Can popular music ever really be unplugged?

Paul Theberge states in ‘The Cambridge Companion To Pop and Rock’; “without electronic technology, popular music in the twenty first century is unthinkable.” In 1828 Sir charles Wheatstone constructed a rudimentary devise for amplification of sound called a ‘microphone’. Emile Berlner in 1876 developed a ‘loose contact transmitter’ to increase volume in the Microphone; allowing the development of ‘String Bass’ before this the tuba was what gave the ‘bass effect’.

Amplification developed in 1904 by Lee De Forest, meant that singers such as Elvis had ability to be influential. ‘1950’s amplification becomes a necessary part of the establishment of Rock ‘n’ Roll.’ (Straw & Street, 2001) Amplification makes music more accessible.

Popular music can be unplugged, however, it couldn’t be defined as “popular” “enjoyed by a large number of people” as it wouldn’t be reached by a large audience, it could be considered popular within a smaller community.

What is popular music?

'Popular' is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as "liked or enjoyed by a large number of people". The term ‘popular’ has changed through out the century’s; ‘Key words’ by Raymond Williams explains the term ‘popular’ was something for the “common people”, until the 18 century when the meaning became “widely favored”.

Popular music is something that is well loved at a specific time; an example of this is when the BBC had ‘Nessun Dorma’ by Luciano Pavarotti playing during the coverage of the Wold cup. This ‘higher class music’ was distributed to a contrasting audience who would normally have not listen to it. The resulted in an overwhelming increases in the circulation of the song. This shows that ‘popular music’ is something that can’t be defined as a genre, in fact Popular music is something that almost has no definitive definition.