What is World music?

In my opinion World music is global music (The Beatles) as opposed to local music and can be anything that is sung in English. The term 'World music' conjures up images of unfamiliar cultures and instruments in my head. I agree with Deanna Robinson who points out that World music and the issue that it is often homogenous is because the ‘international and local sounds are being fused to create heterogeneous World Music’. To me, this suggests that World music has commercial and marketing implications as local sounds are being used to create a sellable product. Likewise, Frith notes that with global media large corporations can market any product anywhere.

The definition of World music is debatable, subjective and personal. Jan Fairley sums it up, ‘the relationship of the ‘local’ and the ‘global’ in popular music is one of the most complex, controversial and significant issues of the new millenium’.

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Is pop music a mass produced commodity or a genuine art form?

Art is a form of self-expression; a moment of inspiration and something that cannot be reproduced. However some people disagree, Adorno states that ‘the whole structure of popular music is standardized’. Nevertheless standardization has been evident within folk and religious music so why is Adorno only focusing upon popular music? He suggests that it is homogenous and exists to distract people from realising how dull life is, he does not seem to attempt to understand the passion behind popular music and art. This puzzles me because both art and music have different meanings to individuals. He considers that all popular music is a mass produced commodity, but CDs are mass produced and the music is different. I believe that popular music is a form of self-expression and therefore art. Alternatively, Adorno says it is ‘an all consuming production line that churns out mass produced, inferior commodities’. Both viewpoints are valid.

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How useful is a production of Culture perspective in understanding the birth of Rock 'n' Roll?

Richard A. Peterson's views about the development of Rock ‘n’ Roll are effective in explaining the emergence of it and help our understanding but there are gaps in his theory.

Peterson’s catalysts of Rock ‘n’ Roll, (6 key factors) provides a good insight into the sociological and economical problems at that time. However he fails to consider how much of an impact the actual sound of the music had and how different it was to music before. I strongly feel that Peterson’s theory was flawed, he ruled out one major contributing factor, the extraordinary sound of the music. Another weakness of this theory is that it does not explain why it was this genre of music that emerged. Influential new artists such as Elvis Presley are ruled out as a factor so therefore he is overlooking other factors of why it was Rock ‘n’ Roll and why it was popular.

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Is it Reasonable to Consider that Rock Music is Gendered Male?

Male musicians dominate rock so it’s reasonable to say that it is gendered male. Ninety-eight of the Rolling Stone 100 greatest guitarists were men, which raises the issue of why?

‘Male fans buy a guitar; female fans buy a poster’ (Bayton). Men aspire to be their idols whereas women fall in lust. Frith and McCobbie look at this ‘gendered’ heavy metal as ‘cock rock’. Prince (Purple Rain) used his electric guitar as a powerful phallocentric symbol and to some men is their ‘girlfriend’. Women are more successful within ‘pop and folk… predominantly that of vocalist rather than instrumentalist’ (Bayton). Janis Joplin had to become ‘one of the boys’ to succeed.

Androgynous musicians (Bowie & Motley Crue) leave little room in the market for females. Overall Rock music is masculine, ‘women's presence has been…minimal’ (Bayton). However since female 'rockers' like Avril Lavigne females appear more in rock. Rock music is changing.

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