Author Archives: Colin Horgan

Drag Music

Nationality: American; Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cheshire, CT
Performance Date: 3/19/2013
Primary Language: English

Apathy Syndrome, “whendawurldends”

(For this entry, I asked my informant, who is a hobbyist underground music producer, about the genre of drag music, which is a form of remixing that my informant has had significant experience with, both as a producer and a member of the culture. A transcription of his explanation of the genre and its culture is included below.)

“Drag music came along as an extension of, um, what DJ Screw was doing with “chop and screw” remixes, which was taking a track and manipulating time, and specifically slowing it down, and what DJ Screw would do also was he’d have parts repeat and make it very choppy, hence the “chop and screw”. So what drag remixes did with that is they took it and they really emphasized the slowing it down and exaggerated the slowing it down, and then, in most cases, it took that and it applied it to popular music, pop songs, rather than just hip hop, and it would create a slowed down, darker version of whatever song you were drag remixing.

“I want to say my first exposure to drag, like actual drag, was…I want to say it was Salem’s “Until the World Ends”* or whatever that song’s called, but I’m not one hundred percent on that. It’s definitely the one that sticks out in my mind as being the first, um, yeah I think that’s the first.

“Drag is really tied into the witch house community, so, it’s not that they’re interchangeable, but most witch house groups – well that’s not true – most drag groups identify as witch house groups. So, as far as witch house communities, witch house has this thing where they try to be very underground, almost to an absurd degree, right? So they spell their names with symbols that can’t be Google searched and so it’s really hard to form a community around that. There is a message board, um, that I don’t personally, I’m not personally a member of, I very rarely log onto, but that message board, as far as I know, is the closest thing that witch house has to a community.

“So for typical drag, there’s not a whole lot to [the production]: you would take a track and you would, either digitally or with live turntablism, you would slow it down. What some groups, well depending on the group they’ll change up the drums, or maybe they’ll only [slow down] the acapella and then they’ll add in their own instrumentation, um, or else they’ll add effects on it. They’ll add reverb and, um, delay, or – it’s pretty much fair game. It’s not defined enough to really have a step-by-step process, there’s a lot of different ways to approach a drag piece. I’d say really the core aspect is the slowing, is the tempo manipulation and making it slower.

“It’s definitely deriving from elements of house music, um, but it really emphasizes tone and I would argue that really, that emphasis comes from goth music, like 80’s synth-y goth music. And it also pull from, whether they know it or not, pulls from a lot of music from musique concrète, found sound, really where sample manipulation first came from.

“I guess the most famous examples [of drag remixes] are pop songs. The first drag track to I know have existed, well it was a collection of tracks from sort of a proto-witch house group, Aids-3D, and they did an album called 11 Songs I Like More when I Slow them Down, and those songs were all pop songs, and that album was a huge influence on, like drag music now, so you’d have something like people remixing Justin Bieber or Britney Spears, or just whatever pop music comes up, and they’d take it, this sort of up-beat, pop music, and turn it into a down-beat, sort of dark music.

“You know, it’s interesting in that, um, I wouldn’t say Drag music specifically, but certainly from its associations with witch house, witch house has definitely cross-pollinated into popular music. Now you have artists like will.i.am have symbols, because a lot of witch house is about symbols, right? So you would have someone like will.i.am now have a music video where he raps in front of a black pyramid, and black pyramids, in their pagan and Christian sense, are a symbol in witch house.”

(At this point my recording became corrupted and the rest of the interview is unintelligible. The following is a summary of our conversation after this point, using notes that were taken during the interview.)

My informant continued to elaborate on the visual culture associated with drag and witch house music. In addition to the black pyramid, my informant included daggers as another common symbol, as well as many symbols drawing from paganism and Christianity, both Gnostic and modern. These symbols used both as art associated with the music, such as on album covers, and also in the names of drag groups and songs themselves, to add to the mystery and unsearchable aspect of the drag culture.

