Sociologists Jennifer Lena and Pete Peterson look into the life cycles of music genres

by Princine Lewis
photo by John Russell

While it seems people “Don’t Stop Believin’” in classic rock acts such as Journey, they may find it difficult to join a disco reunion tour where one can “Shake, Shake, Shake Your Booty.”

According to Vanderbilt sociology professors Jennifer Lena and Pete Peterson, the reason for this can be found in the study of the life cycles and trajectories of popular music genres – what resources they need to grow, whether they spawn new music and, ultimately, fans’ willingness to take it by the hand, gaze at it lovingly and stroll into a sunset of reunion concerts.

While numerous studies chronicle the history of specific genres of music, Lena and Peterson are the first to tackle the development of many music genres across the United States during the 20th century. They found that most music falls into four distinct genre types: avant-garde, scene-based, industry-based and traditionalist. Whether it’s country, rock or rap, they found the trajectory of a style of music evolves in one of three predictable sequences over its history.

“What we found really contradicts the conventional wisdom that music emerges from this creative, idiosyncratic, sometimes drug-addled social process,” Lena said. “We discovered that what seemed like disorganized creativity actually has some organization, and that there are not big differences in how music genres develop during different periods in history.”

Lena, assistant professor of sociology, is lead author on the study she conducted with Peterson, professor of sociology, emeritus, titled “Classification of Culture: Types and Trajectories of Music Genres,” published in the American Sociological Review, the top journal in the field of sociology.

“A lot of work has been done on music genres, but it has been one genre at a time. We wanted to look at how music systematically changes over time and whether we could see patterns in music changing as people do,” Peterson said.

For the study, the researchers looked at 60 types of music in the United States and found that two-thirds originated in an avant-garde genre and the rest originated as part of a scene or, to their surprise, an industry-based genre.

Think of the avant-garde genre as a garage band and a few of its members’ friends. The researchers characterize this genre as no more than a dozen people who have a shared dislike of the popular music of the day and a quest to make music that is different. This group of people may combine styles of music in ways that have not been done before. Lena and Peterson cite as an example grunge rock, which is characterized as having elements of hardcore punk, but was played at a slower tempo and combined with heavy metal – minus the macho attitude and frequent use of guitar solos.

A scene-based genre is a community of artists, fans, record companies and supporting small business people – such as rap in New York City in the early 1980s. Research has shown that scenes typically emerge in neighborhoods where rents are low, police supervision is lax and residents tolerate diversity of all kinds. Businesses often spring up around these scenes because entrepreneurs are drawn by the number of participants and the opportunities to become music promoters, club owners and band managers. The scene generates local media coverage and gives the music a name.

Music that falls into the industry-based genre is created by corporations – either by multinational corporations or independent companies whose goal is to compete with the multinationals by leveraging their intimate knowledge of a particular fan base, such as rap label Sugar Hill Records did in the 1980s. Industry-based genres promote their artists on a global scale and produce merchandise and lifestyle products fans can buy to show their love of the music.

Lena and Peterson say the discovery that some new music originated in industry-based genres was a surprise because the conventional wisdom is that record companies cannot produce innovative music.

“When music is born in avant-garde or scene-based genres and major record companies start to make it, in order to compete for listeners to the new music they tend to produce really bland versions of the music – such as Paul Anka as the major labels’ response to the rock phenomenon. However, when artists convince major record companies to sponsor the creation of totally new music – that is, when the trajectory starts as an industry-based genre – artists can produce really innovative stuff,” Lena said.

The classic example she gives is soul music, which Ray Charles and his associates developed while under contract at a major label. Charles was able to leverage his success making other kinds of music into the freedom and resources he needed to invent something new.  

Finally, traditionalist genres are designed to preserve a genre’s heritage. Fans of music in this genre keep the music alive through festivals, celebratory concerts and reunions. Music in this genre also can inspire scholarly publications and academic classes. Lena and Peterson write that another activity that fans of this genre share is to debate which music belongs to their genre and shut out those who “sold out” or are seen as catering to corporate interests or values.

While the trajectory of some music, such as rap, bebop jazz, rock and bluegrass, includes all four genres – starting out as avant-garde, becoming a scene, getting picked up by the industry and then becoming traditional – some music takes a different path.

“Some music such as disco doesn’t experience a traditionalist or heritage period,” Peterson said. 

Peterson and Lena agree that disco is among a small group of genres that burn brightly but fade quickly, and they cite a number of reasons for its demise.

“A number of the people responsible for disco were very creative and quickly migrated into new and different types of music. Gay DJs in New York moved toward house music, while others contributed to the development of rap, techno, electronica and other styles,” Lena said.

“Before disco, pop music was dominated by men. Disco was different in that many of its stars were blacks, gays and women. You also had this hostile response from white men – such as public burnings of disco records,” Peterson said. 

Although disco died, its beats and repetitive song structure inspired rap, R&B and house dance music, much like rock ’n’ roll spawned glitter rock, punk, heavy metal and emo. And some music, such as Milwaukee polka, skipped straight from scene-based to a traditionalist genre, never experiencing the spotlight on the national or international stage.

For proof of Lena and Peterson’s research, look no further than your local concert listings. While you might not be able to break out your leisure suit or hot pants for the next disco festival, it will be possible to grab a lighter or cell phone this summer and catch Journey on tour.

Posted 06/01/09