The Art of Pop Music

While the field of rock ‘n’ roll was initially, as ‘primitive teenager music,’ entirely subject to the exclusionary effects of advocates of traditional and modern art, the separation of rock and pop (among other things) later served to establish a sector within the field that proved suitable to art. In order to demonstrate this suitability, commentators often deploy a familiar demarcation from popular, ‘commercial’ titles or genres. Some advocates of pop and/or ‘New Pop’ argue that this distinction is false—but then make use of it in the next step of their arguments. In the ‘New Pop’ field, they perform the same operation by distinguishing between successful, purely ‘fun’ pieces and other, sometimes less popular titles; in doing so, they aim to certify their favorite artifacts as having modern or postmodern ‘art’ credentials and ‘progressive’ aims, thus making them stand out brightly on account of the demarcation.