When asked to conjecture as to the spread of the style of drag remixing, my informant made a tie between the often-used popular music subject matter and the idea of guilty pleasures. While this couldn’t be confirmed, my informant guessed that many of the artists associated with drag remix culture actually do enjoy the music they are remixing, even though there is often a stigma against doing so within underground music circles. By dragging a favorite pop song, one can recontextualize the music into a new form, one that’s more abstract and thus acceptable as part of the underground, as well as a new way to enjoy a favorite song. There’s also an element of satire in the process of drag, that by taking a polished, easily digestible pop song and slowing it beyond recognition, one can corrupt the original with an individual’s distinct mark, transforming the gloss of a hyper-polished Justin Bieber or Britney Spears track into a dark, gothic dirge.

When asked about the idea of authorship in drag remix culture, my informant suggested that drag artists prefer to be thought of more as co-authors of a track, rather than just remixers. He makes this distinction: in a typical remix, the remixer usually credits the original artist first, delegating the remixing artist credit to either a title mention or a production credit. A drag artist, however, will often place their name first in the song’s credit, taking claim as the song’s artist, and then give credit to the original artist of the song they are dragging. With drag remixing, the remix artists present themselves as a coauthor of the song along with the original artists, where the ordinary remix artist relegates themselves to obscurity, not to be seen as an additional author to the track, but simply a remixer.

My informant is of the opinion that the trend toward co-authorship in drag music could derive from the amount of reimagining that goes into the process. With original chop and screw music, the remixing of a track was done with physical records and tapes, which was something a remixer had to physically acquire and put physical effort into manipulating. Even in the digital age, what emerges from a drag remix is often a very different song aesthetically, tonally, and atmospherically, than from where the track began. It’s very obvious where the drag artist’s influence comes into the sound of the drag remix.

The interview with my informant ended with a discussion of the practical element of drag music. The culture of drag music, according to my informant, has strong ties to drug use and drug culture, specifically codeine and cough syrup. My informant believes the development of drag music was at least partially spurred by a need for music to accompany the use of such drugs, the slowing of popular music turning songs that might be otherwise unpleasant in an altered state into music that could compliment the user’s experience.

 

Analysis:

As one who dabbles in music critique and culture beyond just popular music, I have often encountered “music snobbery”, where one can be made to feel inferior due to one’s tastes in music, often for enjoying what is most popular at the time. With my informant’s piece, whendawurldends, the masking of guilty pleasure can certainly be seen in the piece’s production. My informant divulged that the main source material for the remix comes from a Japanese Pop Song, which carries the stigma of both popular music and the “otherness” of foreign music and art that can be alienating to those outside of the culture. It is important that my informant pointed out the link between “guilty pleasure material” and the pieces of drag music that become popular, like the remixes of Britney Spears and Justin Bieber found on the Aids-3D “original” drag album. While my informant believes there is both an element of homage and corruption in the drag process, I propose that the element of homage, partaking in the guilty pleasure in a way that is not so guilty, is a much greater factor in the creation of drag music. Even the titles and personas of drag culture seem to suggest this, ranging from the trivial misspellings and reckless disregard for grammar of whendawurldends to the outright absurdity of Aids-3D. For such a dark, secluded culture and sound, drag remix culture does not seem to take itself too seriously.

It is perhaps this absurdity that has drawn these artists together to create a movement. My informant believes that drag remix culture actively defies categorization and popular exposure, due most drag artists having unsearchable names and rare releases, though such absurdity unites these artists in a more abstract way. The corruption of common music and artist tropes, the steps taken to stay underground, all these factors point to a singular desire to just be an “other”, undiscovered, always underground. It makes these artists mysterious; it makes them “cool”; but in the end, it helps place them together as drag.

*Citation: the song my informant refers to here as his first exposure to drag music is actually titled Till the World Ends. The official video for it can be found here (warning: video contains disturbing content).

The Melbourne Shuffle

Nationality: Half-white; Half-Filipino
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/29/13
Primary Language: English

Video Demonstration of The Melbourne Shuffle

“It’s called shuffling…actually scientifically it’s called the Melbourne Shuffle. It is a now-popular dance form, recently popularized by the band LMFAO*…it’s mainly used to dance to electronic music at clubs, raves  (mostly) and parties.

“It pretty much looks like a person who is running in place while sliding in a completely opposite direction at the same time.

“When I was in high school, sophomore year, a couple of my Filipino/Asian friends came over, we went into my basement and one of them just started putting on electronic music and started doing it [shuffling] and he showed me how to do it. And then after that I just learned from Youtube videos.”

