Quote:
Originally Posted by robinjessome
Nah, classical music ostracized the average listener by getting too complex and introverted for its own good. Jazz did the same thing.
I doubt that Steve who works at Burger King cares that musicologists, classical musicians, or music academia are 'railing against' pop music. I doubt grade 9 student Tiffany in Omaha subscribes to Perspectives of New Music or reads essays by Adorno.  It just a bunch of musical elitists soapboxing about the downfall of classical music, no one outside the airtight box you guys (classical folk who bitch about pop music, no one in particular) built for yourselves even pays you any attention.
I think.
Also, to inflict some more spectacular pop music - dig the harmonies, the counterpoint at 1:50. Stunning! And (holy shit) they did it without Autotune and teams of Swedish songwriters 
YouTube - It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday |
Oh I completely agree. I think a big part of the reason that it got so focused on complexity and introversion is because there was this elite attitude early in the 20th century where composers liked to think that their music was far superior to pop music and so didn't have to cater to the common person.
Wikipedia isn't always the most accurate so I take this with a grain of salt but what it says about Aaron Copland's early work makes a lot of sense (
link). Jazz is another good example. Chick Corea
was all about avant garde jazz early on until he realized that it didn't connect with the average person. He apparently came to the conclusion that the conversation between artist and audience was essential and, in my opinion, found a lot of balance between complexity and accessibility. He appears to be in the minority when it comes to people who write complex music. There's this sort of selfishness that says that it doesn't matter if the audience is affected by the music that I think leads to the introversion that you're referring to.
I know I've had many discussions with Varese fans about this. It seems that if the composer is so complex that only a few people get it, or think they do, then it's great and society is just on some sort of cultural delay. It turns into this big F-you to the common person who could care less about what type of cadence a composer just used or the theory behind serial pieces. You really can't blame people for shunning classical music when this is the stance of the artists.
I think I might have gotten off track there. But yeah, I agree with the introverted tendencies being the culprit. I just think those tendencies come out of this hatred and sense of superiority over the often simplistic styles in pop music.