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The global appeal of pop music and youth cultures which focus on specific genres is often judged by cultural critics as a devolpment that contributes to the predominance of anglo-american popular culture. This understanding is connected to the commodification of pop music as a precondition for its global proliferation for example via MTV. In this view pop music is put in opposition to authentic ways of self-expression like folk music which originates regionally and is performed live. In opposition to this I will argue that globalization in regard to pop music and youth culture can not simply be understood as homogenization but also as hybridization and that this development is based on commodification as well as on innovation in music technology.
An example for this development is Techno as a genre of pop music and a youth culture, which is especially popular in Germany. Techno can be defined as electronic music, „characterised by stripped down drum beats and basslines“ (Larkin 1994, 328). Its consumption is focused around dance events where music is not performed live but provided by a discjockey. In contrary to the traditional role of the DJ, he (or sometimes she) is not only expected to maintain the continual playing of uninterrupted music without making any individual contribution, except for his or her choices. Key to this development is the combination of two turntables by a mixer, a small console between the turntables controling the relative volume of each. This allows music to be faded in and out as well as for two records to be superimposed upon one another (Langlois 1992, 231).
The use of such a sound system to manipulate pre-recorded material was pioneered in Jamaican Dub-Reggae as well as in the early days of Disco. In both cases DJs focused on the instrumental passages of the records they played in order to keep the crowd dancing. At this point the techniques of DJing were mainly used to prolong specific passages or to create a multitude of versions from any given recording. The record industry reflected this innovation by the invention of twelve-inch-singles. This new record format contained extended versions of popular tunes focusing on the percussive patterns of a song. In turn, these artifacts provided DJs with the essential material to mix. A few years later, the virtuosity of mixing various sounds from different cultural contexts was perfectioned by HipHop-DJs. They confronted their mainly african-american audience with additional acoustic effects by using the turntable as an instrument of its own. The material they included in their live-mixes ranged from jingles of TV-series to speeches of politicians like Malcom X and from soundtracks of motion pictures to the soundscape of video-games. The different pieces were integrated by the beat of popular records for example from the German band „Kraftwerk“ or by the use of additional devices like an electronic beat box.
While this eclectic „cut’n’mix“ was first of all a result of the live performance of the DJ by using items which were designed for the consumption of music, it became possible to produce records in the same way. In this process in which the DJ becomes the producer of own tracks the key technology is the digitalisation of musical information. These changes in music technology relate to the development of a general system for the encoding, storage and manipulation of audio signals and to the standardisation of a system language known as Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). This set of machine protocols enables different components in any music-making or recording set-up consisting of electronic instruments like synthesizers to communicate with each other and with general-purpose micro-processors used in personal computers. Once the musical information is stored in digital form, it can be manipulated and edited like any other kind of computer data (Durant 1990, 181) The technological equipment that connects this possibility to control various electronic instruments with the techniques of DJing is the so called sampler. This device enables the digitalisation of any audio-signal like short pieces of recorded music.
As an element of studio technology the sampler actually was intended to simulate the particular sound of an instrument in order to avoid hiring expensive musicians, but it was used by DJs to appropriate and manipulate existing sounds. In this sense the invention of sampling enabled excessive quotation of pre-recorded pieces of music which is characteristic for a lot of electronic dance music. As a result, musical production resembles now more a collage than a traditional composition. All these developments question established notions of originality and authorship as well as of intellectual property and copyright which rest on the understanding of records as finished products. These notions are essentially western, which means that they derived from literal culture. In opposition to this the described ways of music-making have more in common with the aesthetic values of oral cultures, which favour the virtuosity in creating different versions of a single theme. In this sense the use of existing material from different cultural backgrounds is not only transforming the outcome of the production process into a highly hybrid artifact, but the approach of music-making itself is blurring historical and cultural boundaries.
It should be mentioned that this form of hybridization also hints to the problems associated with it. While it is functioning in subcultural communities sharing the same aesthetic values, the „refusal to accept records as finished products threatens the basic organization of the music business as a profit-making enterprise“ (Frith 1986, 276). Therefore the sampling-artists are often confronted with copyright-law and sued for its violation (Sanjek 1994).
