Popular Music

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Popular Music
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Culture, Ideology and Music

• How do we examine how music is used to transmit
  culture?
• Why is classical music considered high culture
  and popular music as low culture?
• How are ideas communicated through music in the
  lyrics, the genre of music?
• How do music videos help this process?
• How does popular music help us to acquire
  identity?
• Looking at the history of popular music will help
  us to see how music became separated into popular
  and classical, what social trends are associated
  with which musical styles and how young people
  and fashion became involved.

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History
Before the nineteenth century, folk music was
most common musical form for all classes of
people, with the exception of religious
music. After that folk tradition declined as
people moved from the countryside to the
cities Music making still popular at home also
brass bands and music hall Regional music began
to disappear as London became centre of musical
activity
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Influence of America
1920s Traditional jazz and ragtime music
arrived from USA Dances accompanied
this music played at British hotels and
restaurants as well as broadcast by the BBC
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Rise of popular music

• Gramophones and records were expensive and
  popular music mainly adult pastime
• New technology production costs fell, radios
  became smaller Sony transistor radios in 1955.
• Lots more radio stations top twenty singles
  charts began

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American lead in popular culture

• 1955 America Free, consumer culture, following
  from full employment and affluent teenagers.
• Independence expressed in clothes, music and
  heroes
• Political tension between American and Russia
  youth felt contemptuous of world created by
  parents.
• Music style rock n roll arose to express this.

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British rock n roll

• Early fans called New Edwardians or Teddy
  Boys.
• The Teds disliked conformity, austerity and
  authority (ideology).
• Media says them as a threat to society their
  tastes in music, clothes and behaviour was a
  challenge to dominant ideology
• Singers of time Bill Haley, Elvis Presley,
  Buddy Holly. British singers Cliff Richard, Adam
  Faith, Marty Wilde

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Skiffle

• Emerged in 1950s an acoustic style of music
  amplified music and electrical instruments still
  rare
• Fast, rhythmical music not much expertise
  required.
• Origins were black and American like rock
  nroll.
• By 1958 this form dying out

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The Beatles

• Started off as skiffle band called The Quarrymen
• Short, attractive songs about everyday life,
  using popular slang in lyrics
• Later music more sophisticated pioneered
  concept album
• Broke up in 1970

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British Rhythm Blues

• Black American music very attractive to British
  musicians
• Principal British exponent, Alexis Korner.
  Others included Kinks,Yardbirds, Fleetwood Mac,
  Rolling Stones.
• Rolling Stones style contrasted with Beatles
  wild, sexy and bohemian
• Wore long hair and exotic clothes.

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The Rolling Stones

• Made no effort to be polite. Rejected
  traditional means of achieving commercial success
  hard work and sacrifice.
• Shocked older generation but appealed to younger
  audience
• Since 70s spectacular concerts in sports
  stadiums central part of career.
• Colourful private lives, problems with drugs
  begin cult of pop stars

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Mods

• Soul and Jamaican ska popular in America when
  Beatles and Stones popular in Britain.
• Strong beat, perfect for dancing popular in
  clubs
• New clothing fashion developed continental
  suit, short hair and parkas and for girls mini
  skirt, short straight hair and thick make up.
• Consumerism central to mod style possession to
  have was Vespa or Lambretta scooter.

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Rockers

• In opposition to Mods confrontations in
  Brighton particularly. Film Quadrophenia shows
  this.
• Rockers more traditionally working class
  motorcyles, leather jackets, denim jeans and long
  hair.
• The Who band smashed up guitars famous song
  My Generation about not being able to
  communicate with older generation.

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Soul and Reggae

• Late 1960s black dance music from Jamaica and USA
  grew in popularity.
• Artists Bob Marley, Peter Tosh. Songs
  reflected Rastafarian beliefs and supported poor
  and underprivileged
• Ironically ska and reggae grew popular with
  violent subculture called skinheads known for
  racism attacked blacks, Asians, hippies and
  gays.

