Music

Music has always played an integral roll in human culture and society. From the early days of string and wind instruments to the electronic sound of today there is as much importance placed on what the music sounds like as to how it is integrated into society. In the article by Schmutz and Faupel they state, “The historical importance of an album can be highlighted in several ways, such as its impact on the field, other artists or the broader society.” (Schmutz & Faupel, pg 689) This importance that they are talking about is complicated in its own way. For example, someone who thinks of the Rolling Stones as purely misogynistic may challenge the view of someone who thinks a group such as the Rolling Stones has been incredibly important to musical history. Whether the Rolling Stones are really that important is not my point, the fact that people can have a conscious and educated discussion about their impact is what matters.
As time continues to move forward society changes and cultures follow by shifting and maneuvering to fit the spontaneous manifestations of new forms of media. Music acts as a main driver for the direction of cultural change and is a major force in any area of society. The importance of music in our society helps to shape ideas and beliefs, it creates a space for communication, and it delivers messages to an extremely broad audience (or delivers the message from an extremely large audience to a select group of people). The direction of music is generally driven by the participants but is also dependent on its acceptance within society. “Just as directors became the “artists” of American cinema, rock musicians became seen as the “artists” behind their form of cultural expression.” (Schmutz & Faupel, pg 690) This exemplifies how artists of the 60’s cultural movement became drivers of the music and therefore they became leaders for society as a whole. The problem I find with this is that the majority of those “artists” were white males who had never experienced oppression on the same level as a minorities or even females had. This is important because the people who were in control of the music then are still mostly in charge of the music (pop culture specifically) now.
In Schmutz and Faupel’s article they review and analyze the Rolling Stone Magazine top 500 albums list, “Overall, 17.8 percent of reviews for male artists contain at least one reference to historical importance and influence compared to 10.5 percent of female artists. Critics, for example, invoke terms such as ‘landmark,’ ‘watershed’ and ‘monumental’ to describe albums by male artists.” (Schmutz & Faupel, pg 698) This points to the idea that the hegemony within our society is still very directed towards appealing to white male ideals. The terms used in male reviews show how this hegemony expects females to be real and emotional but not of extreme importance. By using language that refers to the femininity of female artist’s music and not using words such as ‘monumental’ they are degrading the importance of these albums produced and performed by women.
Another degrading aspect of the reviews include, “Among reviews of female artists, 65.8 percent contain at least one type of reference to social or professional networks, compared to only 44.3 percent of males reviews.” (Schmutz & Faupel, pg 701) I feel that this is showing the disregard of the importance female artist’s roll in producing the music. By stating a network connection to the women involved in the music the reviewers are implying that the women couldn’t have done it on their own. This is a way to denounce and degrade the importance of female albums. And so continues the hegemony of Western civilization, where we place an importance on liberation of the human kind but when everyone wants the same freedom it is misconstrued or melded to fit societies previously existing standards.