Although concern about the effects of mass culture can be dated back to its inception over one hundred and fifty years ago, it has only recently become the subject of widespread debate. One of the first academics to produce a critique of mass culture from a radical rather than a conservative point of view, was the German philosopher Theodor Adorno (1903-1969), who demonstrated the crucial significance of the media in forming collective consciousness and defining the limits of social change under late capitalism. To avoid the popular understanding of mass culture as arising from the masses, Adorno preferred the term ‘culture industry’ which he coined to specifically describe the commodification of cultural forms or artistic objects. In his essay ‘Culture Industry Reconsidered (1963)’, Adorno explained that since cultural forms can create a means of income for their creators, the sole purpose of achieving maximum profitability has become overwhelmingly more important than artistic expression. Through consumer manipulation and standardisation, by intentionally integrating both high and low art, culture has been artificially transformed into an ideological culture industry, wherein the mass-produced cultural objects are only seen as commodities, endowed with an illusory aura of individuality, which he called ‘pseudo-individuation’.
The broadest genre of popular culture that influenced me whilst growing up was ‘Rock Music’. In the early 2000s, a new group of bands that played a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock, emerged into the mainstream. One band which rose to prominence as part of this Britpop movement, was Snow Patrol. Their first major-label album ‘Final Straw (2003)’ received critical acclaim and brought notable success outside their native country of Northern Ireland, but during time in the studio they initially found it quite difficult to adapt from an 'indie'-oriented sound to the more commercially viable pop rock genre. Fortunately, their producer offered constructive suggestions for simplifying many songs and Snow Patrol proved very receptive to his advice. According to their A&R representative, "Some bands tend to be more defensive about what goes on in the studio. Snow Patrol weren't. They were very much like, 'Yeah, we really want to be successful this time.'"
In contrast to rock and roll, an example of a relatively niche culture that I currently prefer listening to is the ‘Math Rock’ subgenre. Whereas most rock music uses a 4/4 meter, math rock frequently uses non-standard time signatures such as 7/8, or features constantly changing meters based on various groupings of 2 and 3. This rhythmic complexity, seen as mathematical in character by many listeners and critics, is what gives the genre its name. One of my favourite bands to fall under this category are And So I Watch You From Afar, an Irish quartet from Belfast. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2009, only a few years later than Final Straw, but features a radically different approach to musical composition. Unlike the easy-listening Snow Patrol songs that are systematically designed as generic radio friendly unit shifters, ASIWYFA’s work is characterised by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), counterpoint, odd time signatures, angular melodies, and extended dissonant chords.
Reference List
Adorno, T. (1963). Culture Industry Reconsidered, New German Critique, 6, pp.12-19 [online]. Translated from German by A. Rabinbach, 1975. Available at: http://orgnets.cn/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/21-adorno-culture-industry.pdf [Accessed 16 Nov. 2019].
Andrae, T. (1979). Adorno on film and mass culture, Jump Cut, 20, pp.34-37 [online]. Available at: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC20folder/AdornoMassCult.html [Accessed 16 Nov. 2019].
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