Popular Music – What is it, anyway?

What is popuar music?

Would you consider a national anthem popular music?

And what about religious music? Should it be considered “popular music”?

Does a popular song need words?

Does it need a tune?

DO YOU AGREE? (You don’t have to…)

In his book, ” Tomorrow Never Knows” by Nick Bromell (University of Chicago Press, 2000), page 167, he described three beliefs –

-musicians and audiences assume that their musical activity will produce MEANINGFUL sounds.

-Secondly, that while each piece of music may not mean the same things to everyone, it will mean some shared things to listeners who collectively regard themselves as an audience for that music;

-Third, that some of the meanings can be used as a way to know ourselves and interact with the world around us.

And, finally, who gets to decide what a good popular song is?

Producers, disc jockeys, marketers, investors, bands, writers, the hit parade, tv, radio, internet, researchers? Me and you?