Serious Pop Music

Theodor Adorno's article, "On  Popular Music," was a really interesting read for me. I found the way he discussed popular music to be very interesting. Though I didn't agree with all of his points I thought he made some pretty legitimate claims. His whole idea of standardization in popular music, I thought was pretty accurate. Most of the music heard on the popular radio stations tends to all sound the same and for a reason. As Adorno points out, a lot of that music is made for the masses. All the songs have very similar, if not identical song structures. Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus. As we discussed in class, and as those Australian guys showed in their video, most of these songs also use the same four chords, just played a bit differently. Adorno discusses how people have become comfortable with music like this and seek nothing more when listening to music. This is one of the issues I have with his argument. I do have to take into consideration that this article was written in the 40's so people back then didn't have the resources they do today but I do believe that if one truly wanted to listen to, "smart music," as Adorno calls it, they would. For me personally, I found myself become less and less interested in what was playing on the radio as I got older. Though part of that may be attributed to my desire to be edgy and rebellious as a young teenager, I truly was becoming bored with all the pop music I would hear. It's not like I immediately started listening to better music all the time, but it was a gradual process. I found interest in music that was not like all the other music I heard on the radio. I believe that Adorno is not giving people enough credit and thinking of the population as a mass; a giant herd of people who think alike and unless they are told/taught differently won't deviate from the norm. I don't believe that popular music functions as social cement in the same way that Adorno does.
Something we brought up in class that we discussed very briefly was the recent occurances of more indie, non pop bands becoming big and mainstream such as The Shins, Arcade Fire, Daft Punk and others. We were asked why we thought this was happening. After thinking about it, I realized, all of these musicians do make pop. It completely is radio pop, similar song structures, nothing too unfamiliar. They are just talented bands that put a lot of work into making pop music. Daft Punk went from being two super talented, unknown french guys who wore masks to conceal their identities, to becoming the artists behind one of the biggest radio songs in the year 2013. All of the collaborators on their most recent album spoke about their work process and described in great detail how meticulously they worked. This wasn't just a simple album produced by some guy pumping out tons of top 40's hits, it was an album that drew many inspirations from popular music of the past and put it's own spin on it. Though I don't think it's one of Daft Punks best albums, I do think it is a great album that was produced very well. Adorno says that in serious music, "Each component is intentional and builds to something greater." I think that is exactly what this Daft Punk album, which I'm sure Adorno would have despised, does. It is a very intentional album, everything that was done on it, was done for a reason. It doesn't feel like an album that was just produced for the masses, it sounds like an album that a lot of work was put into, yet it was considered pop music.
I disagree with Adorno when he says that pop music can't also be serious music, though I do agree that most pop music isn't serious music.