ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book demonstrates how the French understand and approach popular music, how popular music in France has reflected and helped shape French society and culture since the Second World War. It explains what could be termed the general musicological context to an analysis of French popular music. The book considers the mediation of music by radio, television and the music press and analysis of some key songs reveals their ambiguous attitude towards ‘love’ and he compares her with an earlier icon of ‘vulnerable femininity’, Flaubert’s Emma Bovary. It provides an overview of the French music business, linking the current state of the industry to two examples of issues which characterize firstly France’s reaction to the challenge posed by the internet, and secondly France’s attempts to affirm her cultural and commercial identity in the global market for music.
