102100 Week 2

Can popular music ever really be unplugged?  If popular music were to be defined as the music that is popular among the people at any given time, then the answer to this question would be yes.  For example, classical music was popular music during its time and this type of music was indeed unplugged.  However, if by "popular music" one is referring to today's music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, then the answer would be a definite and obvious "no".  Unplugged basically means "not recording".  This would mean none of our music could be heard through the radio, computer, CDs, or in any other of today's forms.  There would be no amplifier or transistor, no microphone use or recording with multitrack or digital technologies.  So, in essence, when our favorite artists call their CDs "unplugged", they are very wrong, and we can all be very grateful for their mistake!