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Progressive music

• Mid 1960s popular music changed musicians
  wanted to write longer songs and experiment with
  musical sounds
• Beatles, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and Genesis
  particularly known for this sort of music know as
  concept albums.
• These bands popular with hippies who rejected
  conventional ideas and lifestyles experimented
  with alternative ways of living based on peace
  and love communes etc.

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Progressive music continued

• Folk music also appealed to hippies as
  alternative to commercial modern rock.
• In USA Bob Dylan and Joan Baez combined political
  protest with folk music
• British groups included Fairport Convention,
  Steeleye Span. However, never appealed to a mass
  audience.

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1970s

• Combined elements of folk music and electric
  pop.
• Early exponents Marc Bolan and David Bowie.
  Wore glitter and make up.
• Poetic vocals expressing hedonism and sexuality
• Theatrical style became know as glam rock

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Rebellion in 1970s

• Reaction to big bands such as Pink Floyd, Led
  Zeppelin, Genesis etc as seen as very commercial
  and safe.
• Punk arrived D.I.Y feel to these bands
  energy, enthusiasm.
• Deepening social and economic crisis with high
  unemployment, young people felt ignored.
• Malcolm Maclaren created The Sex Pistols.

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The Sex Pistols

• Designed to attract attention wore leather
  jackets, torn clothing, safety pins, swastikas,
  zips, chains and studs with spiked, dyed hair
  connotations of eccentricity and perversion
• Music was loud, primal and hostile. Simple
  guitar solos, repeated chords, distorted sound
  and abrupt endings.
• Notorious behaviour swearing, vomiting, drug
  taking and assaults
• Songs included Anarchy in the UK and God Save
  the Queen

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Punk

• Other punk bands in mid to late 70s included The
  Damned, The Clash, The Jam, The Stranglers and
  The Buzzocks.
• Most groups were male some had female singers
  Siouxie and the Banshees, X-Ray Spex.
• One all-girl band The Slits. Not openly
  feminist but had intimidating stage presence
  and changed traditional views of women in pop
  as just background vocalists.

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Record Industry

• Small independent record companies began to
  spring up.
• Supported music that commercial mainstream would
  not
• As punk declined reggae music grew expressed
  symbolic challenge to politics of Conservative
  government and right wing racismSeveral mixed
  race bands grew up in early 1980s The Specials,
  UB40, The Beat, Selecter. Expressed left wing
  ideas.

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Club and Street Mix

• In mid 70s popular dance music by Bee Gees.
  Traditional dance music started to sound uniform
  and anonymous
• New technology gave ability to produce
  clean,hard, repetitive drum beats ideal for
  dancing Donna Summer.
• In Britain, in 1980s Gary Numan, Heaven 17,
  Spandau Ballet, Human League used synthesisers
  and tapes to make futuristic pop and dance music

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America and Britain in the 80s

• In America rap came up from streets of New York
  and Chicago performers shouted lyrics over
  music often taken from other records.
• Technique known as scratching was incorporated,
  followed later by sampling.
• House music established in Britain during mid to
  late 80s gospel style vocals, heavy bass and
  drums
• Acid House evolved around Ibiza and non-stop
  dancing en mass.

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Acid House and Rave

• Clothing was baggy, dungarees, beach wear
• Techno music intense, hypnotic and ear
  splitting
• Dance music dominated up to early 90s
• Raves became popular government tried to stop
  them dancing became a political act.
• Growing interest in Asian dance music

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Theoretical perspectives

• Feminist how are women represented in the pop
  music industry, what jobs do they do, how are
  they represented in lyrics, in videos. What sort
  of ideology does this express?
• Marxist how is class represented in different
  genres of music, in different eras? How is class
  represented in music industry? What kind of
  ideology in lyrics would reflect class views of
  society?
• Post-colonialist how are different ethnic
  groups represented in lyrics, in bands and
  genres, in management?
• Postmodernist how are different cultures,
  genres and eras combined within popular music and
  pop videos?