“Where the Mix Is Perfect”: Voices
“WHERE THE MIX IS PERFECT”: VOICES FROM THE POST-MOTOWN SOUNDSCAPE by Carleton S. Gholz B.A., Macalester College, 1999 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 2007 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2011 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Carleton S. Gholz It was defended on April 11, 2011 and approved by Professor Brent Malin, Department of Communication Professor Andrew Weintraub, Department of Music Professor William Fusfield, Department of Communication Professor Shanara Reid-Brinkley, Department of Communication Dissertation Advisor: Professor Ronald J. Zboray, Department of Communication ii Copyright © by Carleton S. Gholz 2011 iii “WHERE THE MIX IS PERFECT”: VOICES FROM THE POST-MOTOWN SOUNDSCAPE Carleton S. Gholz, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2011 In recent years, the city of Detroit’s economic struggles, including its cultural expressions, have become focal points for discussing the health of the American dream. However, this discussion has rarely strayed from the use of hackneyed factory metaphors, worn-out success-and-failure stories, and an ever-narrowing cast of characters. The result is that the common sense understanding of Detroit’s musical and cultural legacy tends to end in 1972 with the departure of Motown Records from the city to Los Angeles, if not even earlier in the aftermath of the riot / uprising of 1967. In “‘Where The Mix Is Perfect’: Voices From The Post-Motown Soundscape,” I provide an oral history of Detroit’s post-Motown aural history and in the process make available a new urban imaginary for judging the city’s wellbeing.
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