Josh Bates & Kristin M. Barton
Each of the artists represented above share a mix of rock, pop, and electronic
content; whereas popular artists pre-2001 were independently adding variety
to the charts, not sharing fashionable music-trends. While a keen listener
may be able to distinguish subtle nuances between these songs that could
promote genre disparity and arguably provide the artists with faint shades
of variety (such as Macklemore’s hip hop tonality, Pink’s pop sensibility, and
Imagine Dragons’ rock overtures), all of the artists in RS’s June, 2013, top 5
list share similarly catchy hooks (memorable melodies) and pulsing, dancelike rhythms, derived from the electronically generated beats and synthesized
chord progressions.
To say that a parallel activity exists between the industry’s homogenous
musical output beginning in 2001 and American Idol is not to imply that there
were no homogenous songs before the show; it is to indicate that this lack
of disparity has been perpetuated by the talent-based competition and has
decreased America’s overall desire for creative and fresh music. Music is a
compelling medium that is crucial to the lives of listeners (Levitin); it is an
artistic expression unlike any other in its ability to combine auditory, visual,
and memory-based activity. A song can please the listener as it travels from
the ears through the brain’s membranes, causing the individual to recall
vivid images, and heighten one’s mood. The medium is invaluable, and it is
important that research is performed to preserve its integrity. Future studies in
this area may be able to expose more expansive results of the homogenous
of pitch content and decibel levels (similar to the research conducted by Serrà
et al.) within contemporary songs, a further decrease in musical diversity may
be revealed.
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