New York Times has become one of the most read newspapers in America and across the globe. It has won the Pulitzer Prize 98 times since its beginning in 1851 and the opinions of its writers are not taken lightly. It encompasses readers of every race, religion, color, and age, making for a diverse paper that covers almost every subject underneath the sun. From sports and entertainment to business and politics, the reader can rest assured that it holds the latest and most accurate news on whatever subject they are looking for. Because of its world-renowned name and immense popularity, the public holds the New York Times as a valid source and its writers as some of the best in their field. The review “The Case against Coldplay” by Jon Pareles was held with no less esteem. His skillful use of sarcastic humor, impregnable facts, and logical assertions make for an argument that shows much insight into the critical world of music. While his “Case against Coldplay” holds immeasurable vulnerabilities his undeniable use of examples, critique, and humor go far to making this argument an almost success.
Jon Pareles has been declared by Ira Robbins (the co-founder and co-editor of the Trouser Press) in Stephen Ward’s article “The Grey Lady’s Pop Music Man”, “by far the finest working critic in America” and America has had no reason to dispute that statement. His name as a critic is renowned and his opinions are not taken for granted by music artist or consumers. As a well- seasoned critic, Jon Pareles is completely aware of the diverse and well-informed audience he is addressing his argument to, and as such he leaves no angle of the argument unaddressed. He completely annihilates opposition by candidly stating every point that opposes his arg...
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... his argument and appealing to the reader’s sense of justice and logic. His professional handling of sarcastic humor, that would be the death to most critics, undeniably makes this argument an almost success. In “The Case against Coldplay”, while Pareles may not make a complete success of his argument by being almost overly critical of Coldplay’s music, he does present his work well with the professionalism and skill that has made his name famous in the world of entertainment. Whether ignorant, fanatical, or critical of Coldplay’s music, Pareles’ succeeds in appealing to the innate sense of logic and justice that lies within each human with indisputable facts and borderline humor.
Works Cited
Pareles, Jon. “The Case against Coldplay.” Everything’s an Argument. Ed. Andrea A.
Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2007. 281-284.
The celebrity who will be the subject of this paper will be Trent Reznor, the widely acclaimed musician and frontman for the band known as Nine Inch Nails. Though it is considered a band, Reznor is the only permanent member, the primary songwriter and performer, and it is widely considered that his “band” is primarily just him mostly alone working under the name Nine Inch Nails.
The nineties were an exceptional decade for music which, unfortunately, has not been reprised to this day. The formerly mentioned decade witnessed the emergence of alternative rock music as an outlet for those who were saturated by the excesses that characterized the eighties and the lack of substance of some of its music. Accordingly, during the nineties, music audiences began to value talent over appearance, catchy rhythms, meaningless lyrics, and flashy choreographies. Moreover, throughout this time, music was conceived as a means to inspire and move listeners, rather than a mere tool for product placement. Thus, the nineties gave birth to a phenomenal musical genre that has yet to be surpassed since it created a deep connection with the afflicted souls of a generation, valued music’s inspirational quality over intricate musical arrangements, and introduced the world to a plethora of invaluable artists for whom music was their utmost priority.
In conclusion, I would like to state that even though this paper has marked a clear difference between what is perceived through the eyes of a witness as opposed to a research, the grunge movement, although a media commodity, an ironic mainstream movement whose philosophy was to oppose the mainstream in the first place, has left its mark on the music industry. It should, under no circumstance, be assumed that all there was to the grunge movement was a manipulation. It was the heart and soul of its audience, and remains quite so today, on an international basis. Not for its history, but for the content of its music.
The point made previously is not to critique any pop icon’s talent, which clearly they have proved to possess an abundance of it to keep the public swooning at their every whim, but instead, to show that there are musicians out there producing beautiful music without the threat of corruption and adherence to mainstream culture. In fact, a whole genre contains the melodic purity just described: folk music. Unaffected by the burden of performing solely to please mass audiences around the world, folk musicians are able express the contents of their hearts. a feat that is considered career suicide for any mainstream musician. Sure they lack the fame, wealth, and prestige of any well known rapper or rock star displayed in the media with the acclaim of demigods, but their lack of creative restraint leads to an even greater connection between the sweet music they create and the limited individuals lucky enough to have heard of them.
The mass media has been involved has been involved in the many so-called problems that music causes in society today. The attempted censorship of music is not just because people need a cause to fight. In today's society there are many problems that experts feel are directly related to music. Some of these problems are suicide, murder and sexual assault. Many people argue that it is not only music made for entertainment purposes. Many parents and experts argue that rappers and musicians use vulgar, profane, sexually explicit lyrics to target the teenage market because money is a major issue and this kind of media is a hot commodity. Another popular subject that has taken heat and was attempted to be censored is politically charged music. During the Vietnam War many songs blasted the government. "For what it's worth" by Buffalo Springfield is a song documenting the actions by San Francisco police taken against members of the band at a peaceful protest. This song is not the first and was definitely not the...
In contrast, today’s popular music is of a secular origin. Some types of contemporary music mirror the decline in our value system. The “pop” or “hip-hop” culture is characterized by explicit sexuality, habitual use of profanity, and depiction of extreme violence in music and all other forms of entertainme...
Young, D. (2004). The Promotional State and Canada's Juno Awards. Popular Music , 23, 271.
