Streaming Music

This is a individual opinion and for that reason, I do not want any hate mail from Country Western (CW) audiences, which I know are fanatical and omnipresent. I do have my preferred s, from a chauvinistic man’s point of view. I think that Shania Twain and Faith Hill are sexy and I enjoy several of their videos plus some of their songs. But is it because they’re large country western stars? No way. I’ve a problem listening to most of the Country Western (CW) stuff because it all is beginning to sound the same. I can’t tell a Randy Travis, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith or Alan Jackson song apart if my life depended on it.
I grew up on the Jersey shore and a lot of of you could, for that reason, think I am unqualified to make such a judgment. But hold on. I’ve spent the final 30 years in Arizona. Does it get more country or western than that? You know, the home of Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, and where the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ has been filmed.
So I am a transplant with an attitude. Don’t get me wrong, because I’ve given it a try. My late wife has been from West Virginia and, during her mid-life crisis, began playing Country Western (CW) music continuously for five years.  we  had all the CD ’s, radio stations on preset, and even watched the Country Western (CW) awards on TV. I could recognize all the large names, the latest hits, and who has been new to the scene. Through it all, I really tried to enjoy the sound, for her sake. But, eventually, I wandered back to my classic rock and roll, jazz, or blues.
I play the harmonica and keyboard and have oodles of sheet music. I’ve attempted to play a few of the recent Country Western (CW) popular numbers, but to no avail. I’ve several of the older Country Western (CW) classics that have crept into mainstream by Johnny Cash and Ernie Ford, but they are few and far betwixt. The current songs have become a formula that is fodder for Jeff Foxworthy and his ilk. According to people like him, it goes like this:
You start with a sad premise. You’ve lost your: (fill in the blank) i.e., girl, dog, choose up truck. They were your 1st : love, companion, way of freedom. You remember their: smiles, wagging tail, leather seats. You wish you could, once again, feel their: hair, fur, gun rack. You really miss their: smell, smell, smell. You would do anything to get them back: tell her you love her, rub her cute little tummy, (or did I’ve those reversed?) hose her engine compartment. While you’re waiting for them to return, you’ll have to: do your own laundry, fetch your own paper, walk to the liquor store. In other words, it’s not a pretty sight.
So that is my gripe with Country Western (CW). They vary the harmony, the lyrics and the tempo, but the message is obvious. I yearn for a total vary of pace where I could get my ‘Satisfaction’ or ‘Light My Fire.’ But I furthermore have troubles with Hip-Hop, Rap, and Grunge. So, let’s say I’ve got issues and be done with it. And, to all you Country Western (CW) lovers out there, stick with your music and do not let a basher like me vary your tune, pardoning the pun. And did I mention the two things I do like about Dolly Parton?

“ songs go far beyond words in their ability to insert emotion into communication.” Robert Sylwester, A Celebration of Neurons
Filmmakers, If the y knew who brain researcher Robert Sylwester has been, would agree with him. They generally integrate familiar songs into their movies. Pop songs are so successful that movie producers will pay exorbitant sums, in some cases as much as $100,000, to acquire the rights for the song.
Sylwester, in his book A Celebration of Neurons, went on to explain:
“The songs of our adolescent years generally become the beacons of our adult life because they could help us to recall the important developments of our adolescence.  we  generally listen to this music to relive the memories in the extended reverie of song. The song slows the easy message so that  we  can savor all the feelings of the experience.”
In a film composer’s hands, pop songs are chosen and linked to those memories in a way that adds emotional texture to the film. Films with pop music scores function on two distinct levels. The 1st level is the application of the song in the film. Every song lyric tells a story and a well placed song’s story will dovetail with the film’s visual.
The second, and deeper, level is the emotional meaning the use of specific songs brings forth within the listener. The songs become metaphors, placing the subject to be taught in the context of the learners prior experiences. When people hear songs they know, and have individual memories of, they immediately are drawn back into those memories, and the experience is enhanced. In essence, pop music helps us relate to the story being told in a deeply individual, highly emotional way.
Three famous films used this technique to achieve success.
American Graffiti (1973), telling the story of a group of early 1960s high schoolers enjoying a final summer before adulthood, has been intentionally designed as a series of pop music vignettes. George Lucas, the film’s director, developed the storyline, and selected the songs to al most at the same time.
