Music is conceived within a socio-economic complex

'Musical constructions also contribute to the body of ideas within a society or  culture. Music is affected by and affects other cultural fields and discourses.'   It is never enough just to think it is there just to please us in an aesthetic way, but to understand that music is based on a reciprocity within society, that it is defined by society and in turn defines society's thoughts on media, education, gender, politics, health, family and religion.

It is possible to see evidence of this reciprocity and trace the role music plays within contemporary society. 'RnR' burst on to the scene in the mid-1950's with the likes of B. Haley, Chuck Berry, Elvis and Little Richard and it immediately wrought a complete lifestyle change for teenagers and began a cultural revolution that would dominate music and society.

In 1963, B. Dylan sang, 'The times they are a-changing'... this was before Kennedy was assassinated, before the Beatles conquered America, before Vietnam and Martin Luther King. Some like D. Townsend argue that this song was  'a vision of changing times that merged into a documentary of reality,' for which this was the soundtrack. Although M. Luther King altered the social and political complexion of America by the force of his character and personality.

 The invasion of American culture and music in 1964 by the Stones and The Who helped to overthrown the established order. Their irreverence and belittling of authority made them popular with young modern audiences. Their attitudes defined a generation.

Modern music exists independently of the music industry but as a form of communication it is defined by modern life into what songs, singers and performances are and can be. Music represents more than the sound itself or as a specific cultural commodity. Simon Frith argues that popular music as 'the typical embodiment of music as the final product of an industrial process which is seen not as 'something that happens to music' but rather as a 'process in which music itself is made'.

Raymond Williams believes there are three phases in all cultural movements:

      1  Emergent             - The birth of a phase

      2  Appropriation      - Business takes over

      3  Historicisation     - Repackage to sell again

This is clearly exhibited with the art covers on the Grateful Dead albums.  In the early examples it is plain to see that the artwork is lovingly hand drawn at home while each later release shows how the industry changed this aspect and produced stylised versions of psychadelic art.

Each period in time has its own aesthetics and the post-modern period takes its aesthetics from the past. One example of this is Thursten Moore and his 'Mix tape: The Art of Cassette Culture'

Music or sound is part of the visual culture. In 1934 Walter Benjamin predicted that there would be an increasing inter-dependency of words and images, and he called for a citizenry equipped with a critical faculty with visual and verbal communication. The cultural forms of global capital combine images, words and sound to produce highly seductive experiences that are not in everyones interests.