Media Narratives in Popular Music

Product Description

The historical significance of music-makers, music scenes, and music genres has long been mediated through academic and popular press publications such as magazines, films, and television documentaries. Media Narratives in Popular Music examines these various publications and questions how and why they are constructed. It considers the typically linear narratives that are based on simplifications, exaggerations, and omissions and the histories they construct - an approach that leads to totalizing “official” histories that reduce otherwise messy narratives to one-dimensional interpretations of a heroic and celebratory nature. This book questions the basis on which these mediated histories are constructed, highlights other, hidden, histories that have otherwise been neglected, and explores a range of topics including consumerism, the production pressure behind documentaries, punk fanzines, Rolling Stones covers, and more.

Review

“A much-needed book, Media Narratives and Popular Music shows us how meanings attached to music are shaped by and contested within the media. The book, full of leading scholars, is sure to be essential reading for students of popular culture long into the 21st century.” ―Matthew Worley, Professor of Modern History, University of Reading, UK

“The academic intersection between media and music has finally been given its rightful prominence for consideration with this thoughtful collection which seeks to note, consider and open discussion. The twelve in depth examples of such junctions are carefully cosseted via three key themes – identity, genre and narratives, with contributions from across disciplines and countries. I warmly welcome this timely addition and thoroughly engaging read.” ―Paula Hearsum, Principal Lecturer, University of Brighton, UK, and member of IASPM

“This book features dynamic, vivid scholarship on everything from the marginalisation of women in mediation of genres like Northern Soul and EDM, to the erosion of the presence of Islam and black nationalism in hip hop. It not only unearths hidden histories, but reshapes the way that popular music history has been canonized as white and male. An essential text on the mediation of music.” ―Lucy O'Brien, author of She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Popular Music (4th edition, 2020)

“Media Narratives in Popular Music is a transformative collection of powerful chapters. It shifts the trajectories and tributaries of melody and memory, counterculture and compromise, loss and location. This remarkable book reveals how we are all exiles in our pop present, demanding accuracy and authenticity and yet valuing tweets and TikTok. As our affinities and belongings fray and decay, Media Narratives in Popular Music reveal the longing in our nostalgia for 'Classic Albums' but our potential for change, alternatives and defiant difference as we welcome alternative rhythms.” ―Tara Brabazon, Dean of Graduate Research and Professor of Cultural Studies, The Flinders University, Australia

About the Author

Chris Anderton is Associate Professor in Cultural Economy at Solent University, UK. He has published on a variety of topics including the recorded and live music industries, music festivals, music history, music culture, music marketing, music cities, event management, and the intersection of fan practices and intellectual property law. He is the author of Music Festivals in the UK: Beyond the Carnivalesque (2019) and co-author of both Understanding the Music Industries (2013) and Music Management, Marketing and PR: Creating Connections and Conversations (in press). He is also co-editor of Researching Live Music: Gigs, Tours, Concerts and Festivals (in press).

Martin James is Professor of Creative and Cultural Industries at Solent University, UK. His areas of specialist interest include music journalism and the music press, music and cultural cities, and late twentieth-century alternative music; specifically punk, post punk and