Week 2 – What are the strengths and weaknesses of Peterson’s Production of Culture Perspective on the birth of Rock and Roll?

Peterson’s Production of Culture is a useful theory that helps to define when and why the birth of Rock and Roll was. There are many strong points to Peterson’s theory such as his attention on the technical and legal issues and industry structure. He studies the technical and production details that were occurring at the time to help to clarify a reason why Rock and Roll was born. He concentrates on issues that affected the technical side of the music, however he does not include other factors such as the artists and audiences. This is where it can be argued his theory has weaknesses. He does not consider the artists making the music and also he does not take into account the fact that this music was different to any music people had heard before. Peterson’s theory is a good way to understand many reasons for the birth of Rock and Roll although he misses out some other important issues.

Week 1 - What is Popular Music?

Popular music is difficult to define as there are many terms used to describe it. Popular has many meanings from belonging to the people to meaning vulgar or common. It has also been used as a synonym for good. Popular music has been said to be something that is accessible, simple, and easy to understand and accept. It has also been said that it is from and of the people and therefore referred to as folk and homemade. However it is sometimes thought of as being something that is mass produced and commercial. Robert Burnett states that popular music is music that is commercially orientated: it is seen as something to generate profit rather than artistic values. Popular music is argued to be something ‘lots’ of people like, although people like many different things, and overall there are many arguments as to what popular music is and how it can be defined.