Musical Roots

It seems to me that a lot of the musical genres that we recognize today were rooted in a countercultural atmosphere... except for maybe pop and disco. In general though R&B, Neo-Soul, Punk Rock, Ska... and many more were started as a response to the establishment as it is. Then as time goes on and record companies get involved the entire genre gets mellowed out until it is barely recognizable and all messages are gone. It reminds me of the quote from one of our earlier readings about pop culture that said "Rarely do we ask about the origins and intentions of the messages we encounter through the mass media; sometimes we forget that artists have origins or intentions at all, so pervasive are the stimuli around us"(Lipsitz, 5). So maybe all genres and artists have a message that they are trying to get across. But in the case of say, pop (such as N'Sync) or like... 50 Cent exactly what message are they really trying to get across?