1st Edition

Sound, Society and the Geography of Popular Music

By Thomas L. Bell, Ola Johansson Copyright 2009
    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    Popular music is a cultural form much rooted in space and place. This book interprets the meaning of music from a spatial perspective and, in doing so it furthers our understanding of broader social relations and trends, including identity, attachment to place, cultural economies, social activism and politics. The book's editors have brought together a team of scholars to discuss the latest innovative thinking on music and its geographies, illustrated with a fascinating range of case studies from the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and Great Britain.

    Introduction, Ola Johansson and Thomas L. Bell; Part I Music, Space, and Political Activism: Geographies of John and Yoko's 1969 Campaign for Peace: an intersection of celebrity, space, art and activism, Robert J. Kruse II; Scales of resistance: Billy Bragg and the creation of activist spaces, Edward Jackiewicz and James Craine. Part II Tourism and Landscapes of Music: Writing on the Graceland wall: on the importance of authorship in pilgrimage landscapes, Derek H. Alderman; Ambient Australia: music, meditation, and tourist places, John Connell and Chris Gibson. Part III Mapping Musical Texts: A lesson of geography, on the riddim: the symbolic topography of reggae music, Sarah Daynes; A listener's mental map of California, Kevin Romig. Part IV Place in Music/Music in Place: Musical cartographies: los ritmos de los barrios de la habana, John Finn and Chris Lukinbeal; The city she loves me: the Los Angeles of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael W. Pesses; The geography of 'Canadian Shield rock': locality, nationality, and place imagery in the music of the Rheostatics, Olaf Kuhlke. Part V Local Music in a Connected World: Internet radio and cultural connections: a case study of the St John's, Newfoundland radio market, Sara Beth Keough; Local independent music scenes and the implications of the internet, Holly C. Kruse; Where are the new US music scenes?, Ola Johansson and Thomas L. Bell. Part VI The Geography of Genres: Hip hop: a oostmodern folk music, Steven Graves; Techno: music and entrepreneurship in post-Fordist Detroit, Deborah Che; The production of contemporary Christian music: a geographical perspective, John Lindenbaum; Index.

    Biography

    Ola Johansson, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, USA and Thomas L. Bell, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA and Western Kentucky University, USA

    'Few academic books will have the same drawing power as this one, because it deals with a subject of much interest and relevance to many beyond academia. Music is such a part of our daily lives that any book offering insights into the relevance and influence of music will make a fascinating read. This one makes for an especially delightful read, because it is written with passion and perceptive insights.' Lily Kong, National University of Singapore, Singapore 'A frequently heard cliché is that popular music is placeless. In response, Johansson and Bell have brought together fifteen chapters that collectively trace the spatialities of pop music from Uluru to Graceland, from Havana to Newfoundland. This is a must-have for those looking for the latest work on musical geographies.' Jason Dittmer, University College London, UK 'The book's originality [...] lies in its focus on contemporary genres, styles, authors and works of popular music.' International Sociology Review of Books '... this collection is an invaluable general introduction to a well-developed literature on Cultural Geography, sound and music.' Journal of Popular Music