Modern Music And Its Impact On Popular Music

Music is sound organized by humans; audible statement that mirrors a way of life or a way of thinking; a language spoken directly, without translation, between people who understand. In this class we studied liberal arts, and how it uses general intellectual development rather than opposed training, to develop a musical analysis of music such as “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez”. To develop an analysis, we group the organization of music into five musical elements rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, and form, and we find some type of organization or order in these pieces like pulse and background instruments to help identify these elements.

Art has undoubtedly become a decisive aspect of our culture; embedded in the way we learn and grow on a daily basis. Art forms such as music, television and dance dominate our society as an outlet of freedom of speech for humanity. The evolution of music has rapidly exceeded its original classifications, developing new genres with greater appeal to an audience, hence its influence on society has expedited. In recent times, lyrics (specifically rap lyrics) have been introduced into the court room as a form of documented confessional evidence, evidently challenging law’s authoritative nature. This essay will closely follow the genre of rap and its relationship with law, through cases based in the United States of America (USA). In addition, the trial of Simon Bikindi in Rwanda and Smith v The Queen will be used to form an acute analysis on the influencing factors of relevance, identity, freedom of speech and current constitutional law.

Born in 1903, Theodore Adorno is one of the most prominent figures in the Frankfurt school of communications, a school of social theory and philosophy which studied the effects and structure of the media. In 1945, Adorno published one of his most famous articles, “A Social Critique of Radio Music”. In his somehow controversial essay, Adorno claims that the music played on the radio reflects broader social behavior patterns, that benefits the power elite and numbs the masses. Adorno goes on and state four axioms he believed to be true regarding the existing capitalist society, including how we live in a society of commodities. The main problem he dissects in his article, is that now music is being treated as a commodity as well. Further,

In his work, Dialectic of Enlightenment, Theodor Adorno analyzes the nature of the culture industry. People everywhere are constantly being consumed by the culture industry, which is a term for the mass production of cultural goods such as films, magazines, and music. Adorno is concerned that the government uses the cultural industry as a way to deceive the masses and manipulate them into passivity. This idea remains true in today’s society. Young men and women are more interested in the release of the newest Taylor Swift or Adele song than political issues. People have become less intellectual as they are being consumed by the culture industry. It is much easier for a person to let himself be consumed by mass media and to let the media

Popular music is often one of the best lenses we have through which to view our own cultural orientation. Many of the artistic and experimental shifts in popular music have mirrored changes in our own society. For instance, the emergence of Elvis Presley as a public figure would signal the start of a sexual revolution and the growth in visibility of a rebellious youth culture. Similarly, the folk and psychedelic music of the 1960s was closely entangled with the Civil Rights, anti-war and social protest movements. In this regard, we can view popular music as an artifact through which to better understand the time and place in which it is produced. In light of this, the state of popular music today may suggest troubling things about our society.

In the text Adorno and Horkheimer primarily focuses on the issue of art such movies, radio program and etc becoming a commodity and the fusing of the market and art areas. The criticism of the culture industry stems from the fact that for Adorno and Horkheimer culture held the answer for liberation, however the mass produced culture that they found in America was instead enslaving people. Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument regarding mass culture produced products and its effects and commoditization of art remain important to contemporary society because these issues have continued to have a negative effect on contemporary society this can be observed by analyzing contemporary mass culture products such as television, movies and the internet.

Theodor Adorno was an important member of the Frankfurt School, which developed ideas of critical theory and cultural Marxism. Adorno adopted a Marxists approach in his work, especially among his work as a musicologist, seeing propaganda within popular music. He saw music as thought provoking and believed that it prevented its listeners from having real thought, he wanted people to challenge the way they listened to popular music. In his article On Popular Music, which he had written in 1941, Adorno speaks about how he believed there were two spheres of music, popular and serious music. About the standardisation in popular music, in which it followed certain patterns which created pseudo-individualism. Also on how popular music affects its listeners in different ways compared to serious music. As a Marxist philosopher, Adorno was an idealist for the idea of capitalism, also as a Marxist sociologist he had an understanding of society and the idea of there being two different classes in all aspects of culture and society.

Throughout history, music has been seen as a medium in which different people all over the world can relate. Adorno criticizes, however, that songs that have the most “hits” on the top music charts or are most listened to, otherwise known as popular music, are being produced for and consumed by the masses as a commodity. He identifies popular music as being a part of a culture used for capitalism, and that we as listeners, are falling into a trap in which we believe songs have individuality and that we have the freedom to choose what we listen to. He argues that in reality these popular songs are all standardized and made to seem different through various elements that are added. In this paper, I will display how Adorno’s critique of popular music being used for capitalism applies to the song,1-800-273-8255, by hip-hop and rap artist Logic, through its standardized elements in both its content and marketing; however, I will argue that although it contains these elements, the audience is actively listening and responding to the song as it brings awareness to mental health and suicide prevention that is changing and saving lives all around us.

