ABSTRACT
Music not only seems the most ubiquitous art form today, it is arguably also the most propelling art medium in crossing boundaries aesthetically, geographically, politically as well as ideologically. As Peter Wicke comments with reference to Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven,” “popular music appears for the first time within a cultural system of reference which allows it to become a fundamental experience” (1990, 11). More successfully than the historical avant-garde, popular music dissolves boundaries between the formerly separate spheres of art and everyday life. Popular music is defined as music with a wide appeal and frequently also distributed to large audiences through the channels of the music industry or the new media (→ Cultural Industries, III/27; Digital Culture, III/28). It stands in clear contrast to folk music and art music, although it frequently incorporates elements from both. As Wicke’s claim suggests, popular music is not only capable of traversing various musical genres but also of penetrating public and political spheres as a powerful agent. Popular music, throughout its history, has negated clear dividing lines and, in addition, has repeatedly proven capable of transforming itself despite its entanglement in mass and commodity culture (→ Consumerism, I/23). And, in reference to the latter, one may state that in the age of internet, MP3, P2P technologies, and the frequently envisioned death of the music industry, popular music once more paves the way for new modes of cultural production, distribution, and reception. Looking selectively at five music genres and their flows within the Americas (and beyond), music’s role is not only seen as a form of mass entertainment, but can also be considered as a means of community-building as well as a political messenger (→ Political Communication, II/42).
