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

Popular music is both depending upon the individual song and artist. It is a commodity because it is something which can be marketed, packaged, and sold. For example, “boy bands” are created solely to be popular, sell albums, and hit high on the top 40 charts. These bands exemplify both traits of industrial standardization with part interchangeability (hardly any difference if a member is substituted) and pseudo individualization (all boy bands have a similar sound, songs, and band structure). On the other hand, some popular music can be artistic. Lady Gaga is an example of this because she has a unique style and talent. Her music is popular due to its uniqueness which is something that goes against both the traits of industrial standardization. Popular music that is well-liked due to its actual musical value and expression is art thus music that is marketed to BECOME popular is a commodity.

HOW USEFUL IS A PRODUCTION OF CULTURE PERSPECTIVE IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIRTH OF ROCK AND ROLL?

A production of culture perspective is useful, but is missing important factors to explain why rock and roll was the music genre formed. The six factors show why a new genre of music was formed from changes in law, technology, industry structure, organization structure, occupational career, and market, but the specifics of these changes only explain why new music arose and not specifically why the new music was rock and roll. Another problem with this perspective is that it doesn’t explain why teenagers feel a connection to rock and roll. The perspective only explains that the generation from the post war baby boom wasn’t old enough to create a teenage demand for new and different music instead of why the teenagers were drawn to rock and roll. Because this is only one perspective, multiple views are necessary to develop a more complete understanding of the birth of rock and roll.

Is it reasonable to consider that rock music is gendered male?

This is a reasonable consideration. Rock is more appealing and geared towards males because of the style and content of the songs. The style of the songs are often loud and harsh such as ard rock and heavy metal which attract men more than women. Also, the majority of rock groups have all male members which provides more relation to males then females. As Bayton states, when females are in the band, they tend to be singers instead of instrumentalists. Because women aren’t as commonly in the bands, rock songs tends to take on more themes which appeal to men (for example: sex, drugs, and drinking). However, this doesn’t mean that ALL rock music is exclusively appealing to guys or that there aren’t women instrumentalists. “Rock” is just a genre of music which has a more solid base of male following just as “Pop” has a greater female following.