Week 2 - What are the Strengths and Weaknesses of R.A. Peterson's Production of Culture Approach to the Birth of Rock and Roll.

Peterson uses a production of culture perspective arguing that rather than culture offering exposure about society, it is a reflection of the producers of cultural items. He has established six factors for the emergence of Rock and Roll through this.

The music industry at the beginning of the 50's was oblivious to the gap in the market, one that could fulfil the demand for alternative music, that of Rock and Roll. The music industry controlled the production, distribution and marketing of their products, and with the transfer from radio airing to television meant that records were able to be played as a cheap form of programming.

Like Peterson's argument for the sudden evolution of Rock and Roll, Jazz can be seen to have similarities as well as the sudden development of country music, of which Peterson does not connect. Therefore, it is questionable that Peterson's '6 constraints' could possibly be linked to the dynamics of other music and the industry as a whole. He also claims that there was a demand from post-war baby-boomers for Rock and Roll, however the eldest would only have been 9 years old, questioning whether this point is really relevant.

Peterson's theory tends to be very business orientated, looking at the industry rather than addressing the actual music, questioning as to whether it is possible for anyone to theorise about the birth of Rock and Roll without taking into account the emotive, energetic and personified aspects to the music, giving rise to whether it is actually unquantifiable all together.

What is popular music? Week 1.

Possibly an impossible question to answer, but if the argument were to start somewhere, it must arguably start with Frans Birrer’s 1985 classification of popular music (p.104). He discusses how popular music is commonly associated with and created by a clear social group, arguably the middle-class. Birrer notes that popular music is not something completely innovative as it can be seen to carry similarities from other categories of music, such as ‘folk’ and ‘art’ music. Popular music, as Birrer defines is circulated within the mass market, providing ease of accessibility to a wide audience as a commercial product.

However, it would be naïve to take this theory as complete analysis of popular music due to its constant evolving nature. In summery, popular music has no fixed theory and no established boundaries, as music that is created and that is enjoyed, produced and consumed can debatably be termed as popular music.