The cut & paste-approach is not only relevant for musical production but also for the production of printed material accompanying records and dance events. By using the technology of scanning, desktop publishing also enables the appropriation and manipulation of existing elements of graphic design. The flyers and fanzines produced in the context of Techno are corresponding collages integrating visual elements from various historical and cultural backgrounds. In Germany for example, it is especially popular to use images of Japanese origin or to modify commercial ads, which also often leads to legal conflicts.
Because of the decreasing prices for the technological equipment, Techno has become a Do-it-Yourself-culture par excellence. Therefore it is possible even for individuals to produce a whole recording at home. This leads to the fact that the manufacturing of techno-records is not organized by multinational enterprises, the so called major companies, but by small flexible companies, the so called labels, which produce a small amount of records to be distributed worldwide. In this sense also the idea of cultural globalization being forced exclusivly by an anonymous cultural industry is questioned by processes of diversification.
Albeit Techno nowadays is especially popular in Germany, it historically emerged amongst urban african-american club cultures. The new dance sound from Chicago and Detroit reached Europe in the late 80s via the vibrant and eclectic club scene of the Balearic Islands, where it amalgamated with European Electro-Pop and was called Balearic Beat. In order to recreate the unique atmosphere of never-ending parties under the influence of a synthetic drug called „Ecstasy“, British DJs who spend their holidays in Ibiza started to celebrate similar parties in London. In a few months the pleasure of a few became a mass phenomenon. Because of the restrictions to British night-life those dance events migrated from clubs to illegaly organized „warehouse-parties“ and later to „outdoor-raves“ with thousands of participants. „Such raves are characterised by their long duration, high volume music and a particular dream-like ambience created by special effects, ligthing and music.“ (Langlois 1992, 230) Under this circumstances so called „Acid House“-records produced in the UK became popular all over Europe. Finally this subcultural setting reached Germany by the time the Berlin wall came tumbling down and became popular amongst east- and west-German youth as well. At each state of this journey from margin to mainstream, specific local traditions where incorporated and contributed to a variety of subgenres.
The specific German contribution to Techno was not only musical but relates to the invention of another event: In the summer of 1989 the first Love Parade was celebrated in Berlin. Since then the Love Parade is held annualy and has increased to one million mostly young participants. The so called ravers gather around up to 40 trucks loaded with mobile sound systems, driving slowly through the centre of Berlin. Organized as a political demonstration this event is as hybrid as the music. First of all, it resembles urban carnival festivities like the carnival in Rio de Janeiro which is also focused around the performance of dance music, or the Notting Hill Carnival in London, which is of afro-carribean origin and integrates the culture of the sound-systems since the Seventies. But it is also rooted in forms of political protest like the Street Parades of gay activists held every year at Christopher Street Day.
In the meantime similar events are celebrated in other German cities but also in Vienna, Zürich, Rotterdam, Paris and Tel Aviv. Finally, the concept of the Love Parade is not only popular amongst ravers but has become integrated in the politics of direct actions as well as traditional political demonstrations. For example, british anti-car-activists take over key traffic junctions by the use of mobile sound systems, reclaiming the streets by „raves against the machine“ and in 1998 the first „Job Parade“ was organized by young unionists in Schwerin at the first of May.
In opposition to traditional perspectives on German youth cultures it is not possible to understand Techno simply as an import of anglo-american popular culture but as a cross-cultural phenomenon attracting young people all around the world. In this sense especially the often critizised lack of lyrics enables the global appropriation and local interpretation of this music. Also the use of digital technology has not lead to homogenization and standardization but to a variety of artifacts being fundamental for the development of syncretic expressive cultures. Analyzing these processes of hybridization could contribute to a more complex view onto the faces of cultural globalization.

Durant, Alan (1990): A New Day for Music? Digital technologies in contemporary music-making. In: Hayward, Philipp (ed.): Culture, technology and Creativity in the late Twentieth Century.  175-196.

Frith, Simon (1986): Art versus technology: the strange case of popular music. In: Media, Culture and Society, Vol. 8, 263-279.

Langlois, Tony (1992): Can you feel it? DJs and House Music culture in the UK. In: Popular Music, Vol. 11, No. 2/1992, 229-238.

Larkin, Colin (1994): The Guinness who’s who of rap, dance and techno. London.

Sanjek, David (1994): "Don't have to DJ no more": Sampling and the "Autonomous" Creator. In: Woodmansee, M./Jaszi, P. (eds.): The Construction of Authorship. Textual Appropriation and the Law. Durham/London, 343-360.

erik.meyer@sowi.uni-giessen.de