Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor Adorno (originally Theodor Wiesengrund-Adorno) (September 11, 1903 - August 6, 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, music theorist, and composer and a member of the Frankfurt School along with Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, etc. He was also the Music Director of the Radio Project. Adorno coined the term "culture industry" to describe his theory of how society is controlled by a top-down creation of standardised culture to commodify products.
Adorno wrote Dialectic of Enlightenment (with Horkheimer), Minima Moralia, Negative Dialectics, and many other books.
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Adorno (front right) and Horkheimer (front left); Habermas in back, right. Heidelberg, 1964.
PopCultures.com page on Adorno has many articles of interest.
See also: Critical Theory, New musicology.