My informant, who is a hobbyist freestyle dancer, tells me that the Melbourne Shuffle is one of the few defined moves that he uses in his freestyle dance routines. Other moves he uses do not have official names (to his knowledge) and are often improvised on the spot, but the Shuffle was one that captivated him enough to learn about and make a normal part of his freestyling. The popularity of the Melbourne Shuffle, according to my informant, peaked at about mid-2012, so it similarly captivated many others as well.

Concerning the state of the Melbourne Shuffle now, my informant explains, “it got mainstream pop, you know? It wasn’t as cool any more after that…it’s kinda out of style now, but it’s still fun to do.”

Analysis:

The Melbourne Shuffle has an element of mystique to it: the way the dancer moves his or her legs while performing the move seems to contradict what the eyes perceive. The mind-bending aesthetic of the movement perhaps contributed to its spread and popularity. Though my informant learned the move from a friend, he mentions that the videos he then went to to learn more have hundreds of thousands of views, showing the vast popularity of the move. The views did not necessarily have to come from people wanting to learn the move, because the mind-bending element translates well to the screen, similar to how Michael Jackson captivated popular culture with his videos featuring Moonwalking. The Melbourne Shuffle, however, is more fast-paced and frantic than the Moonwalk, perhaps showing origins in a bass-thumping, uptempo rave culture, where the move remains popular.

*Citation: LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem, the music video my informant mentions here, which he attributes to the boom in the Melbourne Shuffle’s popularity, prominently features the move and references it in the lyrics (“Everyday I’m shuffling”). See 3:39 for copious shuffling.

Japanese New Year; A Bean for Good Health

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

“Every New Year’s, everyone in the family will eat at least one, I think it’s a black bean, I don’t really know. Every one you eat is supposed to resemble one year of healthy life.”

(After this initial explanation, my informant turned to his laptop and did a quick Google search, after which he said he think the bean is kuromame, but he was still unsure. We then continued with the interview.)

Since my informant illustrated the link between one bean and one year of good health, I asked if there was any prohibition against eating a lot of beans at once so that one gets many years of good health. “You can eat a whole bunch,” he answered, “but I personally don’t like them so I just eat one.”

My informant was unaware of any symbolic significance to the bean, he just knows that he has taken part in the tradition ever since he could remember. The tradition is enacted at the family New Year’s celebration. “It’s more my close family, but it extends to second cousins and second uncles…maybe forty to fifty people, so it’s not huge, but it’s still like seven or eight families”. He assures me that every person makes sure to eat at least one bean.

Analysis:

Because of its similarity to New Years traditions celebrated in America, the bean my informant speaks of must have homeopathic magical properties that ensure good health for the year, in the same way champaign at New Year’s ensures wealth and a kiss ensures a good love life in the coming year. However, my informant stressed that this tradition takes place at a family gathering, which means this New Year’s celebration has familial importance. By all partaking in the tradition together, the family builds their bonds for the New Year, and their mutual belief in the powers of the bean gives them hope to look towards the next year’s celebration, where they are sure to meet again, due to the bean’s luck and good health throughout the year.

“Wet hair makes you sick”

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

“When I was probably five, my mom told me that if you went outside with wet hair, you’d get sick…[the hair] would make you cold, and then since you got so cold, you would get sick.”

Though my informant learned this belief very young, he still followed this belief for a long time. He eventually decided to look up the belief, to find “[wet hair] doesn’t really do that”, so it has become less important for him to follow. “I think it’s based on comfort rather than the myth of getting sick.”

My is unsure if where this belief originated, he just knows it was told to him by his mother, who is of Japanese descent. He does not think it has any kind of cultural significance, however, and just thinks “it’s more old wife’s tale”.

Analysis:

My grandmother, who was born and raised in Italy, had a similar rule for me when I was young, and still insists that I stay warm to avoid illness. Another friend of mine told me her parents, who are of a Chinese background, had a similar belief as well. While each of these beliefs did not necessarily involve hair, they all involved getting cold, and cold leading to sickness. It is important that my informant pointed out the element of comfort that comes into this belief: often people do not enjoy being wet and cold, and feeling discomfort could easily be associated with becoming sick, even if that is not scientifically accurate. This belief could create a negative placebo effect, perhaps weakening the immune system through sheer will and belief in the power of the cold, making the correlation between cold and sickness stronger and reaffirming the belief. This shows the power that folk beliefs could hold on people: it only has to happen once for someone to belief it, and from their its power could grow.

