“Soft/Loud” Lecture with Dr. Theo Cateforis

Today at 7 p.m., at the Rock Hall, Syracuse musicologist Theo Cateforis presents his lecture Soft/Loud. He'll discuss the songwriting form ushered in by alternative rock in the 1990s. Often referred to as the “soft/loud,” it became one of the genres and era’s strongest sonic markers. Laying out the history of songwriting form, Cateforis considers some possible pre-cursors of the soft/loud song form, from the classic rock of the 1960s and 1970s to the power ballads of the 1980s, as points of comparison, while noting the significant differences the song form assumed in the 1990s. Admission is free.