ABSTRACT
The poplore which sprang to life was pointing to something much larger than publicity—perhaps to a new ontology. Defining poplore brings us back to an earlier dilemma—just what is pop, how can we reconcile its multiple meanings, and what role does it play in our lives? The new poplore is not the antithesis of traditional folklore. Pop is not slick but savage; in musical terms it avoids the chromatic scales of the nightclub and uses the old Greek musical modes. Like electricity—on which poplore depends—it is powerful, invisible, omnipresent. Both folklore and poplore avoid sentimentality, reject the “arty” approach for the earthy one, draw from primary materials, colors, and emotions. A kaleidoscopic variety of sub-forms sprang up in the arts, and the street itself became a museum. This was the world of poplore. Poplore may lack both the vitality and significance the author attribute to it—only time will tell.
