Weaknesses of the production of culture theory

Peterson's picked out the year 1955 as the year of the birth of the rock and roll and applied the production of culture theory to suggests reasons why this form of music emerged almost over night in this decade. His theory does provide us with interesting points and facts surrounding the cultural elements and factors that helped rock and roll become the popular genre of music in this decade, however it lacks depth when answering the question of why this form of music emerged as the popular form and not another genre. His suggestion of the six key factors for the emergence of rock and roll in1955 do show weaknesses, for example, the idea of technology as a key feature promoting the dominance of rock and roll in this decade is questionable. The suggestion of the invention of the television and transistors in this decade provide no evidence to suggest that this helped rock and roll appeal to a mass audience because it wasn't exclusively rock and roll music that was being played on these portable radio's or television sets so it still leaves the question hanging as to why this particular genre became popular over others. As well as this, he suggests that the six key factors he outlines could be applied to other changes in society which is not a realistic suggestion, for example, Punk music was largely a reaction to political movements in the 70's and so suggesting that, for example, occupational careers was a key factor in its popularity inthis decade would be difficult to comprehend. Overall, when discussing the topic of why rock and roll music emerged in this decade should focus on the music itself and not get caught up in cultural factors as Peterson has because in order to answer the question of why it was this particular genre over another, you have to look into what was different or unique about this particular type of music that made it so popular among the masses in this decade.

what is popular music?

Popular music can be very difficult to define. 'Popular' is often thought of as something that is widely favoured or even as something 'good', but 'popular' can be affected by many variables, including a persons age, culture and interests. This therefore poses a problem to the question of 'what is popular music' as what is seen as 'good' music by one person may not be seen in the same way by another. For example, a person age 20 could be very interested in the indie rock music scene and see other genres of music i.e. hip-hop as tasteless. The varying opinions expressed by individuals echoes the idea of how defining popular music can be difficult but overall it would seem to suggest that popular music consists of a mix of musical styles which ultimately attract consumers through a number of varying ways i.e. ideology (associating a song with a particular event/memory) but also individual taste which makes individual songs/music popular.