Learning Outcomes:
In this course, students will:
1. Undertake close and sustained study of a number of representative genres in popular music.
2. Examine and gain knowledge of the social significance and contexts of these genres.
3. Develop skills in representing popular music and its theoretical issues through writing and analysis.
4. Become familiar with a number of current approaches to discussing and conceptualizing the structure, history, and cultural significance of popular music.
Indicative Module Content:
Week 1 – Popular Music(s), Popular Culture(s): an introduction
Week 2 – Technologies and Transformations
Week 3 – Rock, Roll, and Corporate Control
Week 4 – The Beatles, Pop Culture, and Artistry
Week 5 – Festivals and Countercultures
READING WEEK
Week 6 – Motown, Funk, and Soul
Week 7 – The Mask(s) of Performance: Glam and Punk in the 1970s
Week 8 – Video Killed the Radio Star? Music Videos in the 1980s and 2010s
Week 9 – Hip Hop: Roots, Reactions, and Aesthetics
Week 10 – Do It Yourself: Undergrounds and Microscenes