TOPIC 3- CHANGE IN POPULAR CULTURE

CHANGING POPULAR CULTURE

• Cultural revolution 
• hollywood was anti-establishment and anti-authority
• commericialisation of sport led to more cheating and violence
• while music, movies and tv showed a bitterlt divided society

Sports

• american's felt that aport reflected all that was good about the "american way"
• characterised by hard work, equal opportunities for advancement and frequent success
• team games and team spirit correlated with good citizenship snd fostered a sense of community
• 70's saw the over-commercilisation of sports whcih encapsulated all that was bad about society... greed
• 73 college, teams and athletes earned vast sums from spectators
• NFL rose from $188 to $646 million
• advertisers were targetting armchair spectators
• 90% of men watched sports on TV while only 75% women did
• sports was all about money, Oakland Raiders dumped their supporters and traditional homed and moved to another city when the owner failes to get the city of Oakland to finance stadium improvements- they moved to L.A
• Entreprenur Fred Lebow took control of the marathon in the 70's and changed the nature of the New York Road Running Club, which administrated the marathon from an voluteer organisation to a business enterprise
• athelets began to demand a greater share in the profits generated by sports and resented restrictions on their ability to earn more money
• John Mackey sued the NFL so that he can geta pay rise and move to another club
• John Mackey who led the fight against traditional labour practices in sport were black Americans who drew on the traditions of teh civil rights and black power movements
• numbers of people tempted to cheat greatly increased
• the rise in investigative journalism led to much exposure of what seemed to be an ever-increasing amount of corruption
• playerd themselves split the beans to make the money 
• 1/3 of the US olypic team used steroids
• coaches were found falsifying atheletes' grades  inorder to keep mediocre students who earned the university gate-money
• violence increased due to the money at stake in the 1970s 
• violence was endemic in sport because it 'makes good television'
• Commercialisation was clearly changing the nature of American sport and some d
• felt it caused change in music too.

THE FRAGMENTATION OF POPULSR MUSIC 

Popular music mirrored and influenced contemporary society. Related battles over commercialisation and "pur" musical forms suggested a society bitterly divided over the merits of materialism.

ROCK, POP AND COMMERCIALISATION

• Rock culture that developed in the late 60's rejected easy-listening snd pop music
• rock claimed to be opposed to mass society 
• anti mass cilture
• superior, authentic, creative and uncorrupted by commerce and fashion
• pop was inferior, over-commercialised, unoriginal music, the consumption of which manipulated buyers
• rock was aware of the social implications of musical production and consumption 
• pop was conformist and corrupt
• rock rejected the ethical compromise and capitulation that characterised pop

NEW GENRES AND FRAGMENTATION

• older categories remained popular 
• the disco boom began in 1974 to 1976
• the first disco hit to reach the charts was Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye" 1975
• pop charts were full of disco…