📑 The Musicological Zest of “Switched On Pop”

Bookmarked The Musicological Zest of “Switched On Pop” by Alex Ross (The New Yorker)

A typical “Switched On Pop” episode pairs a contemporary hit with a musical topic—modal scales, descending bass lines, modulations, and so on. The strategy that Sloan used when he taught harmony by way of “Call Me Maybe” remains in play. Because the songs are so familiar to much of the audience, the hosts can wallow in technical lingo without fear of losing people. A sly bait and switch is at work: the conversation often wanders far from the song in question, ranging across pop-music history or delving into the classical past. For me, the switch operated in the opposite direction. For the sake of listening to Sloan and Harding musicologically jabber away, I received an education in the mysteries of the modern Top Forty.

Alex Ross breaks down the music podcast Switched on Pop. He explqins how and why it works so well, labelling it as ‘mutual mansplaining’ between Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding.

As a ‘persnickety classical-music critic’, Ross takes particular note of their four part series on Beethoven’s 5th Symphony touching on the different tack taken. Personally, this is one of the things I habe noticed more lately, that the podcast has started diving into the worlds of different artists and with that using different approaches. This maybe in part based on the extension of the ‘mutual mansplaining’ through the involvement of more guests and what might be described as bramd cross-pollunation.

It is interesting to contrast this approach with that of Kirk Hamilton’s Strong Songs. I feel that Hamilton spends a lot more time in the weeds and often covers a wider range of music, but like Switched on Pop, often ends up diving into various detours.

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