Quickly read Adorno's (1941) article 'On Popular Music' (links below). In no more than a few paragraphs, summarise his ideas on pop music, concentrating on key points such as 'standardisation', 'psuedo-individualisation' etc.
Adorno's key ideas on pop music are that there is ‘A clear judgement concerning the relation of serious music to popular music can be arrived at only by strict attention to the fundamental characteristics of popular music: standardization,’ (Adorno, 1941, p.73) He suggests that there are two 'spheres' of music - popular and 'serious' and that popular is the inferior of the two, calling it predictable, structured and standardised. Popular music is for the working class and is mass produced (In today's society pop stars are manufactured and mass produced to give the public the same pre-digested rhythm).
If an aspect of a musical piece can be defined Adorno believes this to be 'stylised' and have repetitive structure.
In society, humans strive to be deemed individual, not follow the crowd and if we as individuals believe ourselves to be a 'sheep' we tend to detach ourselves from objects to achieve higher social 'status'. We believe we are being individual by engaging with various strains in popular music (Pseudo-individualisation) ‘making them forget that what they listen to is already listened to for them, or ‘pre-digested’.’ (p.79).
In the third part of Adorno's writing it is apparent that he believes that the audience of popular culture have such pressurised, stressful lifestyles that popular music offers an escapism from reality. 'Listeners are distracted from the demands of reality by entertainment which does not demand attention either" and he deems this audience to not be able to understand and appreciate 'serious' music.
Post a link to a YouTube pop video that, in your opinion, epitomises Adorno's sentiments. Explain why, trying to emphasise the links to the wider 'culture industry' in general.
I consider Rhianna to be the epitamy of standardisation at the moment, she is literally everywhere and we are subjected to the same predictable rhythms. All her songs (along with many other pop songs) follow the same structured pattern of intro, verse, chorus, verse etc... and it is very repetitive. However, songs of this tempo and style are very consistent with others for providing great escapes - especially on a night out as we can just escape, have a bit of a dance which in itself is standardised as everyone really dances in the same rhythmical manner.
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