Vox Newman

The Sloan Period | June 19, 2011

Prior to the Sloan period humans had discovered and rediscovered the art of creating artificial sounds that they then refined into music.  Leading into the period new forms of instruments had also been invented.  The ingenuity of humankind had also bounded forward technologically and this resulted in mixing the now widespread use of electricity with the instrumentation that was ingrained within the culture.  The most popular form of music was soon heralded by the electric guitar, which helped to market a new style of music called Rock and Roll.

With this new popular form of music the economy saw an explosion of industries that branched off from powerful record labels.  For decades these cabals would control how music was created and presented to the masses.

Eventually this system broke down as more and more bands became ‘indie’ and eschewed the idea of working for the conglomerates.  The most common terminology for the decade that saw a rise and fall of independent artists and labels is the 90’s.

The ‘indie sound’ was imagined early in this period and sometimes overlapped with ‘grunge’, ‘brit pop’ and other sub-genres of ‘rock’.  Soon, though, many of the artists who were independently produced and shared the indie sound chose to give up their independence for cash while keeping the sound that had allowed them to do so.

Every major label desperately grabbed for any band they could.

Meanwhile, the teenagers who projected their marketing power on the industry flocked to these bands in droves.  The early part of the Sloan period saw an explosion of ‘All Ages’ events at nightclubs and bars.  As a contrast: prior to this period those of drinking age would generally be the only people that venues whose primary purpose was the selling of alcohol would consider as customers.  They must have collectively assumed that in a few short years, these teenagers would soon be customers.  Their math was sound.

What was unique about these all ages events was that, whereas concert venues and music festivals were daylight affairs with thousands of gatherers, an all ages event was a more intimate affair in a dank bar and very different from dance nights in gymnasiums or halls.  This made the teenagers feel more like adults, which was a much sought-out feeling.

How the middle Sloan period differed from the above was in this very feeling.  Firstly, the explosion of independent artists had slowed and nearly every indie band quickly signed some sort of corporate contract or disappeared into obscurity.  Secondly, the market had shifted to new genres and those that favoured this genre were now old enough that an all ages night seemed pointless.  Now there was an explosion of live shows fueled by alcohol and the collective remembrance of youth.  Nostalgia became the transition device from the early to late Sloan period.

The late Sloan period tangentially mimics the early years.  But the all ages shows are of a different nature or ‘feel’.  Whereas in the beginning it felt as if this independence would become the norm, now the feeling was that this activity was an outing of one’s youth and it would be followed by something different as one aged.  And the bands themselves seem to know that the majority of them cannot remain independent forever, so they keep the sound of the period, but seek out ways to lose their nature.

---