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Analysing popular music: Theory, method and practice
The first International Conference on Popular Music Research was held at Amsterdam in June 1981. This article by Philip Tagg, Visiting Professor in Musicology at the Universities of Huddersfield and Salford, was published shortly thereafter.
Many scholars investigate the meaning of popular music by analyzing lyrics, examining race and society, and considering political climate. Popular music is often considered too simplistic for musical analysis. However, melody, harmony, rhythm, and structure in popular music reveal vital cultural information related to the creative process, and bring to light music's relationship to technology and commerce.