Critical concepts Flashcards
Essentialism
Definition: The notion that different categories of people have an underlying essence that is transmitted genetically, rather than is learned.
Context: The contrast between hot jazz and sweet jazz along racial lines in the 1920s, where black jazz was associated with “hot” jazz with more rhythm and being rougher around the edges (due to an innate assumption that black people have more rhythm). This was also used aong gender lines, where the idea of jazz being a male domain was perpetuated, using the argument that women like violins, while jazz deals with drums and trumpets.
Homology
Definition: It is the idea that kinds of people and kinds of music correspond in a one-to-one ratio, which doesn’t account for the complex ways in which listeners engage with music. It also suggests that music genres are stable entities with fixed borders.
Context: The marketing of hillbilly vs race music, where despite the similarities between the two genres in terms of subject matter, origin, and being outside the mainstream, they were marketed towards listeners who shared the race of the artist.
Crossover
Definition: Relies on the existence of a mainstream. It is when a song or artist crosses over from a niche market to the mainstream. It contrasts the idea of homology directly. This usually happens when the song has a quality that is a novelty for new audiences or is made to sound more like the mainstream than what the artist would usually produce.
Context: Bessie Smith, a major classic blues artist, had a major crossover hit that reached audiences beyond her usual one.
Intersectionality
Definition: Refers to the interconnected nature of social categorization such as race, class, and gender, regarding as creating overlapping and independent systems of discrimination and disadvantage.
Context: Ruth Brown’s treatment as a woman and a black artist, which led to her missing opportunities compared to her white counterparts in the music industry as well as compared to male artists on her label like Ray Charles.
Moral panic
Definition: Occurs when “a condition, episode, person or group of people emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests”. It is typically generated by mass media.
Context: When rock music emerged, it was perceived as a threat and an encouragement of delinquency in young people. It was frequently linked to sex and violence and was thus seen as corrupting the youth.
Authorship
Definition: Implies an appropriate and necessary connection between authors and their texts. There is a less direct relationship between author and art as there is in, say, literature, as there are more people involved than just the singer.
Context: Girl groups era, where producers like Phil Spector could effectively claim credit for a song despite there being singers and other musicians involved. Debatable about the role of songwriters vs producers vs singers - who should own music is not always clear.
Authenticity
Definition: Refers to the sense of genuineness or sincerity in music, often relating to biography. It is less a specific quality in music than a perceived relationship between the music, socio-industrial practices, and listeners or audiences.
Context: When Bob Dylan went electric, this was perceived as a lack of authenticity, as he moved towards a more commercialized sound and away from what he was known for, a style also particularly oriented towards honesty and the feeling of genuineness and passion from the artist.
Subculture
Definition: Refers to a subsection of culture that differentiates itself from the dominant (hegemonic) group through alternative sets of norms and aesthetics. Despite this resistance, subcultures often operate within the capitalist system that they oppose. Counterculture is a type of subculture that aims to operate in complete opposition to the dominant culture.
Context: The emergence of the counterculture in the late 60s and early 70s in response to the war and racial injustice that was going on in the US at that time. It was an attempt to differentiate itself from the broader society that it existed in. There was debate about whether rock music could truly be countercultural if it still operated under a capitalist system to become popular.
Pseudoindividualization
Refers to Adorno’s critique of popular music. It was the claim that although the song seem different from one another, none of the differences are really significant, as the songs are not fundamentally different from the formula. It’s the illusion of having choice, when really all the songs are exactly the same. This referred to the 32-bar Tin Pan Alley form.
Genre
Definition: Genre is a label used to describe assemblages of musical features, social contexts, and fan communities, which helps organize the field of popular music. It is not just a set of musical attributes, but is really a contract between audiences and artists as to what to expect. It is also a shifting field.
Context: The fragmenting of genres into sub-categories during the 1970s, with many derivatives of rock. Also, the division between race music and hillbilly music early on despite their major similarities.
