I was just wondering, 'cause I've been doing Brtitish Cultural Studies at school & I think that Queen is part of high culture, or at least somewhere between popular culture & high culture. Here in Romania the top British bands Queen, Led Zepp, The Beatles, The Who are very close to being considered part of high culture. What do ya think?
High culture: if it has artistic merit
Pop culture: if it's simply entertainment
Most of the great bands and artists (though not all) have artistic merit. Take Queen, Led Zep, Deep Purple, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, etc., who were all innovative in their own ways (Queen's classically oriented hard-rock, Zep's 'invention' of symphonic rock, Deep Purple's blues-based hardrock (and invention of speed metal), Dylan's protest songs, Bowie's melodies), and thus high culture.
Others would not qualify, regardless of their quality and/or appeal, such as Mud, for instance, who didn't introduce anything new to the music.
Nowadays there ain't such thing as 'high culture' anymore...Culture is a very mixed thing today. 'high' and 'low' culture go hand in hand today...that all started with pop art really.
radio_what's_new wrote: Nowadays there ain't such thing as 'high culture' anymore...Culture is a very mixed thing today. 'high' and 'low' culture go hand in hand today...that all started with pop art really.
Before that. It started in the '20s Weimar Republic. I think that Brecht and his friends should take credit for that one.
<b><font color = "crimson"> ThomasQuinn wrote: High culture: if it has artistic merit
Pop culture: if it's simply entertainment
Most of the great bands and artists (though not all) have artistic merit. Take Queen, Led Zep, Deep Purple, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, etc., who were all innovative in their own ways (Queen's classically oriented hard-rock, Zep's 'invention' of symphonic rock, Deep Purple's blues-based hardrock (and invention of speed metal), Dylan's protest songs, Bowie's melodies), and thus high culture.
Others would not qualify, regardless of their quality and/or appeal, such as Mud, for instance, who didn't introduce anything new to the music.
I agree with you; I have thought a lot about that and I think that Queen - even if not 'visible' at first sight (like many works of genious which were/are not recognized at first glance but much much later...) - can be counted in some areas definetely to high culture. Musically, it is without doubt that Queen was/is innovative, but I think also, if you actually look at the lyrics and their sophistication, you can say that Queen was a very educated 'bunch of guys':)
<b><font color = "crimson"> ThomasQuinn wrote: High culture: if it has artistic merit
Pop culture: if it's simply entertainment
Most of the great bands and artists (though not all) have artistic merit. Take Queen, Led Zep, Deep Purple, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, etc., who were all innovative in their own ways (Queen's classically oriented hard-rock, Zep's 'invention' of symphonic rock, Deep Purple's blues-based hardrock (and invention of speed metal), Dylan's protest songs, Bowie's melodies), and thus high culture.
Others would not qualify, regardless of their quality and/or appeal, such as Mud, for instance, who didn't introduce anything new to the music.
Led Zep invented the symphonic rock??? What are you talkin' about?