Healthy debates have been caused by today's music. Generally, foul language has rapidly increased within modern popular song lyrics, especially among rap and heavy metal artists' songs. An increase in explicit violence and misogyny in popular music lyrics has been recorded. These lyrics have been judged to be inspirations for violent, suicidal, and criminal acts. For example, Mr. Raymond Kuntz referred to his son's incident. ''When his wife went to wake their son for school, they found him dead of a gunshot wound, still wearing his headphones with Marilyn Manson's Anti-Christ Superstar CD still in the player. The boy's favorite song was ''The Reflecting God (Nina Crowley, ''Senate Hearings on Music, Newsgroup at page 2, November 15, 1997).'' However, the artists and producers defend the musical lyrics, and claim that these acts come purely from self-inspiration, not extrinsic influence such as their music. If this were true, then why would 59 % of substance abusers name heavy metal as their favorite type of music? ( Javier Martin, ''Separating Fact from Fiction: Rock Music and Violence'' November 28, 1997, page 2). Most teenagers listen to popular music, and learn from the words of the artists. Therefore, if an artist sets an example of being ''cool'' and performing harmful acts, a listener may reproduce his learned actions. ''Rappers call on their fans to kill, dismember, and smash the heads of teachers, and dumb cops (Peter Viles, ''Bulgaria's racist rap.'' World Press Review June 1996: Page 41).'' The entire world is affected by this reoccurring theme, since adolescents are influenced by music on a daily basis. Although almost everyone is directly affected, some people do not admit to profane music having a personal influence. ''People perceive media content to have greater impact on others than on themselves.'' (Douglas M. McLeod, ''Support for Censorship of Violent and Misogynic Rap Lyrics.'' Communication Research, April 1997: page 153). Naturally, the majority of youth is heavily influenced by music, and needs to be protected from the harm of obscene artists. Due to its negative affects upon society, I believe the government should further restrict music that has been specified as dangerous to the well being of the listeners.
The music industry’s history is a convoluted mess. There is no real consensus on what the music industry IS and what paths it has taken. Were the Beatles the greatest band to ever exist? Maybe. Is there a hyper objectification of women throughout the “men’s club” that is the music industry? Probably. It’s this hard to define, frankly confusing business that is worth roughly $130 billion dollars today. With it’s flimsy and opaque edges, can the music industry ever be called into question on its wrongdoings? The racist undertone throughout its history may force it to. With the music industry as an ever growing business that seems to change almost every decade, the one thing that has not changed throughout time is an undercurrent of racism that
‘Analysing popular music: theory, method and practise’ (Tagg, 1982) is an article that illustrates brilliantly the issues and nuances of analysing and discussing popular music. It lays out a scientific method for achieving analytical goals, using some of Tagg’s previous work to help explain his methodology and process. In the first part of this essay, I will discuss the analysis of ‘Kojak Theme’ (Goldenberg, 1973) and ABBA’s ‘Fernando’ (ABBA, 1976) that Tagg writes about in his work.
This article demonstatres how important Kurt Cobain was both as a rock and roll icon and a philosopher. His songs which he recorded himself are still popular today, over 20 years after his death. The author argues how Cobain influences other young artists and his effect on the direction of the music industry.
Throughout their career, Coldplay have continued to develop their sound whilst staying grounded and in touch with the world around them. Over almost the past two decades Coldplay has been taking the world by storm with their music reaching all corners of the world, Coldplay have a very diverse range of fans and followers aiding in their ever-increasing involvement in issues affecting a broad majority of the world. Though their journey to fame was a relatively slow burn, Coldplays flare for entertaining, passion for performance, ongoing release of music and constant charity work has kept them in the publics’ line of sight for over 18 years. Coldplay have been nominated for and won a multitude of awards during their career and have been and still
Pop culture is evident in all aspects of American society but one of the greatest influences is seen in music. Music has evolved so much since the time of the great singers like Elvis and the Beatles. This change can be attributed to advancements in technology but, in some cases, what appears to be growth has become nothing but a lack of talent and dependence on machines and a naïve American people. Many of these artists achieve their fame because of their outward appearance-usually after cosmetic surgery-and the machines that generate their voices. In his essay titled “The Soundtracking of America,” J. Bottum agrees that “western pop songs make us ‘forcibly retarded,’ because they’re so shallow and because we’re compelled to hear the same ones over and over again.” Radio stations only play the so-called “pop” songs and, therefore, we, as a culture, are subjected and even forced to like these often obnoxious tunes. The songs rarely have any merit but are supported ...
Due to the marketing of popular music, music has an immense effect on the way people view things within society creating an effect on our thoughts and perspectives. Popular music guides music artists to produce what is in high demand, which results in pseudo-individualization and standardization (Allen, 2005). It consists of a variety of themes that are presented by different music artists on a regular basis. One of the well-known themes is exploiting sexuality and gender in order to be successful. Social constructions versus essentialism are highlighted components that are constantly expressed in today’s popular music culture. Today’s popular music consists of a variety of sexual references to attract consumers. Whether it i...
With the music being the highly profitable, capitalist enterprise that it is today, it is no wonder that it is controlled and regulated by a few large conglomerates that exist is today’s world. It is important to make clear that although evidence is being presented of the positive aspects of globalization through music that there is overwhelming evidence that cultural imperialism is more than it seems on the outside. One must keep in mind that cultural imperialism, globalization and the creation of a global village is a business. People are profiting at other people’s loss of cultural identity, they are sold a culture and heritage. With the every growing N’Sync fan clubs and Britney clones, the world is turning into a stage for pop culture and its glamorous unattainable standards.