±¬ÁÏÍõ

Week 1–August 4: How can we analyse popular music without ruining it?

Gracyk, Theodore. Excerpts from Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996, pp. 1-15; 69-83.

Songs of the Week:ÌýÌý

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

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

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

Week 2–August 11: What are we actually, literally hearing?

Gracyk, Theodore. 'Record Consciousness; from Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996, pp. 1-15; 69-83.

Songs of the Week:

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

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

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

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

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

• 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 18: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music I: ‘Race’ Music in the American Southeast.

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

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

Songs of the Week:

1.) 'Stewball' (Lightnin' Washington and Group, 1933)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9.) ‘Whipping Post’ (The Allman Brother Band, 1969)

10.) ‘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 26: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music II: From ‘Hillbillys’ to Hank Williams.

Reading

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:ÌýÌý           ‘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)

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

5.) ‘Back in Baby's Arms’ (Patsy Cline, 1963)

6.) 'Fiona' (Lyle Lovett, 1996)

7.) ‘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– Sept. 1: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music III: Rhythm & Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll.

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.

Film Excerpt:               Elvis 56

Songs of the Week:

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

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

3.) ‘Drunk’ (Jimmy Liggins, 1953)

4.) ‘Smokestack Lightnin’ (Howlin’ Wolf, 1956)

5.) ‘Mess Around' (Ray Charles, 1957)

6.) 'Get Rich Quick' (Little Richard, 1957)

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

8.) ‘Lonely Boy’ (The Black Keys, 2019)

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

Week 6– Sept. 8: The Schmaltz - Orchestral Pop in the 50s and 60s.

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

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

Film Excerpt:ÌýÌý             Scott Walker: 21st Century Man

Songs of the Week:

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

2.) 'What'll I Do?' (Johnny Mathis, 1957)

3.) ‘Faded Love’ (Patsy Cline, 1963)

4.) ‘Just Say Goodbye’ (The Walker Brothers, 1967)

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

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

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

Week 7– Sept. 15: Soul Goes Big in Chicago and Detroit in the 50s and 60s.

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

Film Excerpt:ÌýÌý             ‘Sam Cooke: Legend.’

Songs of the Week:

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

2.) 'Shake' (Sam Cooke, 1964)

3.) ‘Can I Get a Witness’ (Marvin Gaye, 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.) ‘Rehab’ (Amy Winehouse, 2006)

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

___________________________

Cluster 3: Ideals

Week 8– Sept. 22: Punk From Detroit to New York to London in the 70s.

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

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

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

Songs of the Week:ÌýÌý

1.) 'All Day and All of the Night,' 'You Really Got Me' (The Kinks, 1964, 1964)

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)

5.) 'I'm Stranded,' 'Know Your Product' (The Saints, 1977, 1978)

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

___________________________

 • Semester Break •

___________________________

Week 9–October 6: Punk After ‘Punk’ in the 80s and 90s.

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:ÌýÌý           ‘Instrument’, ‘Salad Days.’

Songs of the Week:

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

2.) 'A Comment on Ritual' (Nation of Ulysses, 1992)

3.) ‘Do You Like Me’ (Fugazi, 1995)

4.) 'Target'  (Fugazi, 1995)

• Tute Focus:  How does D.C. punk point to a new aesthetic and political direction for punk?

Cluster 4: Technique

Week 11–October 20: The Birth and Rebirth of Electronic Dance Music.

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:ÌýÌý            

Songs of the Week:

1.) 'California Soul' (Brenda and the Tabulations, 1970)

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

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

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

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

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

7.) ‘One More Time’ (Daft Punk, 2000)

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

Week 12–October 27: Two Turntables and a microphone.

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

Film excerpt:ÌýÌý             ‘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:ÌýÌý     How can we link the two most musically important aspects of hip hop, lyrical flow and rhythmic flow, to one another analytically?

Week 13–November 3: Sampling and the Boundaries of Musical Meaning

Fairchild, Charles. (2017) ‘The Emergence and Historical Decay of the Mash Up.’ Journal of Popular Music Studies, 29(4).

Film excerpt:ÌýÌý             ‘Remix.'

Songs of the Week:

1.) 'U2' (Negativland, 1991)

2.) 'Rebel Without a Pause' (Evolution Control Committee, 1994)

3.) 'Best Foot Forward' and 'Building Steam With a Grain of Salt' (DJ Shadow, 1996)

4.) 'Since I Left You' and 'Stay Another Season' (The Avalanches, 2000)

5.) '99 Problems' and 'Justify My Thug' (Danger Mouse, Grey Album, 2004)

6.) 'Play Your Part (Pt. 1)' (Girl Talk, 2008)

• Tute Focus:ÌýÌý            Explain how sampled-based music producers worked with musical meaning as one of their primary materials.