Cluster 1: Aesthetics

Week 1–August 2: How can we analyse popular music without ruining it?

Reading

1.) Gracyk, Theodore. Excerpts from Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996.

Songs of the Week:   

1.) ‘Gin and Juice’ (Snoop Dog and Dr Dre, 1993; The Gourds, 2001)

2.) ‘Airbag’ (Radiohead, 1997; Easy Star All-Stars, 2006)

3.) ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Nirvana, 1991; Tori Amos, 1992), ‘Bootylicious’ (Destiny’s Child, 2002), ‘Smells Like Booty’ (2Many DJs, 2002)

4.) ‘Accentuate the Positive’ (Johnny Mercer, 1944; Perry Como, 1958)

Week 2–August 9: What makes a song a song?

Reading

2.) Gracyk, Theodore. Excerpts from Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996.

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘Columbus Stockade’ (J.E. Mariner and Band, 1959; Tarbox Ramblers, 2000)

2.) ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ (U2, 1987; The Sensitive New Age Cowpersons, 2000)

3.) ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ (Barrett Strong, 1959; The Flying Lizards, 1979)

4.) ‘Tainted Love’ (Gloria Jones, 1964; Soft Cell, 1981)

• Tute Focus:  How do make concepts like ‘ontologically thick’ and ‘medium’ or ‘autographic’ and ‘allographic’ useful in understanding popular music?

Cluster 2: History

Week 3–August 16: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music I: ‘Race’ Music in the American Southeast.

Readings

3.) Palmer, Robert. ‘Beginnings.’ In Deep Blues. London: Macmillan, 1982. 

4.) Waterman, C. and Starr, L. ‘St. Louis Blues: Race Records and Hillbilly Music.’ In American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Film Excerpts:             ‘American Roots Music,’ ‘Bluesland.’

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘Backwater Blues’ (Bessie Smith, 1927)

2.) ‘Sink ‘Em Low’ (Bessie Jones and Group, 1960)

3.) ‘T’aint Nobody’s Business’ (Frank Stokes, 1928)

4.) ‘Judge Harsh Blues’ (Furry Lewis, 1928)

5.) ‘Statesboro Blues’ (Blind Willie McTell, 1930)

6.) ‘From Four ‘Till Late’ (Robert Johnson, 1937)

7.) ‘Catfish Blues’ (Robert Petway, 1941)

8.) ‘The Lemon Song’ (Led Zeppelin, 1969)

9.) ‘300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues’ (The White Stripes, 2007)

• Tute Focus:  What are the key expressive and performative elements of the blues? 

Week 4– August 23: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music II: From ‘Hillbillys’ to Hank Williams. 

Reading

5.) Miller, Karl. ‘Race Records and Old Time Music.’ In Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

Film Excerpts:             ‘American Roots Music’ and ‘Honky Tonk Blues’

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘Last Words of Copernicus’ (Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, 1960)

2.) ‘Can the Circle Be Unbroken,’ ‘Gospel Ship,’ ‘Wildwood Flower’ (The Carter Family, 1935, 1935, 1928)

3.) ‘My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It,’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,’ ‘Settin’ the Woods on Fire.’ (Hank Williams, 1949, 1949, 1952)

5.) ‘Honky Tonk Merry Go Round’ (Patsy Cline, 1955)

4.) ‘Above and Beyond’ (Buck Owens, 1960)

6.) ‘Good As Gold’ (Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, 2015)

• Tute Focus:  What are the key expressive elements of country music? What makes this musical tradition both distinct from and similar to the blues? 

Week 5– August 30: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music III: Rhythm & Blues and the Rise of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Readings

6.) Zak, Albin. (2010) '''Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll."' In Zak, A., I Don't Sound Like Nobody: Remaking Music in 1950s America. Ann Arbor, Mi.: University of Michigan Press, 170-203.

7.) James, David. (2016) 'Rock 'N' Roll Noir: Elvis Before the Army.' In James, D., Rock 'N' Film: Cinema's Dance With Popular Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 73-91.

Film Excerpt:               ‘Elvis in the 50s’ 

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘Drunk’ (Jimmy Liggins, 1953)

2.) ‘Mess Around' (Ray Charles, 1957)

3.) ‘That’s All Right’ (Arthur Crudup, 1946; Elvis Presley, 1954)

4.) ‘Hound Dog’ (Big Mama Thornton, 1952; Elvis Presley, 1956)

5.) ‘Smokestack Lightnin’ and ‘Ain’t Superstitious’ (Howlin’ Wolf, 1956, 1961) 

6.) ‘Dance With Me Georgie’ (The Bobbettes, 1961)

7.) ‘Lonely Boy’ (The Black Keys, 2011)

• Tute Focus:  What musical forms and gestures link rhythm and blues to rock ‘n’ roll?

Week 6– Sept. 6: The Schmaltz and Orchestral Pop of the 50s and 60s.

Readings

8.) Keightley, Keir. ‘Music for Middlebrows: Defining the Easy Listening Era, 1946-1966.’ American Music, 26(3), 309-335, 2008. 

