One Punk’s Guide to the Culture Industry (and How to Stop It Straightening You Out) By Angus Wonder Of It All

The term “culture industry” was coined by cultural critics Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer in Dialectic of Enlightenment, published in 1947. To Razorcake readers, it’s probably self-explanatory; “culture industry” refers to the way capitalism presides over the giant grey sausage factory that is mainstream commercial music, art, and culture. The post war rock’n’roll bands which punk kicked off from mostly sang about cars and girls, maybe the odd surfboard. Punk made some dents in rock’n’roll’s fealty to these patriarchal norms and consumer aspirations but the old pop standards left as deep an imprint in punk by way of the underlying structures and expectations they embedded. These go from the nuts and bolts of how you play a chord to the unquestioned parameters and exclusions which so easily drop into place when you organize a gig. Without a serious government grant or a very, very long lockdown, I’m not going to get too far into the philosophical weeds, but I’ve picked out some of Adorno’s arguments which are useful for lovers of non-commercial music.