The Relationship Between Masculinity And Popular Music In 2005 Essay

The Relationship Between Masculinity And Popular Music In 2005 - Essay Example As society evolves and changes, so does the cultural conduit of popular music reflect these changes. Popular music has aways been interconnected to notions of sexuality, from when The Beatles caused a hormonal rampage in adolecent girls, through to the current day, when complex notions of sexual identity find themselves played out on the public stage of mainstream music. But sexual identity in the mainstream perception is not an absolutist concept - even when it is isolated within a particular time frame. Music is also tied to geographical influences and class distinction - and a kind of cross-fertilisation can occur when a brand of sexuality often tied to a particular strata of society finds itself in the broader spotlight - almost becoming fetishised by an external fascination with the unknown. Connell & Gibson (2002) observe that "More than most other performers, Bruce Springsteen sought to emphasise the relationship between place, community and identity. His songs are primarily a bout working-class issues, evoking notions of community and local identity: ‘the effects of poverty and uncertainty, the consequences of weakness and crime†¦ the murky reality of the American dream’ (Frith 1988). They honour yet transcend ordinariness, though they have been criticised for sexism (Moss,1992)."