Inconceivably true.

People simply will not understand. Even then…

Imagine a group of musicians, a band, who did everything possible to not be famous and be rich.

They changed their name every show so they would not make a name for themselves.

They made no records.

They were well known in the music community and even wrote songs, actually gave songs to people who did become famous, songs some of which made a lot of money and became well known, some still well known today. They never asked those people for royalties or recognition again still to this day.

One could say that they trusted existence.

This group played extensively around the West Coast of the United States. Frequented Burning Man before it was a thing. They were regular installments at “desert parties” in the Western States through out the 90’s. And the “Tunnel Parties” in the mountains above Los Angeles. Raves and experimental sound festivals and “be-outs”.

They were specifically anti-establishment, but not anti-human or anti-actuality. In fact, with such integrity this group went about their business, so genuine and authentic thier music resonated with people, by 1996 they has become known as the band that one simply knew about, but no one wanted to ruin. A sort of purity left in the world that everyone who knew wanted to keep. To see and hear and experience the group and thier music was pure word of mouth and happenstance.

It is simply unbelievable to most people, and I think that was the point: give people something they could absolutely not believe and they would thus know that something legitimate actually existed.

Most people ask: Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone try not to make money and not be famous? To make an effort in the opposite direction, not simply “letting it be” in the all too typical happy-ending story where then one becomes famous and everyone loves them. Rather, to purposefully make an effort to not have that happen? Simply inconceivable.

And yet the most legitimate confirmation that capitalism is not necessary for the future same results to occur, minus all the bullshit identity crisis and “personal transformations” that we, again, know all too well is undefeatably and undeniably human.

To have some thing distinctly true that exists authentically, that arises and occurs despite all the modern tropes.

People simply cannot conceive of a group of people, a music group succeeding — for all purposes of artistic integrity and popularity– without making money or seeking commercial fame for the simple reason which reflects a certain orientation upon the world which was being challenged then. A kind of challenge which is mostly beyond anyone nowadays, even as it was just barely hanging on 30 years ago, a residue of philosophical motifs. 

And it became, like, this weird situation, this unbelievable situation that began to happen in so many places all around the west, a sort of precipitate from the 60’s. And a code, of sorts, came out of it. It really was miraculous and gave us faith in the world, again, in a weird way.

Of course we think of the book “fight club”, and the quote that comes out of the book,

The first rule of fight club is that you don’t talk about fight club.

The thing is, is that this book drew upon something that was already occurring, and again the author used it to make a living from, as a writer would, as an artist should and would. But where that came from was something that was actually occurring — that shouldn’t be possible — that was kind of more authentic than the existential ‘bad faith’ way we all usually must eventually live anyway….

Because the thing was with this group — that is, if you asked anyone about the group, anyone who knew, they would deny that it existed. Lol. It was the funniest thing! It was the weirdest thing! And they still do and will !!

😆

that’s the true beauty of it, that it still lives on right on front of people’s eyes and ears.

It became like this unwritten code of this large group of people — an amazingly large group — that would show up at these various events. And maybe 4 out of 10 times, maybe 2 or 3 out of every 20 venues …Around certain cities — even in the middle of nowhere– there would be a band that would show up with some stupid name and the people who knew, knew. And the beginning of the show would be like, maybe, a normal crowd for a Tuesday, but after the first few songs, the word would get out and the place would be jam-packed, people standing out on the sidewalk just mulling around, being part of the “be-out”.

And the people who didn’t know just thought it was pretty good and sometimes a little weird. But some would hear the songs, and they knew. And it was the best thing. And then later on you could hear them, a couple years later maybe, some famous band playing some of the songs in a different way slightly, commercialized, solidified, packaged. Think grunge and alternative mostly, but even some of the harder rock songs, even a few pop tunes, were written by this same group of people, unknown and working hard to remain so.

Listen to the old, and even newer, interviews with some of these famous rockers. You’ll hear it if you listen. Foo Fighters; Hole; the Mentors; Rage Against the Machine; Concrete Blonde; even No Doubt. And those were just the ones who’d been around from the beginning.

Well, there’s much more to be told. And maybe I’ll do that as we go on.

This is what the Covert Sound Philosophy was, and is. Except that CSP now has kind of just become kind of a nostalgia. A kind of beckoning back to what was, a real truth, a surety, a kind of good feeling that there is something legitimate in the world that we can hang onto without having it be a capitalist product...or before it must become one.

— and with the full irony intact nowadays as CSP is making records.

Because it is a commercial sound product now for sure. 🤘🏾🧑🏾‍🚀xxxx

The first rule was an unwritten rule. It was a rule that just came up out of necessity, out of an imperative toward legitimacy and authenticity.

Unbelievable. Truly.x