Homem do Saco/”The Bag Man”

Nationality: Portuguese
Age: 22
Occupation: Game Developer
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/30/13
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English, Spanish, French

“What we were told as kids was that the bag man was this man who would come from the woods and take mischievous kids, put them in the bag and take them to the forest. And then I don’t know what the Bag Man would do to the kids., but that’s what our parents would tell us to make us scared of doing bad things…kinda like a Santa Claus but backwards.”

“(Concerning the Bag Man’s appearance) That was really left to our imagination, our parents would just say ‘the Bag Man would take you if you do that’, but there was no description”.

After this initial description, I asked my informant to elaborate on what kind of kids the Bag Man would take. Often the Bag Man was threatened to visit kids who would misbehave, “not do what their parents would ask them too, doing bad things like lighting the house on fire, stuff like that. Stuff that was perceived as bad, like if you punched a kid, ‘oh no the Bag Man will take you!'”

My informant first heard of the Bag Man from his parents “when I was four…really as far back as I could remember”. Although he has not received warning from his parents about the Bag Man in many years, my informant says the Bag Man still stays in his mind. “Sometimes I think about the Bag Man, you know, it keeps me from doing bad things.” My informant followed that phrase with “I’m joking around,” but his tone suggested there might have been an element of truth to his statement.

“It’s not the kind of thing that the kids take seriously, you know, but it’s the kind of thing the parents say…they don’t expect the kids to believe in the Sack Man, they just kind of use it as a veiled threat. ‘The Bag Man will take you’ is more like ‘I will punish you if you keep doing that’, but for when you’re a kid, like really young.

“I think the physical appearance of the Bag Man is unclear on purpose, because it’s meant to be communicated more as an idea than, like, an actual existing thing, you know? I mean, not so much with characters like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, but at least in Portugal I feel that most kids don’t get to believe in that sort of stuff, and it carries on to the Bag Man.”

I then asked how widespread knowledge of the Bag Man was when my informant was growing up in Portugal, and he confirmed that it was very popular. In his hometown in Portugal, “Everybody knew about him.”

My informant then made a tie between the story of The Bag Man to that of what he translated as the Eating Monster, known in Portugal as “Bicho-papao”. “It’s pretty much the same as the boogey man or the Bag Man, but without the bag…it’s sort of a version of the monster under the bed, a night monster.” According to my informant, the Bicho-papao and the Bag Man acted as two halfes to the same story, where the Bag Man was the figure that would take misbehaving kids during the dat, and at night the Bicho-papao became the threatening figure that parents would warn about. “[The Bicho-papao] is the same thing, pretty much, but because of the name, ‘the eating monster’, the perception or what was implied was that he would eat you, but nothing different beyond that really.”

 

Analysis:

As we touched on in our interview, my informant and I came to the conclusion that the Bag Man and similar Boogeyman characters are often used by parents as a convenient way to inform a small child that something they are doing is wrong, and that it must stop or there will be negative consequences. Because the Bag Man was told to my informant and his friends from a very young age, one can infer that parents used the Bag Man as a deterrent for bad behavior because the concept of abstract punishment is not as effective as fear or danger for the young mind. Once a parent and child get used to the Bag Man, however, it seems to remain the primary mode of warning, perhaps because it creates that lasting impression that made my informant still keep the Bag Man story with him.

Monsters often represent what we fear in society, so for a child, the amorphous form of the Bag Man acts less as physical danger, but more as a premonition for something more. The child knows that something is wrong, but they might not be at the age where they could understand the effect of their actions and the intent of their parents. The Bag Man becomes an effective shorthand for punishment for the child, even though they might not understand what exactly punishment entails – they just know it is bad and it is coming for them.

 

Citation: The Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) features a character named Oogie Boogie, a Boogeyman character who associates with three mischievous children. In addition to these shared characteristics with the Bag Man, Oogie Boogie is literally stitched together from sacks, in (perhaps coincidental) nod to the Bag Man.