Review for Mixmag about Mixmag.

Mixmag is the world's biggest selling dance magazine. It is an eclectic mix of music, ranging from electro-indie-pop to drum and bass, dub-step, house music and techno right through to dance hall club-classics. The magazine offers an insight to festivals, gigs and club-nights for dance-music lovers all across the UK and beyond. The bright colours and colourful language bring an upbeat feeling to the magazine, as well as photos of all the parties that have taken place, for those who want to see what's happening, when and where. As the magazine put's it themselves "Screw the recession, Let's have a session." Fairplay to that.

Are youth subcultures genuine signs of revolt or simply the manifestation of style?

Style is a big part of any form of subculture; as style is a means to show a different culture to that of their parents. That isn't to say that subcultures do not revolt, but they revolt through their own means; this often involves a sense of style unique to their own subculture.
"Subcultural youth, as the social Other to the parent culture, produce new codes and means of signification, new meanings and ways of meaning, which "take on a symbolic dimension, becoming a form of stigmata, tokens of self-imposed exile" (Hebdige, 1979)
In their style, poses, and general difference from mainstream values, subculture members aim to set themselves apart from the 'parent culture' as well as from other youth groups, for 'the communication of a significant difference is the point to the stylistic expressions of subcultures. Emphasizing their difference, subcultures make a "spectacle" of themselves, drawing attention to their difference. "Their look and activities announce an attempt to expose the myths of a homogeneous society and naturalized social consensus."
(Hebdige 1988) explains it quite clearly; "The 'subcultural response' is neither affirmation nor refusal, neither 'commercial exploitation' nor 'genuine revolt.' It is neither simply resistance against some external order nor straightforward conformity with the parent culture. It is both a declaration of independence, of otherness, of alien intent, a refusal of anonymity, of subordinate status. It is an insubordination. And at the same time it is also a confirmation of powerlessness, a celebration of impotence."

Can Popular Music ever really be unplugged?

Popular music or even music in general could be unplugged only in a live setting. Even then however, effects of the technological equipment used to produce/distort or enhance the music itself is again using technology which is changing the sound.
Both gospel and folk music can exist without electronics but when you consider that they still have to be recorded on to CD in order to reach a larger audience, and expand; then they too rely on technology. Without amplification you would not have festivals, concerts, cd's, earphones, computers, stereo's that can play music.
In this day and age it is almost impossible to have popular music unplugged simply because of the sheer amount of technology used in every aspect of the musical industry. Electronic Music is an art form itself; with various genres of its own. The term Computer Music has come out of Electronic Music and with the advent of personal computing, and the growth of home-recording the term Computer Music can be used to describe any music that has been created using computing technology.
It seems that the two forms have become inextricably linked.

(1st Week) What are the strengths and weaknesses of Peterson's production of culture perspectives to the birth of rock and roll?

Ricard A. Peterson provides a detailed account of why rock and roll was born, and discusses six main factors to its arrival. These include law, technology, industry structure, occupational career and market. In the early 1950's, the music industry was financially as well as aesthetically committed to the big-band-crooner style of popular music of the time and, because of it's oligopolistic control of the production, distribution and marketing of new music, was able to thwart the marketing of alternative styles.
'With the transfer of network radio programming to television, radio turned to playing records as the cheapest effective form of programming. The arrival of cheap transistor radios and the development of the Top Forty radio-as-dukebox format meant that a much larger number and far wider range of music was exposed to the audience. Using the new durable 45 rpm records, and taking advantage of the developing network of independant record distributors, numerous independant record companies experimented with a wide range of new sounds in an effort to tap the unsatiated market demand.'
All of this is very well and good and definitely contributes to the birth of rock and roll. He does not mention in almost his entire argument the actual product of the birth of rock and roll; the actual music itself. His argument although concise and informative about every other aspect of the emergence of rock music; the major flaw of his argument is the fact that he does not mention the music. He does not mention the excitement or emotions tied in with the emergence of something so new and refreshing; or how ground-breaking a phenomenon ot was. 'The enthusiasm was in no way inspired or directed by commercial agents watching cynically from the sideline and channelling youthful energy into consuming music.'
http://lakjer.dk/erik/musik/rock.html

However, he does dispel the myths of the advent of rock and roll music; namely the arrival of creative individuals, the baby-boomers and the transformation of the commercial culture industry. He gives clear facts about the emergence of rock and roll, but he does so without any heart or soul for the music itself.

What Is World Music?

World Music is generally used to classify non-Western music. The term world music includes traditional music (sometimes called folk music or roots music) of any culture that are created and played by indigenous musicians or that are "closely informed or guided by indigenous music of the regions of their origin.All in all, world music is considered just plain music to the vast majority of people in the world. Music is universal, and to discover the music of a culture is to discover the culture as a whole. As Agnes De Mile said, "The truest expression of a people is in its dances and in its music."

Is popular music a mass produced commodity or a genuine art form?

According to Theodore Adorno popular music is a mass produced commodity, for he states that the 'fundamental characterisitic of popular music is standardization.' He also states that 'regardless of what aberrations occur, the hit will lead back to the same familiar experience, and nothing fundamentally novel will be introduced.' Whereas what he calls serious music; namely classical music, he states that 'every detail derives its musical sense from the concrete totality of the piece which, in turn, consists of the life relationship of the details and never a mere enforcement of a musical scheme.' Serious music then, is a serious business, where the music is above the simplicity of a musical scheme or format 'In Beethoven, position is important only in a living relation between a concrete totality and it's concrete parts. In popular music, position is absolute.' However just because a song has a framework, does not necessarily mean it is automated and devoid of art or creativity. Mozart still created music for money, just as popular music does. And even where music does use standardised forms and types, it can still express rebellion against standardization and commodification.
If one accepts that art then is one person's appreciation for, or one person's expression of creation; popular music can still be seen as a genuine art form; albeit for the want of money, everybody has got to live. Business is born out of all art forms in the society we live in today, money creates the drive for most things; popular music can be seen as something which is more geared up towards money-making, but in the example of the Arctic Monkeys, public demand was so great that they had to be signed because they were going to make money; but their music still had that combination of catchy tunes for the masses and a social commentry for people who like some depth to their music.