Pop culture is the system of attitudes, behavior patterns, beliefs, customs, and tastes that define the people of any society (Browne, 2005. P.3). Pop culture tends to be what is “in or a fad” at the moment with the middle and lower classes. It tends not to be associated with higher educated or higher earning people. Pop culture can take many forms such as the clothing that is worn, types of movies being produces, music on the radio, toys being manufactured, types of television shows being shown, what sports to like and teams to root for, how to save the earth by going green, and so much more.
In a business it is critical to stay on top of the latest in pop culture or trends. If they fail to monitor the changes of pop culture, they could lose business and potential customers. This is extremely prevalent in the retail business. With the recent development of Facebook, Twitter, apps and social media as a whole, businesses who had failed to embrace the changing culture from the beginning were left behind.
Throughout my life, I have experienced many changes in pop culture which some became very memorable. In the 1970s, it was the wearing of bell-bottoms and listening to American rock music. The 80s brought about the age of excess, along with changes in the music with new wave and the birth of MTV. With the early 1990s, grunge was the rage in the way we dressed along with the music of teenage angst flowing through our portable disc players. The later 90s were full of teenage girl and boy bands such as Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys.
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| Duran Duran- 80s |
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| The Eagles-70s |
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| Pearl Jam- 90s |
Browne, R. (2005). Profiles of popular culture: A reader. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press.
I learned something from your post. I was not aware that is is not common among higher educated or higher earning people. But I can see how this would be true. I really like the pop culture artifact of MTV. This was a fad in the 80's and early 90's. I forgot how big this was back then. I remember wanting to get home to see the top 10 videos for that week on MTV and BET. Not only were the videos popular, they did many interviews and stories on the artists which many found interesting. MTV is not so common now for music videos now and I miss it. Young people also looked at MTV for the most popular ways to dress like the young stars. It was a huge deal then. Good job on taking us back through memory lane!
ReplyDeleteGreat popular culture post!! I think I will be flashing back a lot this semester. I just flashed through three decades. Duran Duran was all the rage when I was in high school. I was also privileged that I got to see the Eagles in concert. There was a lot of great music that night because we got to see the Eagles and each member of the band sang their most popular hits. I want to give a shout out to hair bands such as Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Tesla, Whitesnake, and Guns N’ Roses that were popular before grunge took over the scene. In those years, we had a lot of great music, and we’ll just forget about the eighties excess.
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog. I too remember the late 70's and disco, the changes in the 80's to hair bands like Metallica and Motley Crue. I often talk about "the good old days" of MTV in the 1980's when they first came on the air and actually played music. Of course now, it is nothing but reality shows and very disappointing. I still hold on to what I believe to be the best rock music eras, late 60's, 70's, and 80's. The 90's did little for me with occasional exceptions. I do not care for grunge and still don't. No offense intended! I must concur with my fellow peer above who commented on your great pop culture blog. Well done! I could immediately relate to it in a very big way. Early MTV was what I grew up and went to high school with. So thank you for the memories and a solid blog on popular culture. MTV is probably the most identifiable logo in music.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great blog! I was born in the 90's myself so it is fun to see and read about the popular music that was listened to before I existed. I sometimes would rather listen to this generation of music more then the current music that is being played. I also enjoyed reading what your definition of popular culture is. I didn't think about how the different classes would each have a different type of culture, but you are very correct. The upper classes would be able to have a richer culture with more of the updated technology that is provided while the lower classes wouldn't have the access to those items. MTV was popular back in the 80's and 90's, but as technology improved, more people started to view their music videos online. The type of music that is listened to has changed so much over the decades and it is interesting to see how it has changed.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! I think that music is a great popular culture topic. I really enjoyed reading your post. I found it very interesting! I really liked how you incorporated the wealthy and upper class. I believe that between the classes some popular culture does change. I also believe that some popular culture is the same between classes.
ReplyDeleteOh a flashback on music is always fun! My father-in-law loves the 70's-80's music and my husband still listens to it, so that means I get to experience it also! I grow up in the 90's with the backstreet boys, NSYNC, and the spice girls. It's crazy how much music has changed over the years.
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