20 THE RIVER MAGAZINE | Spring 2017 | C U L T U R E | W hat is it about we British that we sneer at the‘popular’? Americans have no such compunction. In the United States, a country founded on markets and innovation, it’s clear; what’s popular, sells - and what on earth can be wrong with that? The widely popular is, by definition, regarded by a great number as‘better’than many alternatives. This is an uneasy reality for traditionalists, the guardians of culture and craft. To them, the pursuit of the‘popular’is synonymous with the pursuit of whimsy, of throw-away appetites and tastes. In the 1950s, as waves of American music arrived through the radio, sung in a vulgar version of English, it described a happy post-war world and ignored the loss and sacrifice that had been endured to achieve it. The allure of pop had begun, and so too had the offence it caused to the serious-minded. Pop music, fast food, pop art marked the arrival of a new world order. It was fresh, democratic and accessible to everyone regardless of education. It was cheap and affordable for all. It was disposable for the same reason. But does the continued enjoyment of sweet or salty popular things train our appetite away from good taste? Do we begin to prefer burgers over unprocessed foods, Coke over fruit juice, fake news over the real thing? Roll the clock forward a few decades and out goes Debbie Harry and in comes Kylie. Out with vinyl and in with CDs. In comes the two halves of a cow or sheep by Damien Hirst, the dirty unmade bed of Tracey Emin. Sensational. Popular. Anybody holding a pencil is an artist. Everyone on TV, with their fifteen minutes of fame, is a pop star. A decade or more further on and President Trump is in the White House. Undeniably populist, his policies seem dreamt up to provoke the maximum attention. They are delivered as Tweets and made as Executive Orders only to be discarded like disposable burger wrappers by the judiciary. Still, it’s fun, isn’t it? Does it matter? The‘Leader of the Free World’says (without being‘braggadocious’– his word not mine) he still gets the best TV ratings... It could be a little worrying that the man with the most pop Power Love it or hate it, everyone has an opinion about ‘Pop’ Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’ (1998), a popular artwork that anyone can get into – but should you? | C U L T U R E | Pop music, fast food, pop art marked the arrival of a new world order