On Media: Authenticity vs Art

Cassia Kuhn

The part of this reading that really grabbed me, of course, was the mention of music. From an academic standpoint, the debate on the authenticity of music has been raging on since the 1920s. To even play a record on the radio was considered a cheat and a lie; the audience expected every performance to be live. This of course changed, but the mentality of recordings and albums was still fairly underdeveloped into the early 1960s. To a listener and a musician the record was an artifact of what could be a live performance; a bit like an audition tape. It was simply an authentic run-through of a band's music that could hold a fan over until the next concert. These rock and pop albums had to sound like they were recorded in one take or the audience would feel cheated. And this wasn't difficult; most songs were still very simple and could easily be recorded without overdubs. Just about anything by Frank Sinatra is a great example of a song that can be recorded or performed live (although this one might be the best, but I'm a sucker for 1957 Sinatra).

Luckily some visionary artists changed that too. Bands like The Beatles and just about any other psychedelic group realized that some amazing sounds could only be produced in a recording studio and started to incorporate them into their records. It started with smaller effects that were added to otherwise simple tunes, like "Tapioca Tundra" by the Monkees; I've seen them perform this song live and you just can't reproduce the echoes, simple as they seem. Other bands went all out like The Beatles, adding so much to their music that there was no way they could perform live. 

People embraced this idea as popular bands changed their sound, and the idea of authenticity changed. Now instead of through the sounds on the disc, an artist had to prove that they were genuine with their message and appearance. An artist like Bruce Springsteen has to convince his fans that he really is just a regular, blue collar guy like you and me, and his music helps him convince them. This is still the case; message authenticity is more important than technology. Look at the fairly new artist, Lorde. She performed her single "Royals" at the Grammy Awards on Sunday. It was very stripped-down from the original version, but they still used some prerecorded vocals at the show. So it wasn't truly, 100% live, but Lorde is still trying to portray her image as an everyday teen and that is what upholds her authenticity.