22.1.06

Meta-Musicology

Plato felt the best harmony was one that "imitates the utterances and accents of a brave man engaged in warfare."

In "The Politics," Aristotle wrote: "Any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole state, and ought to be prohibited . . . when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them."

In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini instituted Iran's first ban against Western music, declaring, "Music dulls the mind because it involves pleasure and ecstasy, similar to drugs. It destroys our youth who become poisoned by it."

Malcolm McLaren said "Punk was just another way to sell trousers."