Page 126 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

110 Music

officers, or that the music of Marilyn Manson, rather than skepticism
toward a scandal - ridden religious establishment, turns young people away
from traditional Christian values.
As we can see, guardians of public morality have always taken seriously
music ’ s capacity to affect the minds and bodies of listeners, and the moral

values they so vigorously defend can usually be defined as those attitudes

and behaviors which prove beneficial to the dominant group ’ s efforts to
maintain and solidify their social and economic power. In America, the
dominant group is predominantly White, male, middle class, heterosexual,
and Christian, and it has historically been resistant to adopting, or even
tolerating, value systems and lifestyles that do not fit within that paradigm.

However, it has been eager to enthusiastically consume the artistic prod-
ucts of marginalized cultures, and to incorporate these products into its
own cultural tradition. For instance, disco, a mainstream national phe-
nomenon in the 1970s, was sonically rooted in Black funk and R & B, and
indebted to the gay club scene for its visual aesthetic. The rhythmic beat,
emotional energy, and sexual frankness that characterize rock ‘ n ’ roll are
elements taken from African American blues music, which itself developed
out of the traditional African music brought to the New World by slavery.
The history of American popular music is consistently one of White artists ’
appropriations of Black cultural forms as a means of attaining prominence

and profit. While White artists such as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Bob
Dylan are often given credit for originating the rock ‘ n ’ roll sound, they

were most signifi cantly influenced by Black rhythm and blues musicians
who have become footnotes to music history. This is a matter of consider-
able tension among Black artists; as Public Enemy ’ s Chuck D. declared in
the seminal, incendiary single “ Fight the Power, ” “ Elvis was a hero to most

/ but he never meant shit to me. ” Many artists and critics argue that musical
styles represent more than just formulaic arrangement of sounds; they are
ways to mark territory, to carve out a space of ownership and exclusivity

in a world increasingly marked by the free flow of images and ideas across
cultural and regional boundaries.
The expansions of global capitalism and developments in media tech-
nology have dramatically increased most people ’ s access to different kinds
of music. With a few clicks of a button, you can download music from the
other side of the earth, share it with your friends, and remix it to suit your
purposes. What is gained is a greater sense and appreciation of the diversity
of musical expression; what is sometimes lost is a full understanding of
the social conditions and contexts from which that music is produced.