On Popular Music

While I think Adorno's "On Popular Music" sounded awfully pretentious and snotty, the man does have a point.   I immediately thought of Bo Burnham's comedy sketch, "Repeat Stuff"  where he states that the same love songs have been sang before "in a thousand ways, in a thousand songs, sung with the same four chords." The stuff that Adorno points out is quite obvious just listening to the radio.  It's mostly fluff to cash in on adolescent teens and young adults.  There is a standardization in music with it's structure, harmonies, octave ranges, and harmonies.  While I agree that a lot of popular music is generic, and perhaps a "familiar experience" as Adorno states, I really don't see the problem with it.

It's catchy, and it makes us want to dance.  The lyrics are repetitive so you can know all the words after a couple listens.  Soon you're singing in your car on the way home from work as loud as you can.  It's relaxing, it's enjoyable; what's the problem with that!?   Personally, I like to call these musicians "performance artists" because with them it isn't all about the music.  It's about the costumes, the dance team, the light shows, and the gossip. We don't have to put deep philosophical thought into it, but that's not the artist's attention.

Sure after you hear the song for the 32nd time on the radio, it starts to bug you, but why does it matter?  A few days ago you were singing as loud as you can in your car, and now someone else you know probably is too. It's stupid, but it's pleasantly stupid.