Frank Kogan

Well, it's been a zillion years since I read that Benjamin essay (if it is the one I read), and I'm not getting enough of a sense of his idea to know if I'd agree or disagree. But in specific situations where someone did use the word authenticity without saying what the phenomenon was supposed to be an authentic example of, I'd first try to figure out from context what he really is comparing it to, since often often enough there is an implied comparison.

My experience is that when people are talking about music, even when it's the musical piece rather than the piece's maker that's being discussed, the word "authenticity" arises in relation to whether someone - artist, audience member - is being "genuine," e.g., expressing himself without calculating what he will gain or lose. The problem is that the word "authenticity" is often a dysfunctionally vague way of waving one's hand at this issue - and this issue itself is plenty problematic anyway (how does the artist's calculation or lack of it guarantee what the music does or the music's value?). And byebyepride would know this better than I, but historically I'd say that the word is used in regard to whether someone is living an authentic life and - in relation to music - whether the music arises from or is used in such an authentic life. Living an authentic life usually means engaging with something - nature, war, housing projects, child abuse, drug addiction - more intense or primal than the supposed norm; and you don't get such an emphasis on "authenticity" without there being at least a hint that it is the norm to be compromised or contaminated or fraudulent in some manner.