Cultural Norms
Indie Pop With an Eye on Society, 20 Years Later
Blanket Music was my first and (maybe) last band. We were in our twenties / early thirties. It was Greg Lind, Dave Depper, Michael Johnson and me. It was the band’s third album: Cultural Norms. It was 2004.
Cultural Norms contemplated current events and culture with first person narratives and wordplay. Two decades later, it’s an interesting time capsule of sorts.
“Guernica” reflects on Picasso’s masterpiece anti-war painting, considering its diminished import over time, in the dimming collective memory: “In ‘37 it pictured fascism, in ‘01 I didn’t care. When I see it come into focus, I abhor that fear.” Give it a spin:
I’ve seen prints stacked up waist-high at Ikea, once iconoclastic, now decorator.
Reduced and sterile, clad in brushed silver, the terror of war so chic on the mantle!
I marvel at my short attention span, the fog of war drifts well past the battlefield.
It’s the fog of wealth, the fog of mowing the lawn, the fog of non-fat yogurt, the fog of all of our cultural norms.
In 2004 the United States was still reeling from 9/11. The so-called “War on Terror” kicked into overdrive in 2003 with the absurdly rationalized Iraq War (inspiring album tracks “Guernica”, “Press Conference”, “Soldier’s Story” and “Cats Corps”). On the home front the cultural landscape was evolving: reality television jumped from MTV to prime time. The Apprentice launched in 2004 as an instant hit portraying Donald Trump as a tycoon guru who judged aspiring entrepreneurs with his over-the-top bravado and a fateful catchphrase (“Back to the Grind”). File sharing was mainstream for youth. Napster had come and gone, replaced by decentralized BitTorrent clients, giving rise to The Pirate Bay (“Filesharer’s Lament”). “Dollar stores” stuffed with cheap crap were popping up everywhere across the U.S. (“Keep the Prices Down”). Video game titles grew more immersive and expansive. The Tony Hawk Pro Skater and Grand Theft Auto series were surprise blockbusters (“Digital Pedestrians”). The United States was experiencing a new kind of epidemic, with an estimated 66% of adults overweight or obese (“I’m Fat”). Meanwhile, Massachusetts became the first state in the US to legalize same sex marriage in 2004 (“Just Us”).
The discography of Blanket Music is short and varied. Cultural Norms is the only proper studio recording of the four canonical albums, recorded and mixed by Adam Selzer at Type Foundry in Portland, Oregon. Unlike the preceding album, which utilized my home studio and piecemeal construction, the songs for this album were largely stage-tested by the time we recorded it, and delivered as if we were playing a show. For me, it kind of stands alone as the album that most represented the band in real life, and in my memory. There were fewer of my own whims shaping it.
Following the trend of anniversary album releases, I ultimately decided that this one was worth a little effort in an attempt to shine a spotlight on it and cobble together some nostalgic thoughts. The 20th Anniversary Edition will come with a second volume of seven songs, six of which were outtakes, and one was a demo.
It also seemed timely, given the crossroads the nation is at right now, drawing parallels and through-lines to 20 years ago. Will the country re-elect the reality TV star, four years after telling him, “You’re fired”? Will the Middle East devolve further into an epic quagmire of US involvement like the Iraq War? Will civil rights issues advance, or continue a backward slide? How will the next generation of artists interpret it all? We shall see.
Cultural Norms (20th Anniversary Edition) will be released Friday, November 1st on all streaming platforms. The original is out now, of course, waiting to be rediscovered. (Spotify, Apple, Tidal, Amazon, and YouTube…)