Klarinet Archive - Posting 000648.txt from 2002/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] FW: [kl] Music the makes you Wince
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 18:37:17 -0400

At 04:38 PM 7/22/2002 +0200, Robert S. Nalezinski wrote:
Bill Hausmann wrote:

> >> Although they were popular with the masses, the critics hated them...
>
> > I thought that was practically the DEFINITION of "pop" music.

> We might as well call McDonald's and Burger King "Pop Food" because
>with billions and billions served... That is much more popular than any
>particular artist or music group ever sold.

Actually, I find the comparison to be particularly apt. And neither is
exactly overloaded with "taste."

> I will concede though that "pop music" is a very ambiguous term
>though... As does it reflect the popularity of a musical group, or does
>it reflect on the type of music that a musical group produces?
>
> Myself, I have always tended to subscribe to the view that it refers
>to the type of music that a group produces. In the 80's music scene
>(*wince*), Gun's N' Roses were highly popular... Along with all those
>"Hair Metal" bands... But would you consider Gun's N' Roses as "pop
>music", the same term that readily fits such acts as "The Backstreet
>Boys" and "Brittney Spears"? We could go further with groups like
>"Nirvana" and "Pearl Jam"... Very popular "grunge rock" bands... And yet
>they are considered as "grunge rock"... Not "Pop."

My 17-year-old son bristles when I refer to his beloved grunge, etc. as
"pop." I figure I am just on target and hitting the nerve squarely. I
know that the big band music I like, while I think of it as jazz, was
certainly considered "pop" in its day.

> Although I do not doubt that the popularity of a group or artist is
>important in the consideration of the term "pop music", I feel that
>history has shown that a greater emphasize is placed on the type of
>music that a group or artist produces over popularity.
>
> Elvis is after all considered "The King of Rock and Roll"... Not the
>"King of Pop Music."

And Paul Whiteman was known as the "King of Jazz." These appellations are
frequently inaccurate.

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.net
451 Old Orchard Drive
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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