Since Schubert and Beethoven quoted 18th century Austrian folk tunes, composers have always made their music at least partly from the vernacular music they hear around them. For the last few decades, the prevailing vernacular music in America has been rock, or pop, and it would be strange if composers in other genres hadn't begun using rock materials.

The prejudice against rock among composers began to fade in the late 1970's. In 1979, Rhys Chatham, music curator of New York's premiere avant-garde performance space, The Kitchen, set a precedent by booking experimental rock groups. Soon art rock groups started to be taken seriously as experimental music. Chatham himself began writing minimalist pieces for electric guitars. Glenn Branca wrote a series of symphonies scored for electric guitars with a drummer. And then, in 1981, an obscure performance artist named Laurie Anderson unexpectedly hit number two on the pop charts in Great Britain with "O Superman."

Today we have operas with backbeats, symphonies for electric guitars, and pop songs made with electronic sampling of "serious" music. You've got to give maverick composers credit for making music with devices that the mass of pop music fans will recognize. Are audiences ready for pop music that isn't just three-minutes long?

George Rochberg
Arnold Schönberg
Milton Babbitt
Steve Reich
John Cage
Charles Ives
Elliott Carter
John Adams
William Bolcom
John Corigliano

Show Audio
Listen to the program (59:00s)

Playlist from the show

LAURIE ANDERSON: "United States Live I - IV" (Warner Bros. 25192-1)

JULES MASSENET: "O Souverain" from "Le Cid" (Heppner/Munich Radio Orchestra/Abbado/RCA 09026-62504-2)

LAURIE ANDERSON, "O Superman" (Warner Bros. 3674-2)

THE ASSOCIATION: "Along Comes Mary" (Warner Bros. 1767-2)

STEVE REICH: "Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ" (Nonesuch 79451-2)

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: "The Black Angel’s Death Song" (Polydor 31453 1250 2)

THE BEATLES: "Revolution 1" (Parlophone CDP 7 46444 2)

THE BEATLES: "Revolution 9" (Parlophone CDP 7 46444 2)

THEORETICAL GIRLS: "Theoretical Girls" (Acute Records ACT001)

THEORETICAL GIRLS: "Polytonal" (Acute Records ACT001)

THEORETICAL GIRLS: "Contrary Motion" (Acute Records ACT001)

GLENN BRANCA: Symphony No. 3

RHYS CHATHAM: "An Angel Moves Too Fast to See"

DIAMANDA GALAS: "Double-Barrel Prayer" from " The Masque of the Red Death"

ROBERT ASHLEY: "Perfect Lives" (Lovely Music LCD 4917.3)

STEVE MACKEY: "Tuck and Roll" (RCA 09026-63826-2)

MIKEL ROUSE: "Leading the Machine"

MIKEL ROUSE: "Dennis Cleveland" (New World Records 80506-2)

MICHAEL GORDON: "Yo Shakespeare" (Icebreaker/Argo 443 214-2)

MICHAEL GORDON: "Weather," (Ensemble Resonanz/Nonesuch 79553-2)

MICHAEL GORDON: "I Buried Paul" (Bang On a Can All-Stars/Cantaloupe CA 21001)

ARTHUR JARVINEN: "Egyptian Two-Step" (New Albion, NA 019)

FRANK ZAPPA: "Dupree's Paradise"

DAVID GARLAND: "Chance Chants"

CARL STONE: "Hop Ken"

CHARLES IVES: Symphony No. 4 (San Francisco Symphony recording from the American Mavericks festival)