This course provides an opportunity to critically examine and study popular music. Popular music represents one of the most significant global cultural industries, transcending borders and economies, especially as technology ushers in new ways to listen, share, produce, and perform music. This course will look at the role of contemporary popular music in providing a mediated form of communication and culture by examining its historical and cultural development. Students are required to have taken two 500 level CMN courses (C-) to take this course, unless granted instructor permission.