Popular music of the twenty first century is that bands and artists who heavily rely on technology to produce their sound. It could be argued that the acoustic genre breaks the 'plugged in' trend that now surrounds popular music. However this in many respects is wrong; is acoustic really with out electrical intervention or is that a microphone your' holding? The microphone, invented by charles Wheatstone has been within the music industry since the 1920's. Other pieces of equipment include the amplifier, invented by Lee Defrost (1904) and the ability to record; brought to us by Valdemar Poulson 1898. There is hardly a gig or concert on the planet which fails to use at least one form of technology. Popular music is simply plugged in; iconic instruments such as the Electric guitar invented by Adolph Rickenbacker symbolize its' dependence and the audience's dependence on technology as a whole.
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Sunday, 24 January 2010
What is Popular Music?
The understanding of the word 'popular' has changed many times over the last few hundred years. Raymond Williams notes that in the "16th century it originally stood for something which belonged to the common people and was pronounced, popularis." It was also seen as base and vulgar. This meaning however soon developed, the 18th century saw 'popular' as something which was widely favored, and the 19th as an adjective for something thats good. Anahid Kassabian noted that "popular stood for a homemade product which as not always the art and culture of the people." Our understanding today on the other hand, as Robert Burnett states is that popular is commercially orientated with profit as its primary aim. Music could in many respects represent this through examples such as Simon Cowell; developing a something which is "seen as being good," "liked by a lot of people" and therefore invested in.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)