The Modern Juke Box

Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Ludwig von Beethoven all had differing style periods. It stands to reason over a lifetime of experiences things change. You grow as a person and an artist. The world changes, and the artist/musician must adapt. Many people do not know that twelve tone serialist Arnold Schoenberg began his composing career squarely in the Romantic Period. His Gurrelieder is a an epic oratorio with none of the clangerous tone clusters of Milton Babbit, but it is a far departure from his serial works. Stravinsky too dabbled in the twelve tone row and like Schoenberg finally established a style that people could mistake for no other. America’s style periods desperately are awaiting a change, as is the country. While Barack Obama recently became the Democrats pillar of change, there has yet to emerge a reckoning force in the field of popular music. Maybe it is because television has set the wrong example for true change in music. Nowhere in the history of America was music trite. Music like life was a pinnacle of effort embodying the struggle for survival. Tabloid television single handedly has undermined the potential for viable popular music, because like Karioke it has suggested music is nothing more than a passing fad. It is something youngsters do to pass the time. George Gershwin didn’t feel that way. In Tin Pan Alley at the turn of the century the piano was the center of attention in American families. There was a desire and need for good piano music that could be played in the parlor. As a result of this demand the American songbook developed at the hands of Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, and Hoagy Carmichael just to name a few. The demand for music is what created the product. Tabloid television has lowered the standard of demand setting the wrong example for the proliferation of viable popular music. If the model seen on national television every week suggests becoming a musical artist is nothing more than lady luck, then who will expect more? We in America are being brainwashed and dumbed down for acceptance in and as a universal group. It’s a “group thing.” Music is being used a adolescent candy to sell other products and popularity. If anyone cares to look those products also have taken a nosedive in integrity. We with the emergence of the cell phone, iPod, and Blackberry have become a trite superficial society enamored by bells and whistles rather than the substance that should be in them. This trend began with the personal computer and not yet has ended. When the effort switched to the means rather than the idea, popular culture began to suffer. All through the decade of the 1980’s music technology flourished. Companies such as Yahama, Roland, and Korg pushed the envelope of music-producing technology. As a result the music benefited. The new sounds quickly were absorbed into the music market and became competitive. This creative and competitive drive pushed the boundaries of popular music. When the gears shifted and the personal computer industry took over, music got lost. What should be the goal of technology, to play the music cheaply or to produce it well? American Idol is playing it cheaply. America is still waiting for someone or something to produce it well.