music always had a purpose. basically, only in comtemporary western society, the belief exists, that music could be created solely and mainly for issues of pleasure, for entertainment, as a product to be consumed. music in ancient societies was deeply tied in to the societal, political, religious beliefs of that society. it was meant to honor the king and the "gods", and to spread good concepts and ideas, like social union or goodwill. in medieval times this was still the case, as the church and nobility steered the direction of music. even when europe eventually got rid of its "gods" - or rather, "the god", and the power of the church and aristocracy, around the 18th and 19th century, music, and art, was still seen as to be tied to higher ideals, principles, concepts - it was said that it should be created to spread good ideas, emotions, ideals, to educate the listener and reader, to evoke good emotions in him and, at best, convince him to do noble deeds and live a noble life himself. in fact that was the main criticism aimed at "scandalous" books or pieces at that time; that these "scandalous" artworks had the danger to instead invoke negative thoughts in a person, and could steer him in a dark direction instead of a good one (of course that criticism in most cases was wrong).
so, music was never made for the sake of music itself. it was always tied in in higher principles, higher ideals, conceptions. in the social, political structure, or the religious one. only current western society is "decadent" enough to think music ought just be made for "entertainment", to be consumed.
unlike people of the past, and other societies, western people have completely lost their connection to these higher ideals, purposes, goals in life. and their music, only logically, has lost its too. who still uses a substantially amount of energy, of his life, to fight and work for a good and noble cause? for a just, free, egalitarian society? everyone just wastes his time on petty and lesser causes, drugs, material gain, social standing, and such. who is still willing to fight for the good, and for the true?
so if you say music should be merely for "entertainment" - you are very political indeed, for this is a typical western way of thinking, and part of the "politics" of western capitalist society - to have music just as a consumer good, to numb the masses while capitalism creates more and more destruction in this world.
what is complicating issues a bit is that, in an attempt to leave the 20th century, subcultures often openly denounced the concept of music *having* to have a purpose - as i said, as this still was part of the modern idea of art in the 20th century, in a way of playing clever tactics, especially aimed at the older generations. punk and techno come to mind here. because they realised the way these older generations tried to shape the youth and *force* them onto a purpose, that might have been falsified by earlier generations already, was a trap too.
yet, one should not easily fall for this tactics. punks and technofreaks might have denounced the idea of purposeful music deliberately - but their music was still full of purpose. one thing is what people say, and the other thing is how things are. if this sounds paradox - be reminded this was a way of playing tactics, with outsiders, with the journalists, the "parent generation", not spilling the beans to those who can't understand.
so should music never be made for enjoyment, and only to fulfill a higher purpose, a higher goal, a higher idea?
i am inclined to say: yes, music should not be enjoyed if it is not following a higher concept, or goal. but that would be dead wrong too, and it would be completely missing the point.
because any enjoyment, and fulfillment, any pleasure, any celebration, music does gain by a higher purpose. the higher purpose, the idea behind a piece, a song, a track, is what makes it enjoyable - what makes it thrilling, what makes it exciting, wonderful, fantastic. forget the drums, forget the bassline, the vocals, the production - what only matters is the idea behind the piece. and if it's just wood being banged to a wall, or pieces of metal clanged against each other, if the idea is brilliant, the track is brilliant. this is the source of joy, of excitement, of the "fun" of music. what makes it possible to party, to celebrate music. only a higher purpose can make this possible.
if music loses it's connection to higher ideals, to societal, to political, to cultural ideals, to the wellbeing of society and of all humans, than the music loses all pleasure, all excitement too, and becomes dead, dull, empty, boring - as most music is already today - for this very reason.
you can see this in all these chic boring minimal techno and electrohouse parties, boring tracks for boring people, where the only reason people actually waste a lot of money on these clubnights is that they hunt for the last trace of the original anarchism and radicality that techno once posessed in its beginning stage.
so. be sure to not forgot the higher purpose and concept to music. people might have lost it - but that doesn't mean everyone has lost it, and that it could not be brought back, or kept alive.
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