Each scene matched the length of the song accompanying it. For example, Bill Haley’s “ Rock and Roll Around The Clock,” played during the occasion credits, session up the film’s innocence of summer theme. The Crests’ “Sixteen Candles” accompanied a young girls sixteenth birthday. “Teen Angel” by Mark Dinning has been played when a character dies in a drag race. The film ends with the Spaniels’ “Goodnight, Well It is Time To Go.”
The Big Chill tells the story of a group of former 1960s radicals turned 1980s yuppies who gather to mourn the passing of an old friend. like American Graffiti, The Big Chill uses pop songs, although in this case, to add commentary to the on-screen occurrences.
Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” accompanied the actors as they hear about their friend’s passing. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones is played as an ironic commentary on the friend’s death. As the friends discuss relationships, The Young Rascals “Good Lovin’” is performed. Finally, “Bad Moon Rising’” by Credence Clearwater Revival is played immediately after a former lover proposes that she and her old flame reunite for an evening.
The perfect subconscious music placement occurs in a supermarket betwixt the two former lovers who contemplate rekindling their relationship. Although their desire for each other is palpable, both hold back, only conversing about the shopping task at hand as the store’s Muzak system plays Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers In The Night.”
Forest Gump tells the story of a dimwitted man who experiences a series of life adventures over several decades. Because the film’s extended time frame, the music serves to create the time and place.
Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” sessions up Gump’s Vietnam tour. To state that Forest’s girlfriend has moved to California, California Dreaming” by the Mamas and Papas is used. “San Francisco” by Scott Mackenzie frames Forest’s 1960s visit to San Francisco. When Forest returns home to Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” is played. The music placements help the films audiences comprehend the divergent locations and eras represented in the film.
American Graffiti, The Big Chill, and Forest Gump were all highly successful films, and their pop song application played a very large part in creating that success. All three films appealed to people at a deeply individual level.
Pop songs in Learning
In Training With A Beat, I discussed at length the application of pop songs in the learning environment. In part, I said:
“Concert hall s, ballrooms, get togethers, and yes, the class room, can be uncomfortable environments. When people hear a song they’ve listened to in the privacy of their home, they relax. Comfortable music emotionally warms the training room, placing learners in a receptive frame of mind for learning. songs with lyrics, especially popular hits of the final 50 years, are extremely useful for this reason. They are old, well worn, welcome friends.”
songs with lyrics furthermore engage learner brains in multiple ways. The words and rhythm of a song are largely processed in the brain’s left hemisphere, where the melody is  largely processed by the right hemisphere. By using songs with lyrics, you help your learners engage both hemispheres. In the process, they gain a deeper meaning than is possible with one hemisphere alone.
Song lyrics can, as has been the case in The Big Chill, speak directly to the learning topic.
The a lot of applications are too numerous to state in this one article, but several examples should prove the point:
Career planning – “All Star” by Smash Mouth
Change management – “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter
Communication – “Hello, Goodbye” by the Beatles
Conflict management – “Shut Up” by the Black Eye Peas
Customer service – “Lean On Me” by Bill Withers
Diversity – “Short people ” by Randy Newman
Finance – “Takin’ Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Project Management – “One Little Slip” by the Bare Naked Ladies
Sexual harassment – “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
Time management – “Right Place, Wrong Time” by Dr. John
Once you’ve decided on an appropriate song, placement is easy Considering the Randy Newman song “Short people ” for example:
Introduction – play the song as the learners enter. Once the song is over call attention to the songs lyrics and ask for comments about the meaning conveyed by those lyrics. Use those comments as a transition to your presentation.
Filler – play the song during breaks to add a subliminal message to your content.
Activity – Divide your learners into groups and instruct them to read and discuss the lyrics. Then lead a general discussion to share each group’s observations.
Conclusion – Conclude your session by stating, “We are all short people in someone ’s eyes.” Then ask the rhetorical question, “If none of us were welcome around here, who would be left to complete our work?” Start the song and thank anyone for attending. Your learners will walk out of the classroom with the song and its lyrics firmly implanted in their brains, and you will have closed with a visually compelling learning point.
Given the large number of pop songs available, the choices are limited only by your imagination and the musical preferences of your learners. You too could have your learners, in the words of the old song by “M”, “talkin’ ‘bout pop music.”

