Résumé en français : voyons le bon côté des choses, les crises économiques ont souvent été à l'origine de nouveaux courants musicaux très originaux.

The global economy is moving into a recession. How bad the recession will be is yet to be determined. What is interesting to look at is how previous economic hard times have often led to some great flourishes of creativity and how this recession might spawn new musical adventures.
The diminished prospects and opportunities that come with economic downturns tend to lead people inward, forcing them, with little else to do, to create. It seems that artists during these times use the bare minimum to generate something transcendent and beautiful. The most important musical developments of the later 20th century came out of economic hardship.
During the 1970’s the British economy suffered its worst period since the Great Depression. A combination of labor strife, the contraction of the British empire, the 1970’s oil shock and a surge in unemployment led to deeply troubling times in the Kingdom. The advent of punk coincided with this period. Punk, like the blues before it, is economical music. It strips away all the unnecessary elements, leaving behind only the bare bones: raw energy and emotion. The Sex Pistol’s mirrored the feelings of the times with their cries of “No Future” over a bare beat and minimal guitar chords. The legendary Throbbing Gristle took the bleak industrial wastelands around them, the social hopelessness and matched it with stark electronic sound. They created a whole genre of music called Industrial. (Check out Throbbing Gristle’s 1978 record,the ironically titled 20 Jazz Funk Greats. Its amazing.)
The recession of the late 1970’s in America, which bankrupted the city of New York, led to similarly creative times. Young african american kids, with little else to do created music by combining old turntables, modified disco mixers, and a surplus of old funky 70’s records. With the decaying urban structures as a backdrop, this generation rapped over these innovative technological manipulations, and started a global phenomenon. With no other options or lifestyle choices, the early hip hop generation, typified by the song “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, showed an inventive and creative spirit during destitute times, literally changing music history forever.
The early 1990’s began with a recession in both the Uk and America and here again, a creative flourishing occurred. Again in the UK, with soaring unemployment and a grim social milieu, a whole generation of youth began throwing parties in abandoned buildings, dancing to minimal electronic music that offered both a sonic utopia and escape from the trials of everyday life. This was the advent of rave and techno.
Meanwhile in the US, during these same dark economic times, in the logging town of Aberdeen Washington, two young kids, who saw their only opportunity in life in starting a punk band, did so and called it Nirvana.
What new forms emerge and creative flowerings occur will surprise us in what may be the worst economic times since the second world war.