On the Audience Experience of Musical Mass Communication: Approaching the Cultural Endurance of a Signature Popular Song

• In Event: Social Influences of Music and Music Television

Abstract

Recordings by the Doors remain remarkably popular, but the constituents of the lasting popularity of Doors media texts for contemporary audiences remain unexamined. This study of reception of the Doors' first single and first track on their first album builds on Wolfe's analysis of "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" through qualitative interviews of members of the generation that propelled the song-recording to initial popularity. Respondents identify reasons it endures in contemporary America.

Author

• Arnold Wolfe, Illinois State University