Pop music is a type of popular music notable from classical or art music and from folk music. The term indicates specific stylistic qualities, but the genre furthermore includes elements of rock, hip-hop, dance, and country, making it a flexible musical form. The definition of pop music is purposefully flexible as the music that is identified as pop is constant ly changing.
The expression pop music could furthermore be used to refer to specific sub genres (within the pop music genre ) that are referred to as soft rock and pop/rock. The pop music genre furthermore generally involves mass marketing and consumer-driven endeavors by major record organizations and music labels, which makes it an generally -scorned genre by non-mainstream musicians as they feel that the quality of music suffers.
The average consumer of pop music is generally identified to be in his or her teenage years, making it an important icon of youth culture. Pop music has always been the source of numerous moral panics, especially as a lot of of the styles that influence it trickle up from minority groups (racial, ethnic, sexual or class-based). This is partly because youth culture itself is an object of social trepidation. It is tempting for anyone to confuse pop music with popular music. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, popular music is identified as the music since industrialization in the 1800’s that is most in line with the tastes and interests of the urban middle class.
This would include an extremely expansive  range of music from vaudeville and minstrel shows to heavy metal. Pop music, on the other hand, has primarily come into usage to describe music that evolved out of the rock n roll revolution of the mid 1950’s and continues in a definable path to today.
One of the steadiest elements of pop music since the 1950’s is the pop song, which isn’t generally written, performed and recorded as a symphony, suite, or performance o. The standard form for pop music is the song and generally a song consisting of verse and repeated chorus. They are short in length but there have been notable exceptions though. The Beatles Hey Jude has been an epic 7 minutes in length. Nonetheless, in a lot of cases, If the song is abnormally long, an edited version is released for radio airplay such as in the case of Don McLean’s truly famous American Pie. It has been edited down from its original 8 1/2 minutes length to just over 4 minutes for radio airplay. While on the other extreme, some hit songs clocked in less than 2 minutes in length.
like other art forms that aim to attract a mass audiences (movies, TV, Broadway shows), pop music has been and continues to be a melting pot that borrows and absorb elements and ideas from a expansive  range of musical styles. Over the past five decades, pop music has been influenced and in company d genres of music like Rock, R&B in numerous ways. Most recently, Latin music seems to be impacting pop music more meaningful ly than at any point in the past.
Although pop music continues to be a melting pot of styles, there is a type of pop music that claims to be pop music in its purest form. This music, generally called pure pop or power pop, typically consists of relatively brief (not over 3 1/2 minutes) songs played on the standard electric guitar, bass and drums with vocals that have a truly strong catchy chorus, or hook.
In the 2000s, hip-hop blended in with pop music, is paving the way for the multi platinum successes of musicians like Nelly, Eminem, 50 Cent, Ludacris, Ciara, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani and especially Britney Spears. musicians such as Mariah Carey and pop queen, Madonna, presented comeback albums that continued to make them rule the music charts and keep their titles.
For the past 50 years the most successful musical styles on the pop charts have continually vary d and evolved and times will tell as how much more popular they become in future.

The history of rap music would not be complete in the absence of a look at the performers who make it all possible – the rap musicians. Most rap music typically includes one or more rappers who generally rap about their own individual life stories, important get togethers in their lives, or social problems they wish to make a public statement about. Rap songs could furthermore represent romanticized or fictional themes. The sky is the limit. Musically, rap songs generally have a strong rhythmic aspect with the spoken lyrics emulating the intense rhythm of the beat. Rap songs are known to make use of a lot of poetic techniques including easy word rhymes and alliteration.
The history of rap music furthermore shows that the instrumental track or beat performed by the disc jockey generally includes the rhythms and beat “samplings” from popular and/or well-known funk, rock, or soul songs. The sampled sounds and rhythms are synthesized, integrated, and reinvented with original twists by the performers.
Two other highly popular aspects of rap music that saw their hasty growth into the American mainstream are break dancing and tagging (graffiti). Break dancers and taggers are now stars in their own right with loyal followers and audiences throughout the world. Annual break dancing competitions are now truly popular even in countries throughout Europe and Asia. The history of rap music can be considered relatively new, yet it’s obvious ly a compelling influence in today ’s music world. Indeed,  the musical influence of New York(NY) City African American and Latino culture is now as pervasive globally as fast food hamburger chains.

