Walker 1 Ena Walker Mrs.

Robinson AP Language and Composition 14 March 2013 The Ever Changing Rhythm of Popular Music From Jail House Rock to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun to Who Let The Dogs Out? to I Knew You Were Trouble, Americas popular music has evolved from genre to genre, race to race, gender to gender, fad to fad. From rock to disco to reggae to pop and back again, music is ever changing. Our culture has many segments and popular music-which is one of those segments- revolves around social culture changes. To begin, some say that popular music is only a genre and is not actually a segment of our culture. Proponents of this idea point to the genre called pop music under which a portion of popular music falls. Though, this group is right to believe that pop music is a genre, popular music is not. Popular music cannot be a genre because it encompasses any and all genres of music. Popular music as defined on Wikipedia.com is music belong[ing] to any number of musical genres having wide appeal and is usually distributed to large audiences through the music industry. Popular music can be 2 Chainz and Taylor Swift and John Mayer, all different artists but all are popular to the large majority. Pop music is only artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, Britney Spears, and Demi Lovato; all of those singers have similar songs, with similar beats, similar meanings. Therefore, even though pop music and popular music seem very similar, they are not the same.

Walker 2 Also, over the years, music has evolved into a complex system where most singers are not just singers any more, they are entertainers . 96% of adult Americans listen to music regularly. In 1980 only 20% of Americans bought music, in 2006, 32% bought music. Thats a 12% increase in music consumption. So, what causes this increase? I would infer it was caused by a change in our social culture. I would infer that it came into style to enjoy music and make it apart of your daily schedule. To be successful in popular music in todays society most cannot just be talented, but, also, one has to keep theirs audience entertained. As people became entertained between 1980 and now, they bought into musicians songs, concerts, CDs and so on. Thus, the statistical jump in consumption of music. The idea of entertaining an audience has been highlighted with famous singers such as Elvis but entertainment became more prominent in the early 1980s and on with big names like Madonna and Michael Jackson. These singers were also entertainers. They did not just sing, they acted, or wrote books, or wrote their own songs or all of those. They did something to make them stand out. They did something to make them different. For example, the epitome of an entertainer in our current music industry is Beyonce Knowles. Post- Destinys Child, Knowles started off her solo career with an astonishing five Grammy win for her debut album, Dangerously In Love. Knowles is an entertainer because throughout her time as a solo singer act (which is ten years), she has been in ten films (producing one of them), started and successfully ran her own fashion line, and written all of the songs on her newest album 4. Her shows include sparkly costumes, insane dance moves, and an astonishing vocal range. Knowles is an entertainer. Its entertainers like Beyonce Knowles, Michael

Walker 3 Jackson, and Madonna that have brought music to the front and center of Americans lives today. After considering the music shifts in todays society and in the last 60 years, I have concluded that, as our social culture changes, it demands more from popular music. Though the discussion of music may seem trivial, it deals with the topic of social change in todays society and how it affects other parts of our culture. After analyzing my research is has become clear that social change correlates directly with popular music, as they seem to mirror each other, one complimenting the other. So, now informed on this information, one must beg the question: what other parts of our culture does social change affect?

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Works Cited Santhanam, Laura Houston; Mitchell, Amy; Rosenstiel, Tom. Audio: By The Numbers. The Pews Research Center For Excellence in Jounalism. (2012) Web. 8 Apr. 2013. Bridge Ratings Industry Study: Music Consumption. www.thebridgeratings.com, August 27, 2009. Web. 9 Apr. 2013. Beyonce Knowles. www.wikipedia.com 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.