This new study of British popular music shows how it engages with class in mythical ways that allow audiences to perform class-based identities. Case studies on folk rock, punk and indie rock show how this performance works and explore the implications for listeners and audiences.
Author(s): Nathan Wiseman-Trowse
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 216
Contents......Page 8
1 Introduction: A Class Act......Page 10
2 Class and Popular Music Theory......Page 19
Class and cultural studies......Page 20
Class and subculture......Page 22
Thinking class......Page 25
Re-thinking class......Page 29
Working-class heroes......Page 32
Hearing class......Page 35
The implied listener......Page 36
3 The Problem of Authenticity......Page 41
Defining the (in)authentic......Page 44
Authenticity and liveness......Page 47
The liberal artist......Page 50
Romantic and modern authenticity......Page 52
Authenticity and class in rock discourse......Page 56
Phenomenological authenticity......Page 58
Rebellion, recollection and amnesia......Page 61
The 'problem' of authenticity......Page 64
Rock discourse and authenticity......Page 67
4 Performing Class......Page 71
Towards a performative theory of class......Page 77
Class and performativity......Page 79
The discursive field (rock discourse)......Page 81
Discourse in performance......Page 86
Self and subjectivity for a common people......Page 88
Subjectivity and the contradictions of rock......Page 92
Iteration and ambivalence......Page 95
5 The Folk Voice......Page 97
The uses of folk......Page 99
The history of the folk voice......Page 104
Rock and the folk voice......Page 108
The ambivalent voice......Page 111
6 Folk Revival and Folk Rock......Page 115
The transition to folk rock......Page 118
The conflation of discursive fields......Page 121
John Martyn and Nick Drake......Page 122
Acousticity......Page 127
Punk and neo-folk......Page 130
7 Punk and Hardcore......Page 134
Defining punk......Page 135
Gendering class......Page 137
The sound of [getting out of] the suburbs......Page 139
Oi! and street punk......Page 145
Hardcore and straight edge......Page 149
Punk performance......Page 152
Dream pop......Page 155
Miasmic rock......Page 158
The Holocaust......Page 161
Abstracting rock......Page 162
Madchester......Page 165
Placing Madchester......Page 168
Inferring class......Page 171
Imagining Madchester......Page 174
Conclusion – A Different Class......Page 177
Notes......Page 183
Bibliography......Page 192
Discography......Page 200
B......Page 203
C......Page 204
E......Page 206
G......Page 207
I......Page 208
L......Page 209
M......Page 210
N......Page 211
P......Page 212
R......Page 213
S......Page 214
T......Page 215
W......Page 216
Z......Page 217
