Theodor Adorno's Perspective on Pop Music and Capitalist Culture

Theodor Adorno, a German philosopher and founder of the Frankfurt School. Being a hardcore marxist, Adorno argues that capitalism has stripped humans of their freedom of creativity and has bound them as a tool for the means of production. Capitalism boils people down to what they should do, rather than exploring what their capabilities allow them to do. He argues that pop music is a threat to civilization by its opposition and obstruction to the path of social freedom. Primarily by applying formulas to music in order to appeal to the masses, namely standardization; and creating a false sense of freedom in consumer choice, namely pseudo-individualization, both of which lie in the heart of caplistic regimes, people are brainwashed into thinking they are in charge of choices while in reality they are not.

Adorno argues that the pop music today enforces artists to produce music in basic harmonical structures that is easily understood by the mass; its continuous enforcement hinders our ability to appreciate serious music and express creativity in the art of music. The standardized scheme, that Adorno refers to, consists of 32 bars and, one octave and note that make it easily reproducible by following a recipe. Thus, the formulated device (standardization) will guarantee the same familiar experience, regardless of any irregularity, and will not produce anything new. In contrast to serious music, such as Beethoven or Mozart, that use orchestras to produce their particular sounds and melodies that all the instruments play together to the piece as a whole. This reflects Adorno whole and part analogy, where the “wholeness” or unity of serious music cannot be compared with the pop music because of it inhernet fragmentation, or “the whole is pre-given and pre-accepted”.

For example, Ariana Grande's hit single: “God is a Woman” charted at number four comapred to the rest of the chart toppers on the Billboard top 100. However, we do notice that her songs structure is very much similar to the rest of the popular music: limited and signature use of instruments, such as techno beats, and a mixture of drums that is widely prevalent in a contemporary pop hit. The songs chords are predictable and interchangeable without affecting the underlying structure of major and minor tonalities. Whereas, repeated notes and teenage love lyrics in a sweet female voice make it easily stuck in the head. Empirically, Grande has arranged of music in a way that will be pleasing and easily caught on by various age groups. Sadly, this limits her from exploring different genres/styles in music because of the constraint of popular demand; any deviation from it will result in the music not being catchy, nor will it be lucrative to businesses. utilizing Adornos idea of structural standardisation exemplifies the above mechanism. Whereby, an artist aims for a generic reaction to suit the populous listening habits; new and complex ideas in popular music never function as a novelty, rather be a “cherry on top”. E.g., Ariana’s prominent vocals does set her apart from other musicians, but it does not superimpose the underlying musical scheme. The artist listens for the listener and avoids any spontaneity, insofar as she abides by the underlying musical scheme set forth. Allowing her to produce understandable, or ‘natural’, music that people are accustomed to in the modern era. This in turn leads to trending in the top charts simply by producers replaying a process over and over again to secure such positions.

Furthermore, Adorno’s defines the apparatus that enables standardisation in the popular market: pseudo-individualism, this gives consumers the illusion of having free choice. The listener will choose what he desires to listen, say one prefers Ariana Garnde’s music over Taylor Swift’s, not realising that whatever that person chooses to listen has already been heard elsewhere, namely the musical record companies and composers. The aim is to make users feel in charge and not notice that whatever they hear is ‘pre-digested’. Because all popular music is made from the same identical material no matter the varying change in design or the artist of the album. Consequently, This hampers the ability for unique artists to come into the spotlight, because of industrial dominance of pop music and capitalist regimes that hard wire people into thinking what is good music. However, this mass deception remains non-existent, else it will invoke resistance.

Lastly, pop music capitalistic formation is quite evident in our current time period, by the infinitive duplication. This mechanism will only work for as long as interest declines, but this might be unlikely. Audience nowadays don't know what is “good” music because of the constant brainwash they have experienced for years. It has also become difficult for musicians to create different genres of music, cause of standards enforced by agencies.

Works Cited

• Tauberg, M. (2019, April 9). Popular Music in 2018 - Year in Review. 
• The Influence of Pop Music on Teens in the United States. (n.d.). 
• Zellner, X. (2018, July 24). Ariana Grande's 'God Is a Woman' Debuts at No. 11 on Hot 100.