I am not sure if anyone has been watching out there, about the types of music that  we  are listening to. Let us look at them for a minute. Our grandparents listen to music like ; “Happy Days are Here Again, the Skies Above Are Clear Again.” children today listen to RAP, which actually begins with a ‘C’ except the ‘C’ is silent in this new spelling and pronunciation. Its really, CRAP. A radio station in Texas is actually called K-RAP. Perfect.
It isn’t that the music is so bad; actually it’s nice, because its rhythm and cadence puts people in a convergence state of mind. In other words it puts them into theta state of mind and that is where it’s easier to suggest a new thought or to brainwash in sleep state. The initiation of such brainwaves is compelling indeed. The tactics are furthermore used in certain churches and Sales and motivational seminars. furthermore during commercials and government uses them to some degree for important endeavor s, for instance cadence in military marching. The gangster rap isn’t nice in that it suggests killing, drugs, other gang activities while putting its listener into the convergence state of mind. This is a negative thing, and could cause these individuals to dwell on certain thoughts and give them ideas that they could with proper gang mentality attempt one or more of the activities talked about in the songs. It would be much better to have songs with that type of cadence, which  promote d nice deeds and love. Perhaps there are a lot of of these types of songs yet they do not sell truly well and I do not here positive rap songs as much as I should. Mostly the Gangster Rap.
a lot of Techno type songs are furthermore negative in nature. But these songs do not have the proper beats per minute to put a individual into a trance like state, where suggestive behavior is introduced that is a throw back to before the human vary in society. It’s possible to disallow this type of music? Music is an escape for a lot of people to the fast paced life, and being in a trace state is could a nice state to be in, if one wanted to escape from the world for a while. A strong Bass in a song and certain beats per minute introduce this convergence state, then the subject is 100 percent ready for fresh new input. Theta States of mind are induced and a waken dream state offers for easy subconscious input.
But what are  we  allowing to be put into these minds of altered state? songs of this nature are better than drugs, yet the drugs would effect the singular and not the victims of the deed that are done once the behavior of an individual are altered through this convergence. There’s freedom of expression in this country yet the audiences are not realizing the effect of the varys as they occur. They are being brain has been hed while listening to their preferred music. Which become more favored because it puts them in a trace state allowing them to escape from problems of life. Hey no one said life has been easy, right? I believe Rappers should be thrown in the trash cans, not littering the minds of our youth. It costs organizations resources for graffiti cleaning and tax payers resources in police. The fee to society is too excellent to calculate as a whole, but it’s real. Rather than eliminate a cultural phenomena.
Let us instead make each record label and performer (I use this loosely as I do not approve of the RAP, but in the absence of passing judgment) create 10 songs with positive lyrics for every one song of negative lyrics. That solves that problem. people could still escape in their trance state, record organizations still make resources, the constitution is still upheld, but there will be less negative and more positive thought going on when trance like state is producing more of one chemical in the brain than another. A individual in this state is easy to recognize, their eyes are glossy and remain so for while after wards.

Pop music is a liberal and vague category of modern music not marked by artistic considerations but by its promising audiences or future market. Pop is music composed with calculated objective to influence the majority of its contemporaries.
In contrast to music that calls for education or arrangement to appreciate, a meaningful characteristic of pop music is that anyone is able to enjoy it. Artistic concepts such as complex musical form and aesthetics are not a matter in the writing of pop songs, the key aim being audiences satisfaction and commercial triumph. Although the aim of pop music is to sell records and do really well in the charts, it does not require expansive  acclaim or commercial success. There are bad or unsuccessful pop songs.
Originally the term has been an abbreviation of, and synonymous to, popular music, but developed around 1954 to express a specific musical category. The stylistic origins of pop music is folk, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, traditional pop music. The typical instruments are electric guitar, bass guitar, drum kit and keyboard. The cultural origins date back to 1950’s in the United States. It is popular globally since 1960s.
The standard format of pop music is the song, generally less than five minutes in length. The instrumentation could range from an orchestra to a lone singer. In spite of this expansive  choice, a standard lineup in a pop performer includes a lead guitarist, a bassist, a drummer (or an electronic drum machine), a keyboardist and one or more singers, generally not themselves instrumentalists.
Pop songs are generally conspicuous by a heavy rhythmic element, a mainstream style and traditional structure. The most common modification is strophic in form and focuses on memorable melodies, catchy hooks and the appeal of the verse-chorus-verse arrangement, with the chorus sharply contrasting the verse melodically, rhythmically and harmonically.
