Editing Simon Frith

{{short description|British sociomusicologist and critic}}
{{Lead too short|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}

'''Simon Webster Frith'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/580999/new-years-honours-2017-full-list.pdf|date=30 December 2016|access-date=30 December 2016|work=[[Gov.uk]]|publisher=[[Government Digital Service]]|title=New Year's Honours list 2017|page=29}}</ref> {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (born 1946) is a British [[Sociomusicology|sociomusicologist]] and former [[rock critic]] who specializes in [[popular music]] culture.<ref>Paul Morley. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/03/mercury-music-prize-roundtable ... Ms Dynamite, M People and Portico Quartet]. ''[[Guardian.co.uk]]''. Retrieved 27 November 2010.</ref> He is professor emeritus of Music at [[University of Edinburgh]].

== Career ==
As a student, he read [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics|PPE]] at [[Oxford University|Oxford]] and earned a doctorate in [[sociology]] from [[UC Berkeley]]. He is the author of many books, including ''The Sociology of Rock'' (Constable, 1978), ''Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll'' (Pantheon, 1981), ''[[Art into Pop]]'' (Methuen, 1987 – written with Howard Horne), ''Music for Pleasure: Essays on the Sociology of Pop'' (Cambridge University Press, 1988), and'' Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music'' (Oxford University Press, 1996).  He has also co-edited key anthologies in the interdisciplinary field of popular music studies, including: ''On Record: Rock, Pop & the Written Word'' (Routledge, 1990), ''Sound and Vision: Music Video Reader'' (Routledge, 1993), and ''[[Cambridge Companions to Music|The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock]]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2001).

Frith has edited a four-volume set, ''Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media & Cultural Studies'' (Routledge, 2004), and published a collection of his key essays, ''Taking Popular Music Seriously: Selected Essays'' (Ashgate, 2007). He is the co-author of a three-volume work, ''The History of Live Music in Britain since 1950'', by Ashgate.

Frith has chaired the judges of the [[Mercury Music Prize]] since it began in 1992.<ref>[http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/edinburgh-college-art/music/staff/academic-staff?person_id=24&cw_xml=profile.php  University of Edinburgh Staff Profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112223823/http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/edinburgh-college-art/music/staff/academic-staff?person_id=24&cw_xml=profile.php |date=12 November 2013 }}. ''[[BBC]]''. Retrieved 27 November 2010.</ref>  His popular music criticism has appeared in a range of popular presses including the ''[[Village Voice]]'' and ''[[The Sunday Times]]''. He taught in the Sociology Department at the [[University of Warwick]] and the English Studies Department at [[Strathclyde University]]. In 1999, he went to the [[University of Stirling]] as Professor of Film and Media. In 2006, he took up his last post, Tovey Chair of Music at the [[University of Edinburgh]], from which he retired and was appointed professor emeritus in 2017.<ref>[https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/prof-simon-frith] University of Edinburgh Honorary and Emeritus Staff Profile]</ref> He is the brother of guitarist and composer [[Fred Frith]] and neuroscientist [[Chris Frith]].

According to author Bernard Gendron, writing in his 2002 book ''Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde'', Frith "has done the most to lay the foundations for the analysis of [[rock criticism]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Gendron|first=Bernard|title=Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde|year=2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|isbn=978-0-226-28737-9|page=346}}</ref> Frith was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to higher education and popular music.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61803|supp=y|page=N12|date=31 December 2016}}</ref>

== ''The Sociology of Rock'' ==
In ''The Sociology of Rock'' (1978) Frith examines the [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]], [[Production (economics)|production]], and [[ideology]] of [[rock music]]. He explores rock as [[leisure]], as [[youth culture]], as a force for liberation or oppression, and as [[background music]].<ref>Ken Tucker. [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/22/books/the-wonderful-art-of-vulgarity.html THE WONDERFUL ART OF VULGARITY]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 27 November 2010.</ref> He argues that rock music is a [[mass society|mass cultural]] form which derives its meaning and relevance from being a [[mass medium]]. He discusses the differences in perception and use of rock between the music industry and music consumers, as well as differences within those groups: "The industry may or may not keep control of rock's use, but it will not be able to determine all its meanings – the problems of capitalist community and leisure are not so easily resolved."

== "Bad music" ==
Frith (2004, p.&nbsp;17-9) argued that "'bad music' is a necessary concept for musical pleasure, for [[musical aesthetics]]." He distinguishes two common kinds of bad music; the first is the ''Worst Records Ever Made'' type, which includes:
* "Tracks which are clearly incompetent musically; made by singers who can't sing, players who can't play, producers who can't produce,"
* "Tracks involving genre confusion. The most common examples are actors or TV stars recording in the latest style."
The second type is the "rock critical list", which includes:
* "Tracks that feature sound gimmicks that have outlived their charm or novelty,"
* "Tracks that depend on false sentiment (...), that feature an excess of feeling molded into a radio-friendly pop song."

He later gives three common qualities attributed to bad music: inauthentic, [in] bad taste (see also: [[kitsch]]), and stupid. He argues that "The marking off of some tracks and genres and artists as 'bad' is a necessary part of popular music pleasure; it is a way we establish our place in various music worlds. And 'bad' is a key word here because it suggests that aesthetic and ethical judgements are tied together here: not to like a record is not just a matter of taste; it is also a matter of argument, and argument that matters." (p.&nbsp;28)

== "Four social functions of popular music" ==
In "Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music" Simon Frith (1987) argues that [[popular music]] has four social functions that account for its value and popularity in society.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frith|first1=Simon|title=Music & Society: The Politics of Consumption, Performance and Reception|date=1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37977-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/musicsocietypoli0000unse_v3g7/page/133 133–151]|url=https://archive.org/details/musicsocietypoli0000unse_v3g7/page/133}}</ref> Popular music:

# ''We enjoy popular music is because of its use in answering questions of identity.''
# ''To give us a way of managing the relationship between our public and private emotional lives.''
# ''To shape popular memory, to organize our sense of time.''
# ''Popular music is something possessed.''

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* Frith, Simon (1978). ''The Sociology of Rock''. {{ISBN|0-09-460220-4}}
* Frith, Simon. "What is Bad Music" in Washburne, Christopher J. and Derno, Maiken (eds.) (2004). ''Bad Music: The Music We Love to Hate''. New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-94366-3}}.
* Frith, Simon (1996). ''Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music''.
* Frith, S., Brennan, M., Cloonan, M., and Webster, E. (2013). ''The History of Live Music in Britain, Volume I: 1950–1967: From Dance Hall to the 100 Club''. Aldershot: Ashgate. {{ISBN|978-1-4094-2280-8}}.

== External links ==
* [https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/prof-simon-frith University of Edinburgh, Faculty Page]
* "[http://rockcriticsarchives.com/interviews/simonfrith/01.html Online exchange with Simon Frith]" at rockcritics.com
* [https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1982-05-11_11_19/page/2/mode/1up Review of ''Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll''] ''The Boston Phoenix''

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Frith, Simon}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British sociologists]]
[[Category:British musicologists]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Warwick]]
[[Category:The Sunday Times people]]
[[Category:Melody Maker writers]]
[[Category:Sociomusicologists]]
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]