MUS 18.01 Pop Music: Past, Present, Future
This course explores the developments, meanings, and performances of pop music across Western art traditions. What was the pervasive “Gangnam Style” of Renaissance Europe? Was Joseph Haydn the grandfather of the rickroll? And how did the equivalent of “Single Ladies” go viral in the 1920s United States? Tackling these questions seriously enables students to understand pop’s broader historical terrain, and to engage consequently in debates about artistic taste, accessibility, leisure, spreadability, appropriation, and innovation.
Instructor
Cheng