UPDATE, APPLIED TO SUEDE
After two albums of glam and art rock inspired by artists seen in the. My new concept compilation album of a dystopian non-linear narrative is aiming to achieve a balance between being artistically relevant but also attracting a new primary audience, a teenage audience, a younger one. Like biographer David Buckley said about his 1980 album, Scary Monsters, which was released in-between one of his most art for art period and his commercial peak, this achieves "the perfect balance of creativity and mainstream success" (In a way this is also balancing creativity and complying with the examboard for me.)
APPLIED TO BOWIE
David Bowie always wanted to bring in the avant-garde into the mainstream, so he was part of this blurring of the lines between high art and pop culture.
I want to incorporate high art signifiers that he was inspired by, like the novels about, classic Nineteen Eighty-Four (when a novel becomes a classic does it lose a bit of its high art status).
I want to incorporate high art signifiers that he was inspired by, like the novels about, classic Nineteen Eighty-Four (when a novel becomes a classic does it lose a bit of its high art status).
Source: Wikipedia entry on music genre
ART MUSIC
The term art music refers primarily to classical traditions, including both contemporary and historical classical music forms. Art music exists in many parts of the world. It emphasizes formal styles that invite technical and detailed deconstruction[9] and criticism, and demand focused attention from the listener. In Western practice, art music is considered primarily a written musical tradition,[10] preserved in some form of music notation rather than being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings, as popular and traditional music usually are.[10][11]Historically, most western art music has been written down using the standard forms of music notation that evolved in Europe, beginning well before the Renaissance and reaching its maturity in the Romantic period. The identity of a "work" or "piece" of art music is usually defined by the notated version rather than by a particular performance, and is primarily associated with the composer rather than the performer (though composers may leave performers with some opportunity for interpretation or improvisation). This is so particularly in the case of western classical music. Art music may include certain forms of jazz, though some feel that jazz is primarily a form of popular music.
Sacred Christian music forms an important part of the classical music tradition and repertoire, but can also be considered to have an identity of its own.[citation needed]
POPULAR MUSIC
The term popular music refers to any musical style accessible to the general public and disseminated by the mass media. Musicologist and popular music specialist Philip Tagg defined the notion in the light of sociocultural and economical aspects:Popular music, unlike art music, is:
(1) conceived for mass distribution to large and often socioculturally heterogeneous groups of listeners,
(2) stored and distributed in non-written form
(3) only possible in an industrial monetary economy where it becomes a commodity
(4) in capitalist societies, subject to the laws of 'free' enterprise ... it should ideally sell as much as possible.[8]
Popular music is found on most commercial and public service radio stations, in most commercial music retailers and department stores, and in movie and television soundtracks. It is noted on the Billboard charts and, in addition to singer-songwriters and composers, it involves music producers more than other genres do.The distinction between classical and popular music has sometimes been blurred in marginal areas[12] such as minimalist music and light classics. Background music for films/movies often draws on both traditions. In this respect, music is like fiction, which likewise draws a distinction between literary fiction and popular fiction that is not always precise.
TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Traditional music is a modern name for what has been called "folk music", excluding the expansion of the term folk music to include much non-traditional material. Sometimes "folk" is designated for Western music and non-Western music is considered "world music". The two are both unified as traditional music due to:
- Oral transmission: The music is handed down and learned through singing, listening, and sometimes dancing;
- Cultural basis: The music derives from and is part of the traditions of a particular region or culture.
Criticisms
Musicologist and popular music specialist Richard Middleton has discussed the blurred nature of these distinctions:
Genre fusions/hybrids like country pop (Dixie Chicks), show that the distinctions are blurring.
One feature of postmodernism according to Dominic Strinati is the breakdown of the distinction between popular culture and high art, can we still apply these very strong distinctions between pop and art music?
And also is an act limited to be stay in one of these classifications for their whole career? Andrew Goodwin wrote in Dancing In The Distraction Factory about electronic band Depeche Mode: that they: (still need to find exact wording of the quote)
managed to shift from pop to art rock music due to its rebranding of a shift towards darker themes in its music and the new visual look Anton Corbijn gave them through their music videos and promoting photography.
Ironically one would think that the commercial appeal would sink if they go into a more high art direction, limited to an ABC1 audience. But no, their success grew and grew, also because they still made their lead singles Strangelove, Enjoy The Silence and Personal Jesus ,as Middleton would say, commercially accessible while including many long-drawn, intense and instrumental tracks on the album.
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