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. 

Can popular music ever be unplugged?

This week we learnt about the importance of technology in popular music, in particular the invention and development of the microphone, the amplifier and recording technology. Musicians have used technology to produce new sound and often used technology in the way it wasn’t intended for. This includes Jimi Hendrix using the feedback from standing too close to an amp to produce his trademark wailing guitar sound or Bing Crosby using the microphone to emphasise the bass of his voice to produce a more imitate and warm sound. These technologies have changed the face of live performance as now artists can dance and move around while singing and musicians can be heard in a huge stadium. The development of recording technology has led to artists being able to record multiple tracks to one piece of music at different times, producing a note perfect piece of music. From this I cannot see popular music ever being unplugged. 

What is popular music?

Throughout recent history popular it has meant ’low of base, vulgar or of the common people’, ‘courting favour of the people by undue practices‘, ‘widely favoured‘, a synonym for good and ’from and of the people’.  Anaid Kassabian says that popular means that it’s unmediated yet all forms of music, except pure voice, involved technology in the form of a musical instrument. A main theme of discussion was the difference between popular music and art. Robert Burnett said that popular music is commercially orientated and commercial is defined as being concerned with money over artistic or any other value.  The elitists thought that Nessum Dorma by Pavorotti, what is considered to be the best piece of classical music of all time, was somehow cheapened by the fact that it reached number one in the UK singles chart as a result of it being used for the theme song for the BBCs coverage of the 1990 world cup.