In the summer of 2004, Zach Braff’s film “Garden State” opened in theaters with little fanfare. By the end of the year, students across college campuses believed that the film could make you smarter, lower your cholesterol and could solve the world’s energy crisis.
And then came the soundtrack.
The thirteen track album irrevocably changed the landscape of the genre of the artists it featured. Its phenomenal success vaulted indie rock into a position where it was categorically defined as “better” than mainstream music. As such, the “Garden State” soundtrack transformed the genre from one defined by the ownership and discovery of quality music to one marked by snobbery and cultural elitism.
Spawning from this change is the condition I refer to as “Garden State Syndrome,” or GSS. GSS is defined as an obsession with indie rock where one looks down upon any music considered to be mainstream.
What are the symptoms of GSS? Let’s start with the constant chiding of radio-friendly bands, the persistence that certain bands have “sold-out” (a term, like pornography, for which no one has yet to offer a concrete definition) or, my personal favorite, the insistence that you only listen to a band’s “early stuff before they were popular.”
The underlying agenda of those suffering from GSS is the need to assert themselves as supremely “cultured” due to the apparent underground popularity of the music they listen to. Therefore, the bands on the soundtrack and their contemporaries are not part of the problem. They are merely unwitting pawns in a catfight for perceived cultural superiority.
The spread of GSS has thus formed a music hierarchy, aided by a subtle, yet brilliant marketing effect. The popularity of “Garden State,” Seth Cohen name-drops and the ubiquitous indie rock montages on TV have allowed obscure bands more exposure. However, since the bands themselves are not doing the promotion, they can maintain their underground “cred” and not worry about being labeled as a “sell-out.”
The ironic part of the matter is that the “Garden State” soundtrack is indeed a phenomenal album. I own it and listen to it often. It has exposed many music fans, including myself, to a breadth of previously unknown bands. But I’m tired of hearing that these artists are the end-all, be-all of quality music.
Before I get labeled as some holier-than-thou populist, I will admit that I often suffer from the symptoms of GSS. In fact, any of us with a passion for music exhibit them from time to time. Think about how meticulous we are in the manner in which we choose to display our music tastes. We all have that one CD that we are too embarrassed to upload onto our iTunes (begins with “M,” ends with “onica”). Admit it. You have one.
This entire discussion can be brought into perspective by a simple question. Does the fact that one listens to “mainstream” bands make him or her less culturally intellectual?
I would say no, but GSS can blind even the most rational.
Mike Platt is a Weinberg senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
