The theory bit

In this blog I've discussed what some in society thinks about American Pie, but what would the theorists make of it. Adorno said that this type of music is just right for the lower classes - music to keep them happy and that doesn't require much thinking about. He said that this type of music all the same - that the songs just have slight variations to them and they are churned out to appeal to the masses. Higher classes would listen to something requiring more intellect, like classical music. However, although undoubtedly the song appeals to a lot of people, if you actually listen to the words they are actually quite serious and indepth, and you do need to listen to them to appreciate what they mean.

The way society was changing at the time of the song, with teenagers having more disposable income and getting into different types of music and rock and roll seems to be in line with Gramsci's thinking that the element of power changes continuously - as we can see here with teenagers gaining more power and not depending on their parents so much. Also, Gramsci though that youth rebels to the dominant classes and this seems to be the case in relation to hippies, as they seemed to be rebelling to the upper classes in society by having their peace rallies etc. However this was only because they were learning more and more about the world and wanted to do something about what they saw as the wrong doings and to be fair they didn't seem to cause much serious trouble. The CCCS carried this on - they recognised that people were divided by their subculture - by their race for example, and this also is shown in song when Mclean talks about the three black teenageers being killed.

We could also mention Bordieau here and his habitus - this is still a popular song all round the world - certainly I know it from my parents being part of the youth culture in the 60's and this type of music being played in the house, and I'm assuming a lot of Americans know it by the same way - perhaps as we grow up singing Flower of Scotland or Auld Lang Syne, so our taste seems to come from where and who we are in society.

So, although American Pie seems be just a good old wholesome song on the surface, ther are a lot of serious elements to it - probably the same can be said of a lot of music that Adorno would pass off as "trashy"! So, although theorists do play a large part in helping us understand youth culture, theories are just that, theories, and they can be wrong sometimes.