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Law Up Loud: Jurisprudence and Rock Music Author Sykes, Robbie Published 2014 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Griffith Law School DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/3582 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/368138 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Law Up Loud: Jurisprudence and Rock Music Robbie Sykes Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (Griffith University) Bachelor of International Business (Griffith University) Socio-Legal Research Centre Griffith Law School, Griffith University Queensland, Australia Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 9th August 2013 i For my parents. ii iii Abstract In order to better perceive and understand philosophies of the law, this thesis connects jurisprudence expounded by mainstream 20th century legal thinkers with the lives and music of rock stars of the 1960s and beyond. With their propensity for unconventional, anti-establishment, and sometimes lawless behaviour, rock stars may initially appear incompatible with legal thinking and its concerns, such as justice, rules and rulers, and considered decision making. However, opening a ‘channel’ between law and music, it is argued, performs dual functions. First, comparing the activities of theorists and rockers vividly displays the workings of jurisprudence. Second, the pairing of academic understandings of the law with popular culture reveals how ‘everyday people’ understand and discuss jurisprudential concepts and issues. Jurisprudential reading using popular culture creates the possibility of insights into theory that the theory may be unable to recognise in itself. Not only do rock stars perform jurisprudence, they problematise jurisprudence, exposing the issues, dilemmas, and paradoxes within jurisprudence’s central themes. This study heeds Nietzsche’s call to aesthetic responsibility by drawing upon the thematic of individual responsibility for authentic living through creativity found in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. It is argued that this thematic characterises the mentality shared by the legal philosophers and rock stars analysed in this study. Nietzsche’s presence in this thesis brings jurisprudes and rock stars into ‘tune’ with each other and provides a lens through which to identify the legal philosophical implications of this pairing. The individual analyses in this thesis discuss critical elements of jurisprudence. The order in which these examinations of theorists and rock stars are presented constitutes a narrative whereby each pair responds to or proceeds from the work and iv times of the previous duo. Taken together, these analyses trace both a trajectory of jurisprudential thought and locate contested sites within that thought. The narrative begins with John Rawls’ formulation of one of jurisprudence’s oldest concepts: justice. Examined via the work of Jimi Hendrix is John Rawls’ attempt to entice people towards a society founded upon distributive principles. The following chapter calls upon the writings of Thomas Hobbes, Carl Schmitt, and Giorgio Agamben to discuss sovereignty. It is in John Lennon that this dark art of jurisprudence finds its popular musical expression. John Finnis’ bid at restoring nature to jurisprudential prominence is then assessed through David Bowie’s brazenly artificial personae. Subsequently, Madonna’s performative acts of self-definition are read as assertions of individual rights in keeping with the jurisprudence of Ronald Dworkin. The final analysis examines H.L.A Hart’s positivist system of law in relation to the powerful singing style of Liam Gallagher, frontman of English rock band Oasis. Consistent with the possible repercussions of the creative endeavours analysed, legal philosophies have become fragmented: no longer purporting to explain the entirety of the law and people’s experiences under it. Law pervades the different layers of reality in which people’s lives are acted out. Uncovering the subjectivity beneath the universal claims of these jurisprudences has shown that law can, and should be, energised by keeping an ear to the quickening of human perceptions. Law is something that must be made, and so can tap into the vigour that is circulated through acts of creativity. ‘Law up loud’ suggests a vision for legality that taps into the provocative effects of volume, awakening the senses and allowing a multiplicity of voices to be heard. In the stadium, the audience is as loud as the band. The lesson of the rock star for jurisprudence is that, just as the people make the gig, people make the law. v Declaration of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. ________________________________________ Robbie Sykes 9th August 2013 vi vii Contents ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... IV DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ........................................................................................ VI CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................................XII THE OPENING ACT .............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE ..................................................................................................................... 5 LEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK ‘N’ ROLL: INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 5 I – ‘TWO OF US’: THE PAIRING OF LAW AND MUSIC ........................................................................ 7 II – LEGAL HEARTS CLUB BAND ................................................................................................. 12 III – FROM LAW ‘N’ LIT TO ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ................................................................................... 37 PLAYLIST ............................................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................................. 49 HOT FOR NIETZSCHE: PHILOSOPHICAL ORIENTATION ....................................................... 49 I – THE NIETZSCHEAN THEMATIC ............................................................................................... 49 II – NIETZSCHE’S PRESENCE IN JURISPRUDENCE............................................................................. 62 III – ROCK STARS AS NIETZSCHEAN FIGURES ................................................................................. 75 TUNING UP ........................................................................................................................... 84 THE GIG ............................................................................................................................ 85 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................ 89 THE LAW OF THE (ELECTRIC LADY)LAND: JIMI HENDRIX ON JUSTICE ................................. 89 I – JOURNEYING TO JUSTICE ...................................................................................................... 92 II – BUILDING THE JUST WORLD .............................................................................................. 106 III – ILLUSION AND JUSTICE ..................................................................................................... 116 viii JOHN, JIMI, AND ANOTHER JOHN ............................................................................................. 130 CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................... 135 DEAR (JURIS)PRUDENCE: JOHN LENNON AS SOVEREIGN ................................................ 135 I - THOMAS HOBBES ON ESTABLISHING SOVEREIGNTY .................................................................. 142 II – CARL SCHMITT ON THE SOVEREIGN DECISION ....................................................................... 151 III – GIORGIO AGAMBEN ON THE CONTINUING EXCEPTION ........................................................... 161 SOVEREIGNTY FIELDS FOREVER? .............................................................................................. 175 CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................. 179 THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND NATURAL LAW ........................................ 179 I – ‘THE EXPANDING MAN’ AND THE REDISCOVERY OF NATURE ..................................................... 183 II – THE GOODS AND LAW ...................................................................................................... 205 III – AUTHORITY AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF NATURE ................................................................ 213 LIFE AFTER MARS .................................................................................................................. 226 CHAPTER SIX ..................................................................................................................