Elements in Popular Music – serie

The guitar has been an integral part of popular music and mainstream culture for many decades and in many places of the world. This Element examines the development and current state of virtuosic rock guitar in terms of playing, technology, and culture. Supported by technological advances such as extended-range guitars, virtuosos in the twenty-first century are exploring ways to expand standard playing techniques in a climate where ever-higher levels of perfection are expected. As musician-entrepreneurs, contemporary rock guitar virtuosos record, produce, and market their music themselves; operate equipment companies; and sell merchandise, tablature, and lessons online. For their social media channels, they regularly create videos and interact with their followers while having to balance building their tribe and finding the time to develop their craft to stay competitive. For a virtuoso, working situations have changed considerably since the last century; the aloof rock star has been replaced by the approachable virtuoso-guitarist-composerinnovator-producer-promoter-YouTuber-teacher-entrepreneur.

The album Slave to the Rhythm is typical of the exaltation of pop stars but atypical in its presentation and interaction with biographical material. Three crossings are considered in this assessment of the work: technological, cultural, and structural. These are presented with a detailed track-by-track analysis using a range of signal processing techniques, some adapted specifically for this project. This Element focuses on the combination of digital, novel, and analogue technology that was used, and the organisational and transformational treatments of recorded material it offered, along with their associated musical cultures. The way in which studio technology functions, and offers interaction with its users, has a direct influence over the sound of the music that is created with it. To understand how that influence is manifested in Slave, there is considerable focus on the development and use of music technology.

This Element outlines an overview of popular music made in Brazil, from the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Initially addressing the definition of the 'popular' category, discussion then follows on the ways a Brazilian music identity was built after the country's independence in 1822 until the end of the 1920s. An idea of 'popular music' was consolidated throughout the twentieth century, from being associated with rural musical performances of oral tradition to the recorded urban musical genres that were established through radio and television. After exploring the world of mass popular music, the relationships between traditional and modern, the topics of cultural diversity, multiculturalism, and the impact of digitalization, as well as the musical kaleidoscope of the twenty-first century, the Element ends with an insight into music genres in the era of digital platforms.

The album Slave to the Rhythm is typical of the exaltation of pop stars but atypical in its presentation and interaction with biographical material. Three crossings are considered in this assessment of the work: technological, cultural, and structural. These are presented with a detailed track-by-track analysis using a range of signal processing techniques, some adapted specifically for this project. This Element focuses on the combination of digital, novel, and analogue technology that was used, and the organisational and transformational treatments of recorded material it offered, along with their associated musical cultures. The way in which studio technology functions, and offers interaction with its users, has a direct influence over the sound of the music that is created with it. To understand how that influence is manifested in Slave, there is considerable focus on the development and use of music technology.

This Element outlines an overview of popular music made in Brazil, from the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Initially addressing the definition of the 'popular' category, discussion then follows on the ways a Brazilian music identity was built after the country's independence in 1822 until the end of the 1920s. An idea of 'popular music' was consolidated throughout the twentieth century, from being associated with rural musical performances of oral tradition to the recorded urban musical genres that were established through radio and television. After exploring the world of mass popular music, the relationships between traditional and modern, the topics of cultural diversity, multiculturalism, and the impact of digitalization, as well as the musical kaleidoscope of the twenty-first century, the Element ends with an insight into music genres in the era of digital platforms.

Popular music and football rank among the most globally widespread and culturally significant practices in contemporary society. While neither defines the other, their intersections reveal a rich site of musical interaction. This Element investigates how and why popular music and football interact within the context of elite-level national league matches. Grounded in observations from several European case matches over the past decade, the Element examines these interactions as they unfold in stadium environments, focusing on three primary modes: intra-type music interactions, inter-type music interactions, and music-match interactions. In doing so, it engages with one of the most pervasive, multi-layered, and contested arenas for the distribution and significance of popular music in everyday life. Particular attention is given to emotionally charged, identity-infused mega-performances by musical amateurs - many of whom may be otherwise musically inactive and overlooked but embrace the stadium as a space for emotional release and collective expression.