Lyrics in pop compositions are generally easy and speak of universal experiences and feelings, moving away from incomprehensible or debatable issues.The international appeal of pop has been obvious in the new millennium, with musicians from around the world influencing the genre and local/regional variants merging with the mainstream. As of 2008, pop music is now currently the most popular style of music of youth culture, making competition with hip hop, dance and country.

Pop music is a type of popular music distinguished from classical or art music and from folk music . The term indicates specific stylistic traits, but the genre furthermore includes musicians working in a lot of styles such as rock, hip hop, rhythm and blues ( R&B ), and country, making it a flexible category. The expression “pop music” could furthermore be used to refer to specific sub genres (within the pop music genre ) that are in some cases referred to as soft rock and pop/rock.
Characteristics as a sub genre
Pop “is designed to appeal to everyone” and ” does not come from any specific place or mark off any specific taste.” In musical terms, it’s essentially “conservative” in that it attempts to resonate with a large segment of its target demographic rather than pushing artistic boundaries. It is ” offer d from on high (by record organizations, radio programmers and performance  promoters) rather than being made from below…” (Frith 2001, p.95-96). But over time, pop has gone from “popular in general” to “a genre ” described as sounding musically similar to rap, but with singing. This is due to radio stations labeling themselves as “pop stations” taking heavy prefer ence over certain sounds, tossing other popular bands who do not fit into the sound or other types like rock into the “alternative” label.
generally used to describe the current popular genres of music of any given time, the term “pop” can’t be used describe any one specific style.
History of pop music
1930s and 1940s
Styles influencing the later development of pop include the Blues (Chicago), and Country (Tennessee)
1950s
Early Pop music musicians include Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and Peggy Lee, but other musicians like Bill Haley and his Comets, Fats Domino and Elvis Presley become popular with the young generation.
1960s
The decade begins out with such Teen Idols such as, Johnny Tillotson, Bobby Vee, Brian Hyland, Tommy Roe, Gene Pitney, and Frankie Avalon. It explodes midway with Carole King, Neil Diamond, Burt Bacharach, Aretha Franklin, Isley Brothers, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, and Simon and Garfunkel. It can be said that The Beatles led the British Invasion in this decade.
1970s
A proliferation of new sounds from the disco of the BeeGees, the piano sounds of Billy Joel and Elton John, the country of the Eagles, the rock-influenced pop of musicians like Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac. ABBA has been a swedish performer who grew to fame after winning Eurovision Song Contest and starting a whole new revolution of pop music.
1980s
Notable highlights for pop music in the 1980s are Michael Jackson’s second Epic label release, Thriller, which went on to become the perfect -selling album of all time, and Madonna albums ” like a Virgin”, “True Blue”, ” like a Prayer” . Michael Jackson has been every now and then referred to as “The King of Pop” and Madonna has been named “The Queen of Pop”. Other musicians included Michael Bolton, Prince, Janet Jackson, Duran Duran, The Police, ABBA, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Kylie Minogue and Culture Club.
1990s and 21st century
The 1990s and 21st century were marked by a resurgence of boy performer and girl group trends. From the United Kingdom came the likes of Take That, Blue, the Spice Girls, a highly successful formula. Irish boy bands of the time include Boyzone and Westlife. The United States had New Edition, New children On The Block followed by the Backstreet Boys, Hanson, girl trio Destiny’s Child and then ‘N Sync and Pop Princesses Willa Ford, Mandy Moore, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera. Canadian Avril Lavigne became popular with her album Let Go. Australia had Boys from Oz. 1999 saw the rise of the Latin explosion with Ricky Martin at the forefront with his globally smash hit “Livin’ La Vida Loca”. Other latin musicians to follow were Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, and Marc Anthony. In 2002, Justin Timberlake had critical and commercial acclaim with his “Justified” album, emerging as the new “Prince of Pop”, Jesse McCartney has emerged from Dream Street as a high-rating singer with songs like She’s No You, Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff has become popular in the 2000s. musicians like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Kylie Minogue, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain and Madonna have furthermore been highly successful. Reality TV shows, such as American Idol, begin producing multi-platinum musicians like Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. British pop rock groups such as McFly emerge.
