How useful is Peterson’s a ‘production of culture’ perspective in explaining the birth of rock n roll music?
Richard Peterson does two things in his work regarding the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. Firstly he highlights several things that, although perhaps widely thought, did not give birth to rock ‘n’ roll breaking through. He states that the general ‘supply and demand’ explanation that is often used cannot be valid. This is because, the general idea that Rock ‘n’ Roll exploded because of the presence of similar artists in the same place at the same time is flawed because the artists, Elvis, Chuck Berry and others, simply took advantage of a set of musical circumstances. In the case of demand Rock ‘n’ Roll’s popularity cannot be explained by a post war’s baby boom craving a new music, as the baby boom themselves would only have been nine in 1955.
As valid as his criticisms are, Peterson fails in his explanation to ever actually mentions the music or the effects the electric guitar had on the music.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
How useful is Peterson’s a ‘production of culture’ perspective in explaining the birth of rock n roll music?
Richard Peterson does two things in his work regarding the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. Firstly he highlights several things that, although perhaps widely thought, did not give birth to rock ‘n’ roll breaking through. He states that the general ‘supply and demand’ explanation that is often used cannot be valid. This is because, the general idea that Rock ‘n’ Roll exploded because of the presence of similar artists in the same place at the same time is flawed because the artists, Elvis, Chuck Berry and others, simply took advantage of a set of musical circumstances. In the case of demand Rock ‘n’ Roll’s popularity cannot be explained by a post war’s baby boom craving a new music, as the baby boom themselves would only have been nine in 1955.
As valid as his criticisms are, Peterson fails in his explanation to ever actually mentions the music or the effects the electric guitar had on the music.
Richard Peterson does two things in his work regarding the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. Firstly he highlights several things that, although perhaps widely thought, did not give birth to rock ‘n’ roll breaking through. He states that the general ‘supply and demand’ explanation that is often used cannot be valid. This is because, the general idea that Rock ‘n’ Roll exploded because of the presence of similar artists in the same place at the same time is flawed because the artists, Elvis, Chuck Berry and others, simply took advantage of a set of musical circumstances. In the case of demand Rock ‘n’ Roll’s popularity cannot be explained by a post war’s baby boom craving a new music, as the baby boom themselves would only have been nine in 1955.
As valid as his criticisms are, Peterson fails in his explanation to ever actually mentions the music or the effects the electric guitar had on the music.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
What is popular music?
Popular music, or the meaning of the term can be taken to have many different meanings. Firstly, if the word 'popular' is concentrated on, it can be assumed that pop music is simply 'popular', and belonging to the people. This idea does not however confine pop music to a certain genre, and is simply a comment on the quality, or more specifically, the origin of the music.
If pop music is 'by the people' then it would suggest that folk music is pop music, as is simple home made music, a church choir for example, however these music types don't fit in to the general idea of pop music. Other ideas imply that the word 'pop' is a synonym for good, obvious examples of chart music dispute this idea.
Although all these ideas convey an idea of what the term 'pop music' means. However pop music nowadays is used to identify a genre of music, usually the music that is in the charts and recently seems to carry a certain taboo along with it. Perhaps the meaning of pop music was best summed up by Roy Shuker as a 'hybrid of musical traditions.'
Popular music, or the meaning of the term can be taken to have many different meanings. Firstly, if the word 'popular' is concentrated on, it can be assumed that pop music is simply 'popular', and belonging to the people. This idea does not however confine pop music to a certain genre, and is simply a comment on the quality, or more specifically, the origin of the music.
If pop music is 'by the people' then it would suggest that folk music is pop music, as is simple home made music, a church choir for example, however these music types don't fit in to the general idea of pop music. Other ideas imply that the word 'pop' is a synonym for good, obvious examples of chart music dispute this idea.
Although all these ideas convey an idea of what the term 'pop music' means. However pop music nowadays is used to identify a genre of music, usually the music that is in the charts and recently seems to carry a certain taboo along with it. Perhaps the meaning of pop music was best summed up by Roy Shuker as a 'hybrid of musical traditions.'
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)