First day of class.
A PRIMER IN URBAN CULTURAL ANALYSIS
January 31
Urban culture:
Lewis Mumford, "What is a City?" (1938).
Georg Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life" (1903).
Michael Ian Borer, "The Location of Culture: The Urban Culturalist Perspective," City & Community 5 (2006): 173-97.
Music and culture:
Dick Hebdidge, "The Function of Subculture" (1979), in The Cultural Studies Reader, 2nd ed., edited by S. During (Routledge, 1999), 441-50.
Ryan Moore, "Rhythm, Noise, and Music as a 'Structure of Feeling,'" in Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis (New York University Press, 2010), 19-22.
Music and cities:
Adam Krims, "Defining the Urban Ethos," in Music and Urban Geography (Routledge, 2007), 1-25.
HIGH CULTURE VS. THE CULTURE INDUSTRY
February 7
"The Big 4 of Vienna: One Faces Elimination" (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, January 10, 2011).
Alex Ross, "Doctor Faust: Schoenberg, Debussy, and Atonality," in The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), 33-73.
Theodor Adorno, "A Social Critique of Radio Music," Kenyon Review 7 (1945): 208-17.
John Lovering, "The Global Music Industry: Contradictions in the Commodification of the Sublime," in The Place of Music, edited by A. Leyshon, D. Matless and G. Revill (Guilford Press, 1998), 31-56.
Keith Negus, "Cultural Production and the Corporation: Musical Genres and the Strategic Management of Creativity in the US Recording Industry," Media, Culture & Society 20 (1998): 259-79.
Will Straw, "Characterizing Rock Music Culture: The Case of Heavy Metal," in The Cultural Studies Reader, 2nd ed., edited by S. During (Routledge, 1999), 451-61.
Recommended media:
MUSICAL DIASPORA: REGGAE
February 14
Lloyd Bradley, This is Reggae, especially chaps. 1-7, 9-14, 16.
Recommended media:
"This is Ska!" (1964 promotional film).
"The Harder They Come" (1972, dir. Perry Henzell).
"Rockers" (1978, dir. Theodoros Bafaloukos).
A HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL MUSIC: DETROIT
February 21
First paper due: essay questions.
Charlie Gillett, "Do That Again, This Way: Rhythm and Blues, Uptown," in The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 3rd ed. (Da Capo, 1996), 189-223.
Suzanne E. Smith, Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit (Harvard Univ. Press, 1999), especially pp. 1-20, 54-80, 117-39, 154-72, 181-200 and 220-60.
Julian Cope, "Detroitrocksampler" (2010).
Richard Florida, "Detroit's Future Looking Brighter" (Creative Class [blog], November 7, 2006).
Recommended media:
Motown Greats (YouTube playlist).
John Patrick Leary, "Detroitism" (Guernica, January 2011).
Dave Marsh et al., "The Michigan Scene Today!" (1970), in Creem: America's Only Rock'n'Roll Magazine, edited by R. Matheu (Collins, 2007), 30-32.
"Standing in the Shadows of Motown" (2002 documentary, dir. Paul Justman).
"Universal Techno" (1996 French documentary).
"Detroit Techno City" (documentary circa 2000).
"Motor City's Burning: Detroit from Motown to the Stooges" (2008 BBC Four documentary).
February 21, 8:00 pm in Sanders Classroom auditorium
Campus showing of "Joy Division" (documentary directed by Grant Gee, written by Jon Savage, 2007).
A HISTORY OF POST-INDUSTRIAL MUSIC: MANCHESTER
February 28
Simon Reynolds, "Autonomy in the U.K." and "Just Step Sideways," in Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 (Penguin, 2005), 26-40, 103-23.
Paul Morley, "Listen to the Silence" (liner notes to Joy Division, Heart and Soul box set, London Records, 1997).
Jon Savage, "The Things That Aren't There Anymore," Critical Quarterly 50 (2008): 180-97.
Sarah Champion, And God Created Manchester (Wordsmith, 1990), 8-19.
Steve Redhead, "Manchester Studies" (unpublished manuscript).
