Noise and loundess in the context of oppression and resistance - tone policing and pop music as silencing tools
Abstract
The study of the function and meaning of music and other sound expressions, including noise, can contribute to the clarification of some power relations and structures, from the role of church bells to sonic weapons. This paper does not aim to deliver a thorough description of historical events, which primarily provide the basis for theorizing about the relation between power and sound today.
Special attention is paid to the question of silencing of radical voices, particularly in the cultural context of the United States of America, namely through the examples of mass production of music and tone policing. Tone policing as a logical fallacy diverts the discussion from the core of the argument to its form, limiting the possibility of fighting for social change fits into the history of the surveillance of sonic public spaces.
It is shown that the integra- tion of feminist topics into pop music leads to the enfeeblement of radical emancipatory voices that call for systemic change.