Consciousness and commodity: towards a critical theory of genre in American popular music

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper uses a critical theory approach to analyse the process of genre in American popular music. Synthesizing views from Herbert Marcuse and Theodor Adorno with more optimistic perspectives from Angela Davis and Tia DeNora, the paper proposes a cyclical theory of genre transformation from communal resistance to commodified product. Three case studies are used to show this process. In the 1920s, Appalachian music transformed from indigenous, multi-racial folk to commercialized ‘hillbilly music'. During the 1970s disco originated in queer communities to provide liberation on the dancefloor, became the dominant music of the decade, resulting in its homophobic extinction while inspiring new dance genres like house. Finally, the 1980s saw the rise of rap as a mode of defiance to racial and economic violence, but subsequent generations of artists worked to self-commodify to appeal to suburban white audiences, becoming the world's most popular genre. The paper examines how each genre originated as a form of resistance, gained widespread popularity, and ultimately became commodified. It concludes by exploring how AI-driven algorithms have disrupted traditional consumption patterns based on genre. In its place, machine learning and artificial intelligence is fabricating an ‘algorithmic self’ that individuates while disconnecting from specific communal expressions.