Challenge Me, But Not Too Much

by David Engel

Earlier this year, I rather foolishly promised to write an article on nerd music. Back when being a complete dork was still something of a stigma rather than a lifestyle, this would have been easier for me. I would have just pointed at music based on videogames and anime and told everyone that’s where the nerds lived. Unfortunately for me, geek is becoming mainstream now, and that makes my job harder. It is a strange new world out there -- a world where nerds are catered to instead of stuffed into lockers. Society worships the things that nerds create, and as such being seen as a nerd has become something desirable. People outside the usual definition of nerd are starting to integrate, and bringing their sensibilities with them. This is how we’ve seen the birth of Nerdcore, that subgenre of whitewashed hip hop wherein keeping it real is out and Zelda references are in. Hip hop is still foreign and alien to nerddom. “Geek” is a subculture that rose staunchly from the sheltered affluence of American suburbia, so a major part of making hip hop nerdy was removing any material that might be uncomfortable -- such as references to endemic urban poverty and racial unrest. Free of problematic content, the nerd audience can enjoy the innovations of hip-hop without addressing the difficult questions of race.

MC Frontalot
(Image courtesy of MC Frontalot)

I mention this not to discuss the issue of cultural appropriation of nonwhite art forms by largely white demographics. It is a very important issue, and as such is better addressed by experts instead of some guy who yells about things on the internet. I mention this because the existence of Nerdcore has helped me see a pattern in how nerds prefer to enjoy their music. Specifically, nerds enjoy being challenged in the context of the familiar.

Here’s an example of this same phenomenon, this time regarding musical challenge in a comfortable genre: Heavy metal has been a genre of music upheld and cherished by the white working and middle class, and as expected, the genre holds a special place in the heart of nerdkind. I should know. I was so god damn into metal, before I was so into the insufferable hipster electronica bullshit of my present. That’s right, I was into metal before I was cool, and so were a lot of other kids. Angry, aggressive, overwhelmingly masculine music was my way to set myself apart, to be different in a way that apparently a lot of nerds wanted to be different, and that’s okay. Metal is cool and technical. Get past the aggressiveness of Meshuggah’s Destroy Erase Improve and what you see is music in the form of gigantic, fascinating math problem. There’s a complexity to heavy metal that isn’t typically there in other genres, and nerds pick up on that. The music is deep, while the moods and attitudes are ones that are entirely acceptable to guys who may not exactly be secure in their identities. In light of geek culture, it, like Nerdcore, manages to be both challenging and accessible at the same time. This isn’t to say that metal is the music of the immature, either. Most metalheads I know grew into fine, responsible human beings with an ear towards the subtleties (yes, subtleties) of the music. What is most important is that to nerds, metal is a surprisingly safe playground.

Meshuggah in Action
(Image copyright Meshuggah)

Nerds like jokes. Unsurprisingly, they like musical comedy. Acts like the Axis of Awesome and Flight of the Conchords provide a kind of music that is equal parts enjoyable and light. The key here is that the music does not challenge white, middle-class sensibilities. What goes for musical comedy goes double for show tunes. Broadway and Disney and friends are equally inoffensive, and while Broadway does serve up something that is actually topical now and then, it’s all in the context of a big fun group exercise. Comedy and Broadway tunes also offer ways to make a more insular social group through the use of the Abridged Joke. Anyone who has played D&D or even watched a game take place at your local game cave has seen the phenomenon I am describing; any given player shouts any given line from Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, and the entire group erupts into furious trained-seal-barking, eyes tearful with mirth and misplaced cheeto dust. I’ve seen the very same thing happen when someone at a coffee shop makes an out-of-nowhere reference to business socks. It is insufferable. It is also an important peer-group exercise. Recognition of the joke reinforces one’s inclusion the group. “Yes,” the nerd says with his laughter and understanding, “I am part of this exclusive group of people who like to roll dice and pretend to be gully dwarves.” The gaming table isn’t the only place where this can happen, of course. The phenomenon can happen anywhere there is a peer group full of gigantic dorks.

It may seem like I’ve come down a little hard on nerd culture as it relates to music, but it seems warranted -- especially when you are dealing with a subculture that frequently and loudly espouses its intellectual curiosity and willingness to experiment with new modes of living. I view the upcoming mainstreaming of nerd culture as an opportunity for this sort of selective challenging of oneself to eventually phase out, and for nerds to actually interact with what other cultures and outside minds have developed and appreciate them, rather than borrow what is comfortably usable for their own devices. Nerddom has been an extremely exclusive playground up until recently, and it shows. What comes in the future will depend on how willing the subculture will be to integrate with the rest of society.