Monday, January 12, 2009

Beyoncé avec Marx


What's the sound of an imminent economic crash?

Apparently, low beat variance, as in Beyonce's frantically monotonous paean to matrimonial security (against the crisis?) Single Ladies (Put a Ring On it).

"According to findings by Phil Maymin, professor of finance and risk engineering at New York University, the more regular the beat on Billboard's top singles, the more volatile the American markets. After studying decades of Billboard's Hot 100 hits, Maymin found that songs with low 'beat variance' had an inverse correlation with market turbulence. Which is to say, the more regular the song, the crazier the stock market."

And who said the base does not determine the superstructure?*

[*We should of course oppose the idealist deviation that it's "as if certain hits can cause market shake-ups", much as it would be a great weapon in the sonic arsenal of revolutionaries.]

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think you meant to say that the *bass* determines the superstructure.

7:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It seems that the analysis concludes only that the *bass* determines the superstructure.

7:16 PM  

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