Idealogy and music

All musical genres have an idealogy. These are a set of ideas and values that fit that particular genre. Claude Levi-Strauss' theory of binary oppositions applies here. In western cultures we often think in pairs of ideas that oppose each other, e.g. love/hate, war/peace, etc.

These are the stereotypical ideas that are usually associated with these genres:

Pop/R 'n' B:

• More conformist
• Slick, better produced
• Conscious of 'good' image
• Less obviously sexual/euphemistic
• No drugs/alcohol references
• More passive
• Apolitical
• Universal messages for everyone
• Mass audiences, mainstream
• Non-violent
• Pro-social
• Don't always swear
• Conspicuous wealth

Rock/Hip hop:

• More rebellious
• Rawer, less over-produced
• (pretend to) Care less about image
• Sexual
• Violence
• Open drug/alcohol references
• Anti-social
• More aggressive
• Political
• Self indulgent, more about the artists self expression
• Niche audiences, outside mainstream
• Swearing
• Act poor

For my music magazine, indie rock music will be the genre. Using these stereotypes of that genre of music, I will base the style of my music magazine on those stereotypes. So for example, I probably use more swear words than say if I was to do a pop music magazine. I won't put them on the front page though. I'll probably use them in the articles.