Thou Shalt Always Question

When we were discussing existentialism and what it means to live separately from social systems, I remembered a song I liked when I was younger. I kind of hate it now, just because of the sound, but the message remains powerful. It's by an english duo called Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, and was released in 2007.

I googled the band as I know nothing about them, and apparently they split up last month. Something interesting I found on their wikipedia, though, is that "Scroobius Pip"'s stage name comes from a poem by Edward Lear that is essentially nonsense. That little fact just felt like it was relevant. The video itself isn't very special (low quality, literal, and mostly just brings interest in little editing tricks) but listening to the lyrics, the men deserve quite a bit of credit. It's a repetitive, poem-like chant of things to not do, specifically regarding the music industry. While you may immediately think "hm, if this is all about thinking for yourself, why are they telling me what to do?" I think that's taking it too literally. The song only encourages you to question things and the music you like. I whole-heartedly agree with the message and I think it's a nice pause from the usual things we hear, but I am also entirely comfortable with announcing I'm listening to Nicki Minaj as I write this. I don't think that makes me a hypocrite. I don't think anyone can deny that a catchy, dance inducing pop hit has an important place in the world (personally I believe that many of those have a lot more to them, but that's besides the point). Not even Scroobius Pip and Dan le Sac. Even bands that many would think about as "real music", that the song mentions, need to be criticized and not treated like gods.

The message is fairly simple and has been said a thousand times before: question everything. While Meursault might not have been actively contemplating the systems he avoided, he definitely maintained a counter-culture point of view. Similar to how existentialism is unattainable and is more of a way of thinking, it's probably impossible to reach a destination of having a perfect, non-conformist iTunes library. However, is important to think about why you like the music you like. If you solely listen to the top 20 station, is it because it's easily available and the first thing that comes up? An equally, if not more questionable music habit: do you avoid popular music because you think you're too cool for it?