Popular Music
Popular Music
RHYTHM AND NOISE: An Aesthetic of Rock
By Theodore Gacyk
Duke University Press, 1996
280 pages
By William Shea
AGENDA Music Editor
One of the most compelling and controversial books on popular music this past year is Gracyk's "Rhythm and Noise." Although a number of exceptional authors - Frith, Gillett, Guralnick, Marcus, Wicke - have examined rock music in various regards, none have explicitly looked at the aesthetic of rock.
Using the theoretical works of Immanuel Kant, Janet Wolff, Pierre Bourdieu and others, Gracyk, a philosopher, argues that if there is a general theory about rock music as an object of critical attention, it must focus on recorded music. Because the CD (or previously vinyl disk) is the final product of a music production process - a process that melds the technology of recording with a careful arrangement of sound - the aesthetic of rock is one of "creativity through recording" technology and thus should be examined on those terms. The recorded product is what most audiences respond to, Gracyk argues, not an actual performance.
This assertion seems convincing. It is the sound of rock that we listeners respond to first, be it in the CD form or on the radio (and from a live performance as well). Because rock is inherently an aural commodity, the aesthetic of rock - the sonic characteristics that define rock and also the arena for artistic evaluation of rock (and by extension, the ideology supported by rock) - is centered on the notion that rock is a recording art. For Gracyk, the ultimate power of rock (and its aesthetic appeal) comes from how we listeners respond to the changing "sounds" of recorded rock music.
The strength of this position lies in its obviousness. Screaming electric guitars, booming bass guitars, strident echo chambers, ping-pong stereo effects all have at one time or another defined rock music and have been the focus of its ideological appeal for many audiences (and ideological bane and chagrin to many others, e.g., parents). Similarly, today how rock is stratified and defined is still expressed in technological terms (i.e., Grunge, Heavy Metal, Pop, even Rap), with sonic technological distinctions delineating the ideologies (and the aesthetic) between one audience and another.
But as strong as Gracyk's position is, the weakness lies in that it may not actually explain what the audience itself actually feels about the power of rock. True, Elvis Presley introduced a new rock'n'roll sound, but for many the actual power of Presley was not the echo effect on "Heartbreak Hotel." It was Elvis the performer; on one hand, the personification of Satan himself , on the other, a good ol' boy who sang gospel music and deeply loved his momma.
Similarly. the screeching electric guitars of Heavy Metal music may define the sonic properties of the music, but it is the long-haired guitar virtuosi singing about "Highways to Hell" that is often the focus of the ideological and aesthetical power of the music for its audience. Because Gracyk forces the social, technological and aesthetic complexities of rock music into one explanatory theory, his work falls into the same trap that other works do that examine rock in sociological, musical, or commercial terms: He fails to see that the real power of rock lies not in the hands of the critic but firmly lies in the hands of the audience. Even with this shortcoming, Gracyk's position is well-taken and worth the read.