Dave Simpson, The Fallen: Life In and Out of Britain's Most Insane Group (Canongate, 2008), 139-43.
Recommended media:
"From Rock to Rubble: How Manchester Lost its Music" (video, The Guardian, March 31, 2010).
"Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays" (2002 documentary, dir. Chris Rodley).
"The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith" (2005 documentary, dir. Dione Newton).
"Do It Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade" (2009 documentary, BBC Four).
"Celebration: Madchester – The Sound of the North" (1990 documentary, dir. Simon Massey).
"How the Stone Roses Stopped the Hooligans" (In Bed With Maradona [blog], January 11, 2011).
Vulgar Picture: The Illustrated Discography of the Smiths & Morrissey.
THE FIRST DAYS OF DISCO: NEW YORK CITY
March 21
Tim Lawrence, Love Saves the Day, especially chaps. 1-6.
Recommended media:
"NY 77: The Coolest Year in Hell" (2007 documentary, dir. Henry Corra).
"Maestro" (2003 documentary, dir. Josell Ramos). [See also the bonus DVD in the Vassar library's collection.]
"Downtown 81" (2000, dir. Edo Bertoglio).
"Paris is Burning" (1991 documentary, dir. Jennie Livingston).
MUSIC CRITICISM
March 28
Lester Bangs, "My Night of Ecstasy with the J. Geils Band" (1974), in Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, edited by G. Marcus (Vintage, 1988), 31-52.
Greil Marcus, "Free Speech #1" (1984) and "Judgment Day" (1987), in Ranters & Crowd Pleasers (Doubleday, 1994), 253-7, 351-4.
Howard Hampton, "Dueling Cadavers" (1991), in Born in Flames: Termite Dreams, Dialectical Fairy Tales, and Pop Apocalypses (Harvard University Press, 2007), 188-96.
Dave Hickey, "Air Guitar," in Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy (Art Issues Press, 1997), 163-71.
Jon Caramanica, "Girl Pop's Lady Gaga Makeover" (New York Times, July 21, 2010).
Kelefa Sanneh, "What's Left After the End of Music" (New York Times, March 31, 2005).
March 28, 6:30 pm in Sanders Classroom auditorium
Campus lecture by Oliver Wang: "Spin Doctors: Filipino American Mobile Disc Jockey Crews."
April 4
Second paper due: music criticism.
Brian Cross, "L.A. Hip Hop: A Brief History," in It's Not About a Salary: Rap, Race and Resistance in Los Angeles (Verso, 1993), 5-64.
Further readings TBA.
Recommended media:
"80 Blocks from Tiffany's" (1979 documentary, dir. Gary Weiss).
"Style Wars" (1983 documentary, dir. Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant).
"Beat This! A History of Hip Hop" (a.k.a. "Street History": 1984 documentary, dir. Dick Fontaine).
"Big Fun in the Big Town" (1986 Dutch TV documentary).
"Scratch" (2001 documentary, dir. Doug Pray).
BOURGEOIS URBANISM: LOS ANGELES
April 11
Barney Hoskyns, Hotel California, especially chaps. 1-8.
Recommended media:
"Hotel California: L.A. from the Byrds to the Eagles" (BBC Four, 2007).
"God Respects Us When We Work, But He Loves Us When We Dance" (1968 documentary, dir. Les Blank).
April 12, 6:30 pm in Taylor Hall 203
Campus lecture by Dave Tompkins: "Sustained Decay: The Ecology of Miami Bass."
PUBLIC SPACE, PUBLIC SPHERE
April 18
Third paper due: cultural analysis.
Michael Bull, "Sound Moves, iPod Culture and Urban Experience" and "The Audio-Visual iPod," in Sound Moves: iPod Culture and Urban Experience (Routledge, 2007), 1-11, 38-49.
Wayne Marshall, "Sounds of the Wide, Wired World" (The National, October 29, 2010).
Julian Myers, "Riot Show: Some Notes on the Archive" (Fillip, Issue 12, Fall 2010).
More readings TBA.
April 25
First week of final project presentations.
Second week of final project presentations.
EXAM PERIOD (date TBA)
Individual papers on final projects due.
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