THE news that Beyoncé Knowles will headline T in the Park this year has, apparently, upset some people. "A joke," commented one disgruntled fan following the announcement. "Defo won't be going this year if pop music like this is on show," was another response on a Scottish newspaper's website. A T in the Park fan who doesn't like pop music? What? Surely T in the Park is a pop festival? Apparently not. Beyoncé, according to some, is "pop", whereas most of the acts who play T in the Park (Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Pulp etc) are "rock " or "indie".
What is going on here, simply enough, is rockism - the belief that, despite all available evidence, guitar music is intrinsically of more worth than music by rappers, or R&B singers, or girl groups, or anyone who doesn't play gigs using a traditional guitar band line-up, or write all their own songs.
Jay Z was attacked by rockists when he played Glastonbury in 2008 (by Noel Gallagher, most notably); now his wife is having the same nonsense thrown at her, despite putting on one of the most spectacular live shows you could hope to see. Rockism goes back decades. It served a purpose once, perhaps, when it was necessary to make the case that the Beatles and the Stones were as worthy of serious critical consideration as jazz or classical music.
But the distinction that resulted, between rock (serious, enduring) and pop (frivolous, transient), ended up doing exactly what "serious" music critics had done previously - airily dismissing whole forms of music as worthless. The most infamous manifestation of this was the Disco Sucks movement in the late 70s, the peak of which saw disco records being burned in a baseball stadium in Chicago.
It's often been claimed that Disco Sucks was racist and homophobic - a violent rejection of black and gay music by white heterosexuals. It was more nuanced than that (some people just found disco annoying).
Still, there's a faint whiff of old-fashioned prejudice about claims that Jay Z or Beyoncé aren't quite right for T in the Park or Glastonbury. It's also conspicuous that, even in news reports that dismiss the objectors, old ways of thinking linger.
T in the Park, according to one, has always bridged the gap between "chart and alternative" and between "rock" and "mainstream pop". These remain widely used terms, but they are meaningless. Foo Fighters - a huge commercial success on a major label - are mainstream chart pop just as much as Beyoncé (who, for my money, is far more interesting musically).
Their fans, though, would be more likely to call them "rock" and "alternative". Why? Simply because it makes them feel more discerning in their taste. I say we call time on the meaningless distinction between rock and pop. Arctic Monkeys are pop. The Strokes are pop. Coldplay are pop.