O Dionysus Where Art Thou?

Our "real" humanity, music, and the current age

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I like the schema Friedrich Nietzsche proposed in The Birth of Tragedy. There is something about his reasoning behind Apollonian vs. Dionysian art that I sense is true, and my personality and outlook naturally fits the book’s rationale. Now, I want to use my version of it to talk about art and the modern mindset.

Thanks to all who have been reading my stories. You are a small but very appreciated group. By now, you might have noticed how crucial art is to my beliefs about life and what people should be doing with it.

I will not say something stupid like “Art is life.” Though, I think each person has the capability and directive to express what their world is like as interpreted by their heart—which actually means each person’s unique brain. Personally, I feel as if some entity has commanded me to do this.

I interpret Nietzsche’s thoughts as saying something close to: “Art is the means we are given to celebrate life in spite of its cruelty and its nonsensical nature.” It is therapy. Art can cleanse us or, at the least, temporarily save us from the pain of being alive.

Anyone who has ever created something that can even loosely be thought of as art should know that the act of creation gives our mind a dose of happy juice. Whatever that is, the feeling makes challenging creative work become instantly worth the effort. Every time we look (or listen, etc.) at our art again, we once again interact with something real and better than most everything seen and done on the average day.

Nietzsche classed art in two categories that he applied to the ancient Greeks: the Apollonian and the Dionysian. However, we can also take these two approaches and relate them to any culture and all mediums of art. Well, that is my opinion.

The Apollonian form is based on order, scientific inquiry, and rationalism, which either the gods or intellectuals imposed on ordinary people. Dionysian art, to me, is from the people and derives its irrational, frenetic, less-formal style from the unpredictable rhythms and outcomes of life.

A large chunk of those rhythms stems from work done close to the land that is dependent on the cyclical seasons. Dionysian creations (especially music) have grit, suggest urgency, and can be trance-like.

Greek tragedy combined the elements of the Apollonian and Dionysian, Nietzsche believed, and for that reason was a kind of pinnacle in self-expression that resonates with us still. In fact, it is ideal that two expressive forms are at war with one another each unable to dominate its opposite. Mankind benefits and receives this powerful cathartic experience by taking in the full gamut of what it means to be human.

However, there is no doubt Nietzsche preferred the Dionysian arts. The great philosopher gave us brilliant insights, and I have often thought about Birth of Tragedy and how it relates to my point of view.

Can we find Dionysian music in the present? You knew I would say yes, but sadly it takes some digging down to the roots. It is not out there on the radio, for example. You are unlikely to hear heartfelt notes from that car passing by blaring…something.

Here goes my meager attempt to divide all music today into three vague but workable classifications. We can lump everything into Folk, producer-driven, or Intoxicant, Music. You heard me right, so let’s see where this takes us.

I am guessing heavily produced songs are the easiest to recognize. At least, people understand what that means, and producer-driven music is extremely common.

Heavily edited and crafted music can turn out well and even have soul. I would never pre-judge produced stuff as bad until I heard the end result. There is still some artistic merit in this category, but mostly the motivation is profit-based.

Folk Music is the best kind, and if you disagree you have every right to be wrong. It’s my story so I will generalize if I want to. Anyway, Folk is less produced and can be traced back to some organic source. In short, Folk comes from the people as the name implies.

According to my standards not everything labeled as Folk Music is, but my interpretation here encompasses actual artistic diversity and not the pretended kind. Blues is my favorite and belongs, as does Country (genuine) & Western, mountain sounds, zydeco, some Jazz, various folk styles from foreign lands, soulful gospel, and more I’ve never heard of.

I’ve doubled down on an already bad mood, stored up my anger, and will now unleash my wrath on music I call Intoxicant. Simply put, these songs are meant to addict listeners and may not actually qualify as music. You will find it on the radio and wherever non-cool people are working hard to present as cool.

There is literally no other purpose than to infect people’s brains with words and sounds that are inescapable. The first one is free, and then the addicted are instructed to buy.

Some people in pop music call the most infectious part of a song the “hook” as in getting hooked. Sampling is popular with Intoxicant “music.” It makes perfect sense, because people are more likely to ingest a song when it has part of another song they previously enjoyed.

Intoxicant songs have no staying power. One is quickly replaced by another, and then that one by another, and so on down the line. There is no reason to remember the songs or refer to them later. They are disposable.

I cannot speculate on the percentage of people in the music industry who are actually drug pushers in disguise. It is large for sure.

Alright, my analysis is not without flaws but, hopefully, encourages you to see the big picture. As always, I want to express something important to me that others are likely to ignore. Oh well, here it goes.

Folk Music is Dionysian and our best artform to reconnect to who we are. If one combines anger, uninhibited emotion, sadness, sobering reflections, folksy insights, mourning, and earnest intensity, then the likely result of this combination of authentic humanity will sound a lot like Blues, Gospel, or some other in the Folk catalog.

Folk is the trunk of the American musical tree. If you substituted world for American, I would not be mad at you. The closer an artist is to the base of the tree, the more soul their songs are likely to have. When we move too far, out on the tips of the thinnest, least sturdy limbs, the higher the probability that there is no soul present at all.

The music I consider the best can be contradictory, frenzied, and vengeful, thus making Folk the most emblematic of the human condition. My contention is that we have lost our way, relegated Folk Music to the margins, and thus are incommunicado with our Dionysian urges to experience “the real.”

Modernity giveth and taketh away. We have mind-blowing technology, and ease of living in some ways, but art will always suffer in a robot-obsessed society.

My obsessions are more Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and B.B. King. Now I do not think real music will ever die, but the Intoxicants are clearly winning. They may not be the most numerous, but the songs that addict are the huge, hit-making, and award-winning nuisances that every person has somehow heard.

Gospel is probably the most powerful music form, and there is a huge difference between spiritual music from the people versus what is neatly packaged and called gospel. Catharsis cannot take place if we concentrate only on the Apollonian.

The thing about tragedy is that it is tragic only in the sense of reaffirming life. It is a pathway to accept the world as it is while living unapologetically and with a conscious zeal. You have to get dirty to do that, among the rabble and the messes that they make.

I have always thought of the Blues as a “dance-around-a-fire” brand of music; well certain types anyway. I think what I see in American Folk Music is what Nietzsche believed was important about the Dionysian. This is not arrogant nor me putting myself on the same level of a great thinker.

What do you think? Is there any credibility to my take on current music? Do the comparisons here make sense to you? I would love to know your thoughts. Really, though, I am confident in what I say with conviction. One must “put himself out there” to say anything interesting. Really, one must try and keep trying, somehow, despite any evidence that he should not.

What about that call to action? I am still not sure what that means, but I think here it translates to having higher standards in music and looking for that realness among all that addicting rubbish. End your drug dependency.

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