Popular culture

Popular culture or pop culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. The most common pop culture categories are: entertainment (movies, music, TV), sports, news (as in people/places in news), politics, fashion/clothes, technology, and slang.

Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and "dumbed down" in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various non-mainstream sources (most notably religious groups and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, or corrupt.

History and definitions

The term "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century or earlier. Traditionally, popular culture was associated with poor education and the lower classes, as opposed to the "official culture" and higher education of the upper classes.

Pop Culture (song)

"Pop Culture" is a mash-up song created by Hugo Pierre Leclercq, better known by his stage name, Madeon. The song was created on-the-fly by Leclercq, at the time when he was seventeen years old, using 39 samples from other popular songs, mixed using Ableton Live software controlled with a Novation Launchpad. Leclercq recorded video of him creating the mix which he uploaded to YouTube on 11 July 2011. The video went viral within a few days, and since has seen more than 31 million views. The video drew attention to Leclercq and would lead to him becoming signed by Columbia Records and launching his music career.

Song

Prior to releasing "Pop Culture", Leclercq (at the time, using only his Madeon stage name) was a rising star in the EDM genre, having won a remix competition for the song "The Island" by Pendulum in late 2010. He subsequently developed remixes for songs by Alphabeat, Deadmau5, and Yelle, with the last two praising Leclercq's remixes.

Leclercq described the concept for "Pop Culture" on wanting to show the process that electronic mix artists use during live performances. Leclercq stated, "When you go see an electro band, we do not really know what they do on stage." Leclercq created "Pop Culture" through taking short samples from 39 different songs, which included: