this question has been bothering me for a while now so i shall attempt to dissect this issue; why do the words 'dance floor' feature so prominently in today's popular music?
then it occurred to me that these words simply performed the same function as old bill shakespeare's 'all the world's a stage' quote, thus these seemingly vapid and meaningless songs are an allegory for life! see how we've misjudged these songs so.
in the past, when our lives were regarded as a performance on the stage of the world, there was a heightened level of interaction amongst the cast, that's if you weren't in those avant garde sort of plays. with the spotlight, things could be thrown into greater relief just by playing with the idea of absence and presence.
thus, we were provided with nucleation sites for reflection and introspection. perhaps the artist overestimated the amount of introspection the average man would conduct judging by the number of epiphanies that had to be articulated in the form of long monologues on stage, hardly the sort of thing you would see in real life.
now the dance floor is a far more accurate representation of our lives. by virtue of technology, we now share the venue with loads more people; the dance floors of phuture on wednesday night probably has a population density that could rival monaco's. when the dance floor is pulsing to the beat of the music, everyone seems to share this solidarity yet the more self-aware would be keenly cognizant of the fact that nowhere are they more alone.
the environment does not allow for interaction for it takes too much energy to build any sort of rapport when small talk offers greater marginal returns to your efforts. expediency and efficiency is on your mind when you move in for the kill tonight with a drink in your hand, whatever the kill may be - the girl dancing like she knows that you know that she knows you are watching or that deal that you've been dying to clinch.
the only introspection you will get on the dance floor is the seemingly innocuous question, 'why am i here, and not -insert activity of choice-' reflection rarely goes hand in hand with instant gratification so we choose to immerse ourselves in activities that don't give us a headache from thinking too much.
hence, the very absence of content in these songs is intentional. it's meant to act as the void to bring out the idea of the presence. and it doesn't give us headaches provided that it is played within a certain decibel range.
nostalgic sunday!
our day will come.
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