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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 10. May 22, 1974
Taste in pop music a social problem
Taste in pop music a social problem
Dear Sir,
I would first like to congratulate who-ever wrote the story on rock music (using my name) in last week's Salient. I feel the importance of taste in pop music is an important social problem and not yet property investigated. I would like to bring up several points about the article.
| 1) | The possibility that lower class children have less opportunity to hear rock music than that on the radio (i.e. rich kids parents have a decent stereo, the poor kids have the juke box at the hamburger bar). The source of appreciation would definitely colour the selection of music. Top twenty and Reggae is little distorted by playing upon transistor radios, while full appreciation of progressive artists such as Yes and ELP requires a good hifi. |
| 2) | If you think English folk music is alien to rock you obviously haven't been to a Fairport Convention concert. |
| 3) | There seems to be significantly more appreciation of progressive artists by older rock enthusiasts. Perhaps the reason upper-class seeking teenagers like progressive rock is that they have more contact with older people in circumstances where rock is involved (e.g. kids who intend to go to university may attend more university rock concerts). |
| 4) | If revolutionary movements can't use rock music to their advantage at least as a neutral medium involving youth, then the revolutionary movement probably hasn't got the organisation to 'build a paper bag, and probably hasn't got the correct mass line for youth anyway. |
Leslie Wall