Critics such as Adorno do see popular music as a mass produced commodity. Programmes such as 'X Factor' reinforce this view, as the contestants are constantly made to sing cover versions and are rarely (if ever) able to preform their own artistic material. However this theory is solely dependant on how we view art. If we see art as creative, individual, initiative flare then pop music cannot fit this category or can it? Artists like Andy Warhol show that art can be mass produced and still fabulous. Critics like Gendron believe that it is the artists themselves that turn popular music into an art form, providing individual meanings and styles the songs they cover, for example the conflicting approaches of the 'Sex Pistols' to Frank Sinatra's 'My Way'. This shows that yes popular music can be an art form but just like in 'conventional' art there will be good artists and bad ones.
There are some interesting ideas developing here but they are somewhat undermined by the fact that the names of every single artist and critic that you mention are misspelled.
ReplyDeleteAdorno
Gendron
Warhol