Week 5: Can popular music ever really be unplugged?

In understanding and exploring the above question, one must break down the term technology and look upon the electronic technologies such as microphones, amplifiers, and multi-track recordings.
One could argue that technology allows one to create new and unique sounds due to invention of multi microphones. Similarly, the idea of the ‘perfect recording’ makes music more meaningful and accessible as an artist can create the exact sound they want bit by bit. Without technology this would be impossible.
Likewise, amplifiers allow wider and a greater choice of venues to showcase music, without such technology it would be impossible for a one man band to be heard clearly around large open air stadiums.
On the other hand, playing live and recorded sounds are very different on stage; songs that are made up of many different components make it hard to produce the same sound live. Yet, when seeing an act live do you actually want to hear the artist sing exactly like the record?
This idea of unplugged music is as www.mtv.com suggests, ‘…the peeling away of the trappings of an artists music to reveal the essence at its core.’ Therefore meaning perhaps that it is the lyrics and meaning of the song that is more important then the construction of the tracks. However, music is made much more accessible through technology and without it certain popular music would not work or develop.

Week 4: What is World Music and why does it exist?

The term ‘world music’ is often associated with music other from that of Anglo-American culture. The traditional and authentic culture of ‘world’ or ‘local’ music represents not only, ‘…a tiny subculture.’ (J. Guilbault. World Music.) Yet it promotes a distinctive sense of national, historical and cultural identity for the people.
Yet this definition of world music is problematic in itself, as a number of texts are seen to be a combination of both local and global music, by use of language, instruments, musical styles or even ideas represented in both distinctions.
Subsequently, the fact that world music is made more accessible through the internet, television, theatre and film leads one to question the effects of global music within the world music network. For example, if one is exposed to world music through these medians does it then become ‘global’?
An important point to make is that it is through an individual’s interpretation of what world music is that defines it. In a sense, music is universal and in discovering world music or the music of a certain culture, one discovers the culture as a whole. Is this not why world music really exists, for us to appreciate and learn from cultures other than that of our own?

Week 3: Can Mass Produced Popular Music be Art?

In order to comment on the above question it is essential to consider the workings of Theodor Adorno, whose reaction to the swing and jazz genre in the 30s and 40s was critical of mass produced medians, and can also be applied to canonical popular music to date.
Suggested in his theory is the idea that popular music is baseless entertainment that is unchallenging and distracting from what is going on in the world. Adorno illustrates that mass produced music cannot be art as it limits the questioning of our social and industrial lives.
However, art is defined on Dictionary.com as, ‘…a production, expression or realm according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing or of more than ordinary significance.’ This leads one to question that mass produced music could therefore be art as it appeals and effects different people in different ways.
Consequently, Adorno’s standardisation of popular music is a somewhat narrow conception, after all music is an expression of cultural identity within certain social and time frames. Therefore who is to say that mass produced music is not art if it carries great significance to an individual through the expression and content of the song?

Week 2: What are strengths and weaknesses of Peterson’s production of culture perspective on the birth of Rock and Roll?

Peterson’s production of culture perspectives concentrates on six key factors that make sense of the reasons why (as Peterson suggests) ‘rock broke into the mass market.’ Although Peterson is successful in stimulating ideas such as the accessibly of technology and how this lend to the explosion of rock and roll; these factors categorise its birth without the mention of the consumer’s impact on the industry. Therefore it could be said that the human element is lacking in Peterson’s argument. One important point to make is that, this era was a time of rebellion and deep set racial tensions where Rock and Roll was seen as an outlet and a way of young adults to relate to each other and to the emotional connections presented in these songs. Again there is no suggestion of these ideas within Peterson’s perspective.
Similarly, when one thinks of Rock and Roll music, the sound and instruments used are important elements in the interpretation, feel and creation of these tracks. Yet Peterson also does not take this idea into account. There had to be something about the music itself that attracted so many to it; it can not be simply down to these six factors only. Perhaps therefore in order to understand and evaluate the birth of Rock and Roll one must question what was significant about Rock and Roll at the time as well as drawing on Peterson’s evaluation.

Week 1: What is Popular Music?

The questioning of what is popular music could be said to be somewhat problematic as the Labour Law Talk dictionary online suggests popular music is, ‘…music belonging to any of a number of cultures, including classical, folk, or other music that has entered popular culture. In a broader sense “popular music” means any sort of music intended for mass consumption and propagated over the radio and similar media.’
Therefore it could be suggested that popular music is defined by its wide appeal and accessibility to the general public. In a sense popular music is interest bound and therefore it is difficult to determine what exactly popular music is due to its ever changing nature.
In order to understand and question popular music one must consider the cultural content and effect of mass produced music within different cultures. In effect popular music could be said to represent memories of a period of time as different music stirs up different feelings for different people. Music contributes to the social identity of many, therefore it could be questioned that popular music is perhaps, how and what different individuals perceive it to be.