General Catalog 2024-25

Lecture, four hours. Exploration of multiplicitous world of global pop beyond major pop genres and their industries established in early-to-mid 20th century. Examination of dramatic decentralization of media that took place with advent of cassette technology and explosion of new forms of popular music that are listened to on recordings as much as in live settings. Examination also of how major pop genres are appropriated and localized in contexts both intended and unintended by their producers at new intensities of speed and scale and further and further distance from urban, industrial, and political centers of power. Exploration of how this loosening of central control releases quagmires of exploitation, piracy, and creativity in world of popular and recorded music, and, later, with rise of Internet and social media. P/NP or letter grading.