20th Century Music and Its Meanings

(4 Credits)

From Mamie Smith to Metallica, the musical soundscape of the 20th century was one of immense change, innovation, and controversy. Jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock music arose amid massive demographic shifts, unprecedented wealth creation, global war, and advances in technology that made the world more immediate than ever before. In every genre, a burgeoning record industry turned stored sound into a lucrative commodity that permeated society, defining and challenging our individual and collective identities. This course examines how 20th-century music echoed and defined the social world that helped to produce it, the function of music in that world, and its impact on that world into the 21st century. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: General Elective.