What is world music?

To first understand world music, the ideas of local and global music must be explored . Local usually refers to indigenous music and global refers to music that is available world wide. However these terms are not so distinguishable as what may be considered to be indigenous can be owned by a worldwide corporation and many western artists can adopt the sounds of indigenous music. Music of certain nations can be influenced in a process known as cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is the idea of a nation, i.e. American and the UK, taking over other nations, ie France and Canada, in terms of culture, therefore Anglo American popular music becomes the template for foreign artists.  However, it is argued that in our growing multicultural society, the idea of a nation state has become redundant. In conclusion I believe that world music is simply a category for record companies to take indigenous music does not have an Anglo American sound and market it to a global audience. 

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

A theorist that would argue that popular music is a mass produced commodity is Theodore Adorno. Being a Marxist, Adorno was very anti capitalism and believed that the way popular music is produced and distributed is part of the capitalist machine and distracts the public from real problems. He believed that the whole structure of popular music is standardised.  His two main reasons behind this was part interchangeably ,many resources used to produce popular music coming from the same source, and pseudo individualism, the idea that record companies provide an illusion that they are always releasing new products when they are actually recycling and repackaging old material. A prime example of pseudo individualism is the television show The X Factor. A theorist that would disagree with Adorno is Bernard Gendron who argues that music is consumed differently to other mass produced commodities and that even if something is copied its context can still change for example the two versions of My Way by Frank Sinatra and The Sex Pistols.

How useful is a production of cultural perspective in understanding the birth of rock and roll?

In his article, ‘Why 1955?’ Richard A Peterson tries to explain the start of Rock and Roll by exploring the social context of the time. He states that Rock and Roll was started by six different factors; law, technology,  industry structure, organisational structure, market and occupational careers. He debunks myths of  Rock and Roll being started by the post war baby boom and the emergence of several talented musicians.  The theory works, as it would make more sense for several factors to be involved instead of just one. One problem with Peterson’s theory is that it is all based around  the idea that Rock and Roll began in 1955. Many singles before that have been widely regarded as being the first  Rock and Roll single including Elvis Presley’s 1954 hit ‘That’s all right’, Bill Haley and the Comets with ’Rock around the Clock’ also in 1954 and even going as far back as The Andrew’s sisters with ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ in 1940. 

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

One argument for rock music being gendered male is that fact that in the top 100 best guitar players by Rolling Stone magazine, only two of the list were female and they weren’t in the top 50. Marvis Bayton points out that females in music, usually occupy the role of a vocalist, rather that a musician. She goes on to point out that the reasons behind the lack of female guitarists must be of a social concern as men have no physical advantage over women as far as guitar playing is concerned. Another aspect of rock music, especially heavy metal, that can be considered masculine are the lyrics. They are usually extremely derogatory towards women, demonstrating an aggressive form of masculinity. The guitar, especially the electric guitar, can also be seen as a phallic symbol. It can be argued that this extreme masculinity stems from an underprivileged background.  In conclusion it is clear that the music predominantly considered as ‘Rock’ is gendered male.