Sound and themes
Pop music, in whatever musical influence form it derives from, can be produced by a more standard songwriting approach and arrangement. The emphasis is generally on a easy r melody, which makes the songs more memorable, and could use stripped-down rhythms. The mixture of the melody and the rhythm allows for harmony to be a driving force of the song. Themes range from individual songs to vivacious gathering jams. Nonetheless, the most common theme deals with the expansive  range of feelings which stem from physical or emotional love.
Music videos and live shows are generally used for exposure in the media, and musicians could have extravagant stage shows and use choreographed dancing. a lot of pop tunes are used in both Dance clubs and Sport club s.

What is ‘pop music?’ Where did this distinction arise and what is it’s purpose? If it has a purpose, who does it serve?
On close examination, you see that it’s the way society absorbs a thing; the way the tiger is defanged. It is another useful illusion from society’s toolbox of illusions. All through my school years, I had to put up with this prattle about ‘ meaningful music,’ and ‘pop music.’ Oh sure, I bought into it a bit, at 1st. But one only has to question the status quo.
1st of all,  we  all know what it means, this business of ‘pop music’ and ‘ meaningful music.’ It depends a lot on what side of the fence you’re sitting on, of course. If you’re a ‘ meaningful musician,’ ‘ meaningful music’ is ‘ nice,’ and ‘pop’ music is ‘bad.’ Of course  we  all know that ‘ meaningful music’ will make you no resources. Why? Because it’s ‘ nice,’ of course, and the majority of people do not know about ‘ nice.’ They only pay for music that is ‘bad.’
Now to be fair, if you’re on the other side of this specific fence, ‘ meaningful music’ is ‘boring,’ ( that is bad) and pop music is ‘cool.’ ( That is ‘ nice ‘). Furthermore, this historically speaking, has tended to be ‘radical’ and ‘revolutionary.’
‘Serious music?’ Part of the establishment.
It is important to reflect on the political demographics implied by these distinctions in music. They are fairly obvious, when you prevent to contemplate it, but it’s exciting that most people toss these distinctions about in the absence of a second thought. From these two easy musical types, you could freely build up profiles of the listener’s politics, religion, average income and so on and so on. people do plot these demographics. Not the audiences, but the people who are in the business of sales and marketing.
Nonetheless, as you could suspect, all these demographics are bound and held in place by belief systems that are spun on half truths, exaggeration and out right fantasy.
Even ‘ meaningful ‘ musicians have allowed themselves to be saddled with ridiculous myths and caricature profiles of past composers, much to their own detriment and decline of the tradition. Most of these folks, who should know better, have been content with whatever historical spin has been handed down.
This kind of thinking has drained the important ity out of the tradition. Take just the idea that composers like Beethoven and Mozart were not actually popular until after their death. Th isn’t ion has bred a mentality that has said whatever it creates is too nice for present day audiencess and it must constant ly create for some, undefined, superior future audiences. This furthermore conveniently isolates it from any criticism of what’s going on.
In point of fact, Beethoven has been acknowledged as the biggest living composer in his own lifetime. The city of Vienna, an historically important center of culture in Europe, paid the man to live there. As far as being ‘radical’ or ‘revolutionary,’ well, let’s see;  we  have Beethoven dedicating his third symphony to the leader of the French Revolution.  we  have Hector Berlioz composing an enduring masterpiece while stoned on opium.
We have premiers of famous classical works like Bolero and the Rite of Spring that were either banned or caused a riot. This list goes on and on.
And what of this hoary chestnut that states pop music is a lesser discipline? Anyone with a musical ear could tell you that there’s been plenty of excellent ‘pop music.’ And why not? a lot of of these musician s, like Elton John, went to music school. They’re ‘ meaningful musician s.’ So why this excellent deceit? The most obvious suspect is the music business, but it’s obvious by now, that they have no idea what  they are  doing either.
No, the deeper reality is that, as long as there has been a culture in the western hemisphere, there has been a counter culture. All this business of counter culture, that supposedly began in the sixties, didn’t.
How far back does it go? Well. Richard Wagner, in his early days, has been part of a free love movement in Ger a lot of and his 1st opera has been called ‘Forbidden Love,’ and it has nothing to do with rings of power or Teutonic nymphs.
It is an opera that Wagner, later in his life, professed that he would like to forget about, and, well, we’re just not going to let him. I will deal with culture and its twin, counter culture in subsequent articles.