Revisiting resistance in mainstream music
Posted: November 13th, 2024 | Filed under: Calls for Papers | Comments Off on Revisiting resistance in mainstream musicCall for Paper for the 56th Conference of the French Association of American Studies
General theme of the conference: “Resistance”
Title of the popular music panel: “Revisiting resistance in mainstream music”
The conference will be held at Université de Picardie Jules Verne, on May 20-23 2025.
From the 1970s onwards, under the impetus of the subcultural studies developed by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, many forms of popular music (rock, punk, rap, reggae, afrobeat, etc.) were seen as symbolic expressions of resistance to authority in all its forms, from political power to the capitalist system, via the military, school, the family, patriarchy, and so on. For George Melly, Dick Hebdige, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson and many others, by hijacking the products of the culture industry, music lovers were enacting “rituals of resistance” through which they affirmed their individuality and autonomy.
Unlike folk music of the early twentieth century and protest songs of the Sixties, whose potential for resistance was mostly expressed through committed, militant lyrics, it was the very form of these new genres that justified their reading in terms of resistance: high volume, fast, sometimes brutal execution, distortion and saturation, vocals often close to screaming, aggressive stage behavior… Although these analyses have by now often been challenged (Muggleton, Blackman & Kempson, Berzano, Weesjes & Worley, Bennett) and only concern relatively circumscribed forms of popular music, they continue to be taken up by the press and the public, to the point of constituting today a cliché.
But is noise, violence, shouting, the exacerbated expression of emotions, anger and frustration the only way to enter resistance? Is it necessary to work from the margins, adopting extreme positions and radical strategies? What about the more neutral, more consensual, and often more popular forms in terms of sales figures, numbers of views or downloads, which are not subject to analysis and commentary extolling their rebellious potential, their ability to stimulate revolt? What about the impact of the mainstream megastars who invite themselves to American elections and Olympic opening ceremonies alike? Are they undermining society’s dominant values, challenging its various forms of authority, or simply reinforcing the status quo? Beyond the duly catalogued subversive practices and well-established vocabulary of resistance, which run the risk of proving counter-productive because of their predictability, what about the increasingly assertive presence of women on the music scene, of artists from gendered and sexual minorities, or of those who do not conform to standards of ableism or beauty? What about the global success of African-American or Latinx artists, from Beyoncé to Puerto Rican Luis Fonsi, whose “Despacito” is the most viewed song on YouTube with 8 billion views? What about the impact of music specifically designed for dancing? What about artists expressing themselves at the very intersection of these different issues? What role do themes and ingredients rarely associated with resistance, such as humor or love, play?
And what if the most accomplished forms of resistance were to be found among the most “conservative” artists and audiences (in the political and social sense), but this time in resistance to what had hitherto been seen as the forms and forces of contestation and revolt? Rather than considering a few figures from the last century, such as Merle Haggard with “Okie from Muskogee” and Sgt Barry Sadler with “The Ballad of the Green Berets”, as isolated anomalies, it would be pertinent to consider them as the precursors of a robust and persistent tradition within mainstream music. The presence of conservative messages in popular music, far from being marginal, is a constant that spans the ages. Today, many artists continue to convey conservative ideologies, successfully opposing wokism, cancel culture, feminist or LGBTQ+ activism, or the Establishment in all its forms (political, media, etc.) within a musical mainstream offering an elaborate conservative “counter-resistance”.
In addition, it would also be relevant to look at contemporary examples of artists engaging in direct resistance against the music industry itself (an emblematic case is Pearl Jam’s lawsuit against Ticketmaster in 1994 because of their perceived monopolistic policy). Resistance can also take the form of challenges to the economic and commercial mechanisms that rule music production.
Ultimately, these questions call into question the very nature of resistance, the forms it can take and the objects it attacks. And beyond that, the very relevance of the concept and its concrete reality in the social arena. Where can the real risks and the most militant commitments be found today? Who is still trying to resist, and what? Is it necessary to make one’s revolt audible through culturally codified practices, or can the adoption of consensual musical forms nonetheless engender forms of resistance? And how effectively?
Or perhaps today the point is no longer to simply resist but rather to take active action, such as artists like Billie Eilish, Dave Matthews Band, My Morning Jacket, The 1975, AJR or Taylor Swift are doing, not for abstract, global struggles, but for concrete, local causes, such as access to water, fracking, or voter registration?
By way of example, proposals will be expected on the following aspects:
- Dance music developed by ethnic and LGBTQ+ communities, from disco to house and techno
- Contemporary country music from African-American and/or gay communities (Beyoncé, Breland, Lil Nas X, Orville Peck)
- New forms of protest song (Oliver Anthony)
- In-residence concerts by international stars in Las Vegas
- New forms of conscious rap (Kendrick Lamar)
- The role of megastars (Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez)
- The impact on the mainstream of fringe artists and record labels (Pat Smear of The Germs integrating Nirvana; The Gun Club influencing The White Stripes)
- Conservative musical forms, from Christian rock to country-trap (Jason Aldean, Tom MacDonald)
- The role of artists present both on the mainstream and fringe scenes (David Bowie)
A 300-word proposal should be sent, together with a short biography and bibliography, by January 19, 2025, to:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]