Abstract

In modern societies, cultural change seems ceaseless. The flux of fashion is especially obvious for popular music. While much has been written about the origin and evolution of pop, most claims about its history are anecdotal rather than scientific in nature. To rectify this, we investigate the US Billboard Hot 100 between 1960 and 2010. Using music information retrieval and text-mining tools, we analyse the musical properties of approximately 17 000 recordings that appeared in the charts and demonstrate quantitative trends in their harmonic and timbral properties. We then use these properties to produce an audio-based classification of musical styles and study the evolution of musical diversity and disparity, testing, and rejecting, several classical theories of cultural change. Finally, we investigate whether pop musical evolution has been gradual or punctuated. We show that, although pop music has evolved continuously, it did so with particular rapidity during three stylistic ‘revolutions’ around 1964, 1983 and 1991. We conclude by discussing how our study points the way to a quantitative science of cultural change.

full article here

 

I won't say US hasn't done anything for music over past 2 decades. Except cheap plastic music.. Once people used to listen to music now all they witness are outrageous acrobatic movements and flashy dresses and on stage pyrotechnics. US popular music scene is not what I call music..

 

Life imitates art/art imitates life, nation intimates (verb) music, music intimates (verb) nation, eh, dr.evil?

 

more like shit imitates shit..
not that i have anything against the ultra capitailstic, void of a society that is called the USA..

 

Thanks - but it seems a lot like Google scanning the genome of the mainstream pop(ular) music for its "definitive" (offical) story. A lot of so-called "underground" music will be ignored, despite that some part of it had had an eventual, trickling-upward, effect upon mainstream pop music/culture.

Several years ago, I met a guy in his 20s who listened to what he called "'80s music" because it reminded him of his happy childhood. What he meant by the term were bands such as Duran Duran, Roxette, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Loverboy, et al. I told him that what I'd listened to in the '80s had been the music of "the other '80s," such as Laibach, Psychic TV, SWANS, Sonic Youth, Killing Joke, Big Black Butthole Surfers, Nick Cave/Bad Seeds, Einsturzende Neubauten, SPK, DAF, Diamanda Galas - a bunch of musicians he'd never heard of, and wouldn't have otherwise. Music of a parallel universe, for sure. Although some of those musicians found mainstream or at least widespread (still technically "underground," or "indie," for not having been commercial annointed by the Powers of the Mainstream) success in the '90s, their music in the '80s was a lot more innovative; they almost sounded like younger, more naive bands who'd been heavily influnced by themselves.

Don't we know not to trust the official story of anything?

 

Why is this in bold?

 

come on dude, it's a scientific analysis about pop music in the usa, not a statement about how great pop music is.
don't troll.

 

I know you just forgot to put comma but the one who doesn't know those bands will think that Big Black Butthole Surfers is actually one band

Btw, you mentioned some realy great music(ians).

 

POP was always about money... it has nothing to do with "Popular"

The only valid reference to popular music is from the times before the radio and TV.

the "populus" don`t choose what to listen... they are fed, what to listen.

it is just my opinion, not an invite to troll
Maybe it would be more appropriate to call it Commercial music (tho that sounds strange too) ?

 

I think it's most appropriate not to make up a definition for a fixed musicological term *yes*

 

indeed