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June 16, 2006
Roots Culture
I've been noticing lately the emergence of what I'm calling (and someone else smarter probably already has) 'Roots Culture'. There seems to be a shift in the general interest towards the originators of different forms of entertainment, and bringing them back to the gaze of the public eye. It's not a mainstream thing yet, but it does seem to be gaining in momentum.
The crystallization of this concept really hit me yesterday when I picked up The Black Keys' new album, 'Chulahoma', which is a collection of them performing the songs of Junior Kimbrough (it rocks, too, by the by). Here's two kids about my age taking more interest in roots blues music than the generations before us. The North Mississippi Allstars are all about this sort of thing, too. Check out their live 'Hill Country Revue' to see what I'm talking about: RL Burnside, Otha Turner, and others. They're only in their early thirties, too, I believe.
Eric Clapton's been performing Robert Johnson songs for quite a while now, and recently put out a whole album of him covering Johnson's songs.
There's been interest of this sort rising in cinema recently, too, due in large part to affordably-priced DVD's and the more extravagant Criterion Collection offerings. A lot of films that have been out of print since the heyday of VHS are back now and selling fairly well. I still want to get that Garbo collection something fierce.
The DVD collections are bringing back interest in old television, as well. A lot of forgotten classics are back with a bang now, thanks to these offerings.
Comix are really seeing it in force right now, too. A ton of forgotten newspaper strips are getting lush collections thanks to publishers like Fantagraphics and Dark Horse, or cheaply priced ones thanks to Checker Publishing. I'm noticing some of these long-unused techniques from the old masters starting to show up again in current creators' works, too. I know I'm currently more heavily influenced by Milt Caniff, Roy Crane, Alex Toth and Will Eisner than most anyone else right now.
I don't know what this says about society. Maybe the beginnings of a shift away from instant trash culture? People would stop putting these things out if they weren't making money off of them, y'know? Or at least a larger appreciation of where we come from, than any sort of cultural shift. It doesn't seem to be a desire to stop moving forward, but rather learning from the past to make decisions about the future.
Posted by Schamberger at June 16, 2006 07:40 AM