(Ac)cumulative Form in Pop-Rock Music

This article examines a variety of compositional procedures that give rise to what the author defines as ‘accumulative’ and ‘cumulative’ forms in pop-rock music, formal processes which are directly linked to the rapid advances in recording technology that occurred mainly from the late 1960s to the 1980s. The article includes detailed transcriptions and analyses of pop-rock music across a wide range of styles and genres, from progressive rock to post-punk to techno.