4)_^[1].

Experimentation within music can no doubt be traced back to the first monk who dared break off in a polyphonic rampage, but I think Russolo’s realization that industrial noise could be seen as muscical provides a good starting place for an exploration into over a century of musical exploration. It could be argued that the very fact that music has evolved over time supports Russolo’s claim that his new musical idea was a “logical consequence” of Balilla Pratella’s futuristic compositions; musical composers inevitably take what is already present and accepted at their time and make it something novel – as do artists with any other medium. And so, I tend to align myself with Russolo’s reaction to his confrontation with Balilla Pratella’s futurist music. Experimentation is only natural.

Photo: Instruments made by Russolo (Russolo, 1913, p. 13)^[2]

But if experimentation is a logical step in the evolution of music, why bother discussing it? One interesting observation is that sometimes there is a lag period between when an artist first deviates from their contemporaries and when the deviation becomes accepted in the mainstream – if it ever does. Consider, for instance, the Velvet Underground, the namesake of this very blog; their first studio album (recorded alongside German singer, Nico and under the management of Andy Warhol), The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) was not warmly received by mainstream radio channels and music critics upon its release to say the least. Johnson (2023)^[3] cites a number of contributing factors to the album’s initial flop including bad timing and its unrestrained handling of taboo subject matter to name a few (more on this album in a future blog post). Yet, the album has gone on to be hailed as a modern classic and is hugely inspirational in all corners of the rock-adjacent music world. Acclaimed producer and composer, Brian Eno succinctly put this into perspective in a 1982 interview: “The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band” (Jones, 2021)^[4]. This is one of countless examples of artists who innovated and saw little to no success at the time of their innovation. On the other hand, by the end of 1967 the Beatles were sailing on the success of one of their landmark releases, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), despite Decca Records refusal to sign them in 1962 and executives saying that they “… have no future in show business” (The Beatles Anthology, 2000)^[5]. We all know how that turned out not long into their career. This surface level observation shows that some degree of experimentation may be acceptable to the general public, but too much experimentation can spell critical and financial failure–at least in the short-term.

One final but very crucial point regarding experimental music that I want to be sure to focus on are the many diverse voices in music that tend to be overlooked or conveniently forgotten about; as with most industries and artforms, music history is laced with misogyny, racism, sexism, ablism, homophobia, transphobia, and colonialism; music history remembers, very fondly, hundreds of white, heterosexual, cis men in but comparatively few female artists, artists of colour, and queer artists have been remembered let alone celebrated by music historians. According to USC Annenberg School For Communication And Journalism (2023)^[6] the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart revealed that only 30% of the artists represented were women and that, of the women nominated for Grammy’s in the past 11 years 51.5% of them were white. It is easy to assume that these were issues of the past, but these recent statistics show us that they are still present as ever.

So with all of the above in mind, how is this blog going to look? My personal goal is to explore the world of experimental an avant garde music from the 20th and 21st century in a meaningful way: I aim to examine the general progressions throughout the decades from the early 1900s to the present with more focus on the individual decades spanning the 1940’s to the 2021’s. Many of the consequent posts will focus on a single decade at a time where I will seek out and listen to a variety of songs that experiment or deviate from contemporary music in some way. The bulk of the posts will include my own reflections on the music, briefly touch on any relevant context or history, and evaluate what makes it unique. My other focus here, as stated in the previous paragraph, is on diversity in experimental music. I want to reflect on how experimental and avant garde music has been pioneered by a diverse group of artists. I am also curious about whether experimental music can provide more of a platform for diverse artists simply by nature of being less widely accepted by the masses but so encouraged and celebrated by their fellow deviants.