9.) Petkoff and Mustazza. Excerpts from The Frank Sinatra Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Film Excerpt:               Scott Walker: 21st Century Man

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning’ (Frank Sinatra, 1954)

2.) ‘Faded Love’ (Patsy Cline, 1963) 

3.) ‘Turn Out the Moon’ (The Walker Brothers, 1967)

4.) 'We've Only Just Begun' (The Carpenters, 1970)

5.) ‘In the Darkest Place’ (Elvis Costello, 1999)

• Tute Focus:  What musical forms and gestures define so-called ‘easy listening’?

Week 7– Sept. 13: Soul Goes Big in Chicago and Detroit in the 50s and 60s.

Readings

10.) Kempton, Arthur. ‘Family Values.’ In Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. 

11.) Smith, Suzanne. ‘Afro-American Music without Apology’ from Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999. 

Film Excerpt:               ‘Sam Cooke: Legend.’ 

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘Touch the Hem of His Garment’ (The Soul Stirrers, 1956)

2.) ‘Can I Get a Witness’ (Marvin Gaye, 1965)

3.) ‘Nowhere to Run’ (Martha and Vandellas, 1965)

4.) ‘Tracks of My Tears’ (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, 1965) 

5.) ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ (The Four Tops, 1966)

6.) ‘Chained and Bound’ (Alfreda Brockington, 1969) 

7.) ‘Back to Black’ (Amy Winehouse, 2006)

• Tute Focus:  How are Chicago Soul and Motown the music of both segregation and integration? 

Cluster 3: Ideals

Week 8– Sept. 20: Punk Before ‘Punk’ from Detroit to New York to London in the 70s.

Readings

12.) Hasted, Nick. ‘Search and Destroy.’ From Uncut. 

13.) Gendron, Bernard. ‘Punk Before Punk’ and ‘The First Wave.’ In Between Monmartre and the Mudd Club. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Film Excerpts:             ‘Punk: Attitude’ and 'The Filth and the Fury’

Songs of the Week:   

1.) ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ (The Stooges, 1969)

2.) ‘Kick Out the Jams’ (The MC5, 1969)

3.) ‘Run, Run, Run,’ ‘I Can’t Stand It’ (Velvet Underground, 1967, 1969)

4.) ‘Anarchy in the UK,’ ‘God Save the Queen’ (Sex Pistols, 1979, 1979)

• Tute Focus:  Why does early ‘punk’ sound the way it does? Why did the Sex Pistols become so influential?

Week 9–Oct. 4: Punk and After in Australia and New Zealand in the 70s and 80s.

Readings

14.) ‘In Love With Those Times: Flying Nun and the Dunedin Sound’ from Stylus Magazine. 

15.) Stafford, Andrew. ‘Know Your Product’ and ‘The Most Primitive Band in the World.’ In Pig City: From The Saints to Savage Garden. St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 2004.

Film Excerpts:             ‘Long Way to the Top,' 'Heavenly Pop Hits'.

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘I’m Stranded,’ ‘Know Your Product’ (The Saints, 1977, 1978) 

2.) ‘I’ll Only See You Alone Again,’ ‘Part Past Part Fiction’ (The Chills, 1987, 1990)

3.) ‘Made Up in Blue,’ ‘It’s a Lie’ (The Bats, 1986, 1990)

• Tute Focus:  How can we link the values of early punk to the scenes in Brisbane and Dunedin? 

Week 10–READING WEEK (NO CLASS)

Week 11–Oct. 18: Punk After ‘Punk’ in the 80s and 90s.

Readings

16.) Anderson, Mark, and Jenkins, Mark. ‘Merchandise.’ In Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital. Brooklyn, NY: Akashic Books, 2003.

Film Excerpts:             ‘Instrument’, ‘Salad Days.’

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘N-Sub Ulysses’ (Nation of Ulysses, 1992)

2.) ‘Facet Squared,’ ‘Do You Like Me’ (Fugazi, 1993, 1995)

3.) ‘Violet’ (Hole, 1994)

• Tute Focus:  How is D.C. punk both representative and unrepresentative of the way punk evolved into the 90s?

Cluster 4: Technique

Week 12–Oct. 25: The (Re)Birth of Electronic Dance Music.

Reading

17.) Butler, Mark. ‘The History and Creation of Electronic Dance Music.’ In Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. 

Film Excerpt:               

Songs of the Week:

1.) ‘Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone’ (The Temptations, 1972)

2.) ‘Ten Percent’ (Double Exposure, Walter Gibbons remix, 1976)

3.) ‘I Feel Love’ (Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder, 1977)

4.) ‘Pump Up the Volume’ (M.A.R.R.S, 1987)

5.) ‘Tranzister’ (Kevin Saunderson, 1988)

6.) ‘One More Time’ (Daft Punk, 2000)

• Tute Focus:    How did electronic dance music develop aesthetically before and after the ‘death’ of disco (ca. 1980)? 

Week 13–Nov. 1: Two Turntables and a microphone.

Readings

18.) Chang, Jeff. Excerpt from Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005.

18.) Rose, Tricia. Excerpt from Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1994. 

Film excerpt:               ‘Scratch.’

Songs of the Week:   

1.) ‘The Message’ (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, 1982)

2.) 'Respiration' (Blackstar, 1998) 

3.) ‘How Much a Dollar Cost’ (Kendrick Lamar, 2015)

• Tute Focus:       How can we link the two most musically important aspects of hip hop, lyrical flow and rhythmic flow, to one another analytically?