The fact that replicating a seventeen-years-old song can still become a hit in 2017, demonstrates that there is a pre-designed pattern for popular music in which changing a few characteristics to make a new songs sound “unique” can still result in success. For this reason, Adorno argues that the music industry produces music in an “industrial” way--popular music is centralized in its pattern and modifies some characteristics to seem “individualistic.” Though Shape of You and No Scrubs contain different keys, tempo, and of course, lyrics, they both rely on a chord progression of i-ic-VI-VII in a common time (MusicNotes, 1 & FindSongTempo, 1). Shape of you takes advantage that the audience is accustomed to listening to the same pattern and it is modified to fit the current era and thus, result in a significant monetary income.

I agree to some extent with Adorno and Horkheimer’s views on popular music and culture industry. I agree that popular music is indeed standardized and it has a uniform pattern which the music industry has been following for the last decade or so. However, I don’t agree with their claim that consumers are made to accept the exploitative situations they are in. Adorno once said that popular music is standardized, even when it’s made to be unique.

The former Beatle's band member, Paul McCartney, I feel has had the greatest influence on the music of today's artists. His music inspired generations of old and new. He focused on the music and not seeking fame or fortune, like artists today. For example, David Gilmour and Roger Waters admitted that they were heavily influenced by the production of his orientation songs. David Gilmour and Roger Waters admitted to being strongly influenced by his production oriented songs. Many Asians were aware of his songs and almost anyone can remember the songs to one of his great hits. On the spectrum of they many styles in which he wrote is matched by the other genres of music: classical, hip-hop, jazz, country, metal. Also, Maroon 5 did a cover of "If

Case Study: Analysis of That Fleeing Year Through the Lens of Theodor Adorno The main critique of Frankfurt School, represented by Theodor Adorno, on popular music is that monopolized companies constantly feed standardized cultural commodities to the public in order to establish a sustainable consumer market. Adorno concerns that centralized entertainment industry has a compulsory effect on the recipients, which deprives them of the chance and ability to appreciate “serious music” (“Social Critique”, 211). In On Popular Music, Adorno identifies several characteristics of popular music. This essay will apply some of these concepts to a particular Chinese popular song, That Fleeing Year, in order to examine the applicability of Adorno’s theory

This essay will evaluate Adorno’s critical attack on popular music. The essay will briefly provide some context on Adorno. Adorno claims that “listeners are made not born”, thus listening is a cultural practice, in which modernity has transformed into a profit (Adorno, 2002:248). By this, the essay will begin by focusing on the broader idea of the culture industry, in terms of commodities and popular music as not being critical. Following on, particular focus will be given to three main areas which convey Adorno’s criticism of popular music. These being, the musical form under standardisation, pseudo-individualisation and regressive listening in terms of escapism. Standardisation will be evaluated in structural terms, and critiqued by Middleton (1990) and Witkin (2003). Adorno’s critique of popular music can only be understood in relation to his analysis of serious music, therefore, the essay will focus on both types of music. Adorno’s criticisms of popular music and critics of this criticism, will enable for a conclusion to be drawn on whether or not I agree with Adorno’s claims on popular music.

Music plays a significant rule in our lives. It’s a melody and rhythm we live in. It plays a very essential rule in our day to day to life when it comes to expressing feelings, passing time and for other uses as well. Though we in general may not think about how music has changed so much in the past few decades we must acknowledge the fact todays music is the outcome of the various change in the past. Today’s majority of music we hear is what we define as more as a “westernized” music. Considering other cultures in the world, a huge impact of western music is seen within them. Westernization and modernization are two different words with different meanings and they have two different impacts on a society. Modernization is used to define the improvements and show a progressive transition from one stage to another. Westernization is the concept of being influenced by the customs and techniques of the western society and reflecting them in a non-western culture. This essay will discuss furtherly about the impact of the western society on music cultures of North India and Korea by looking from both the positive and negative point of this impact.

Though Norway has a small population of only 5.3 million inhabitants, its musical culture is just as rich as many other countries. From classical and folk, to blues, country, electronic, hip hop, pop, rock, and metal, Norway’s traditions contribute to all of them. Although Scandinavia is often overlooked, it has a strong influence on all of the world’s music today. Archaeological digs have shed light on some unknown history of Norwegian music by revealing artifacts including instruments such as the lur. The lur, having been seen on ancient Scandinavian rock paintings, is a five- to eight-foot-long bronze blowing horn. Having been found in Norway, Denmark, South Sweden, and even Northern Germany, these instruments are cast into many