It's hard to determine exactly what roads popular culture will travel down in the best of times, under the most pleasant of circumstances. Forecasting such a metamorphosis under dire circumstances, or under an environment of stress or flux is even more difficult.

Popular culture is a living thing... it mutates, grows, adapts, and other biological junk. It's constantly "evolving" and shifting around, as and more and more cultures clash or contrast or meld, the resulting forms of, say, art, end up reflecting really wacky aesthetics. Look at the whacked-out infusion Japanese culture had on everything from high fashion to Duran Duran music videos in the 1980s for such an example.

Popular culture and its natural process of development can be and is affected by virtually everything from other cultures (the recent Latin influence on American popular music), the weather (would Morrisey have happened in a country that didn't get as much rain?), and of course...politics. This stuff all goes without saying, but at the same time, it isn't even that obvious. Political, climactic, and cultural (to use previous examples) influenc

7) Jingoistic right-wing Propaganda. Can you believe that Alan Jackson actually had a hit with "Where Were You?" Pardon me while I vomit. The next thing you know, country stations will be banning any artist who badmouths the American administration.

So if a war were to break out today, especially one directly involving the United States, would there even be a cultural revolution? How would it change popular music as we know it? Below are presented several different scenarios as to what could possibly happen should a MAJOR (not a quickie like the Gulf War) hypothetical armed conflict rage once again.

8) Jingoistic left-wing Propaganda. Don't you just love it when the crazies crash protests? The more anti-establishment artists portray themselves as pot-smoking, tie-dyed, tree-hugging, meaningless anti-establishment, anti-globalization, pro-salmon goofballs, the easier it is for state-controlled media to portray them as STUPID. Therefore, it would make sense if we started hearing more and more music by really really silly and ridiculous, say, folks singers, that the "establishment" can dismiss. And let's not forget rock stars who like to champion left-wing causes, travel the globe, campaign for Nobel prizes, all in the name of cashing in on a tragedy and selling albums. If Bono or Live can do it, so can anyone.

9) Polka music becomes the vanguard. Don't laugh - it could happen in the event of a war. We have no way of anticipating the changes that a social revolution or mass unrest could bring to culture. All forms of music - not just rock n' roll, but even country, jazz, chamber music, gospel... they all reflect the mood of society and culture, like it or not. Hell, we could have entirely new forms of music crop up left and right. Jazz came from somewhere. Rock came from somewhere. There must be other forms of music out there that may need a nice bombing campaign to bring them kicking and screaming (or, say, beeping and dinging) into existence.

1) Corporations start pumping out more and more pre-fabricated pop acts. Music geared towards a pre-teen market - you know, your average "boy band" - is essentially safe, non-challenging, and totally non-threatening. Right now, it seems as though these kind of "saccharine bands" are on the downswing due to over-saturation, but a general sense of dismay or a need for escapism amidst

Some topics in this essay:
Duran Duran, Jazz Rock, Consolidated K-os, , Propaganda Don't, Grateful Dead, Gulf War, Bono Live, Death Metal, Leaders School, popular culture, popular music, forms music, pre-fabricated pop acts, armed conflict, de la, it's hard, social revolution, pop acts, pre-fabricated pop, music war,