Music, Culture, & Technology (Week 1)

The term “popular music” can be difficult to define.  Many agree that popular music must be good music that is easy to understand.  It must be home-made and commercially oriented, having no artistic value.  However, there are many examples of popular music that defy these characteristics.  For example, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti performed “Nessun Dorma” at the 1990 world cup.  Most people do not consider opera popular music, yet the selection reached the top of the billboards. 

“Popular” derives from the legal term “popularis”, which means “belonging to the people”.  The dictionary definition of popular music is “any genre of music having wide appeal”.  More specifically, an appropriate definition of popular music comes from Roy Shuker.  He says that popular songs derive from an array of heterogeneous styles, sources, and musical customs.  Also, even while these songs make a profit, they are artistically and conceptually significant to their consumers.