RE-INTERPRETING MEXICAN ROCK MUSIC: CONTEMPORARY YOUTH, POLITICS, AND THE MEXICAN STATE by MAGDELANA RED B.A., University of San Francisco, 2000 M.A., University of Texas at Austin, 2003 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Journalism and Mass Communication 2012 This thesis entitled: Re-Interpreting Mexican Rock Music: Contemporary Youth, Politics, and the Mexican State written by Magdelana Red has been approved for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication _________________________________________ Dr. Robert Trager, Chair _________________________________________ Dr. Shu-Ling Berggreen _________________________________________ Dr. Robert Buffington _________________________________________ Dr. Isaac Reed _________________________________________ Dr. Nabil Echchaibi Date ____________________ The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. IRB protocol # 0410.26 Copyright 2012, Magdelana Red Red, Magdelana Mae (Ph.D., Communication) Re-Interpreting Mexican Rock Music: Contemporary Youth, Politics, and the Mexican State Thesis directed by Professor Robert Trager This dissertation elaborates a theoretical intervention challenging accepted interpretations of the role of rock music in youth political expression and identity formation during the period following the Mexican government’s apertura, or opening, from the 1980s through the 2000s, a period that followed decades of censorship and tight government control of youth expression, popular culture, and national identity. In spite of the fact that youth under the age of twenty-four make up approximately forty-five percent of Mexico’s population, young people and their engagement with and creation of popular culture have been severely understudied. This dissertation argues that while previous research has brought attention to a population that deserves to be studied, much of it has employed theoretical lenses that take too much for granted: perceiving the use and meaning of rock music to young people as inherently resistant, defiant, oppositional, and confrontational; and understanding rock’s fans as a discrete, identifiable, unified, and subordinate social group that is necessarily in conflict with an equally identifiable dominant group. This dissertation employs an interpretive approach to the study of Mexican rock music that strips away assumptions that organize analysis into predictable frameworks. Instead, following recent global media studies scholarship, select popular music studies scholars, and anthropologist Clifford Geertz, this project places data gathered from informants via interviews, observation, and documentary analysis into broader webs of significance and views human behavior as symbolic action. This research has revealed that rock music’s role in youth politics has been widely varied over the past thirty years – occasionally raising consciousness and prescribing avenues for social change, but more frequently (though equally important) providing a means of escape and disconnect from Mexico’s increasingly violent and hostile social world. This work is significant as a critical, diachronic account of an important, mediated popular cultural form that is examined contextually, relationally, and while considering audiences, texts, and production in analysis. iii Dedication This project is joyfully and respectfully dedicated to the creators, producers, performers, promoters, advocates, and enthusiasts of rock music in Mexico! It is also dedicated, in loving memory, to my recently departed grandparents, Dorothy Fitzgerald, Lucy Red FitzPatrick, and Arthur Red. Acknowledgements I was first inspired to examine Mexico’s popular music during my senior year in college when I undertook a yearlong historical study of mariachi and national identity. Julio Moreno and Michael Stanfield supported that work and also offered me the first encouragements to embark on an academic career. It took me many years to heed their advice and I can only hope that the life experiences accumulated along the way will make me a better scholar and teacher. I have been fortunate to have been encouraged and supported by many teachers along the way. In addition to Julio and Mike from the USF days, Charlie Hale and Craig Watkins were great mentors while I wrote my M.A. thesis at the University of Texas at Austin. While at the University of Colorado, I learned a lot about teaching from Janice Peck, Polly McLean, and Alison Jaggar. Other faculty members contributed to my intellectual advancement both as teachers and committee members. I am deeply grateful to Trager, Nabil Echchaibi, Isaac Reed, Rob Buffington, and Shu-Ling Berggreen for accompanying me on this journey with enthusiasm, encouragement, and trust in my abilities. I am particularly thankful to Culture Crew members Margaret Durfy, Ben Lamb- Books, and Isaac Reed, whose intellectual stimulation, equilibrium shifting scholarly acumen, and desire to effectively utilize theory to better understand social phenomena helped me survive year two of the Ph.D. program and have inspired me ever since. Margaret Durfy deserves additional thanks for being willing to serve as the first reader of this dissertation and for offering insightful criticism and comments on the earliest drafts of several chapters. My cohort-mates, Kimberly Eberhardt Casteline, Dave Wallace, and Liang Zheng, were wonderful companions through this process. I’ve truly enjoyed getting to know them and sharing this experience with them as we’ve progressed through each requisite phase. Generous financial support was provided by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, which helped fund a few trips to Mexico City, as well as several conferences where some of this dissertation’s material was presented and discussed. In the end, that support would not have gone far if not for the generosity and kindness of my “family” in Mexico City – Jorge, Craig, Ernesto, Adrian, Victor and the rest of friends/staff at The Red Tree House. I cannot imagine having survived this project without the willing assistance, care, and concern provided by that stellar group. Many thanks to all the fantastic people that came and went during my stay at the RTH, who constantly reminded me how rich, textured, and full of color the world can be (Arden, Alfredo, Estela, Rex, Isabel, Patrick, and Arlette). This project has brought me many friends who have delighted, entertained, and accompanied me throughout. I am particularly thankful for two remarkable people: M.V. who introduced me to El Under, El Imperial, and Roco, and who re-introduced me to Garibaldi; and J.W. who has happily engaged in endless discussion of the intricacies of Mexican rock, joined me for exciting days/nights at music festivals on both sides of the border, and shared his cavernous musical knowledge. I owe many thanks to the people who participated in this project. Although names are protected by IRB protocol, I am deeply indebted to three generous souls whose knowledge of Mexican rock is encyclopedic and whose willingness to share their knowledge and time with me has, so far, been limitless – I am humbled by and deeply grateful for their beneficence (M.V., J.W., and U.W.). Two ardent fans welcomed me into their fold with open arms, graciousness, and spontaneous friendship at a moment when it couldn’t have been v more appreciated. Another fan helped get me started by agreeing to be my first interviewee just when I was beginning to despair. To all of these people and to the many others who participated I offer my most sincere thanks. This dissertation would not have been possible without the work of scholars and advocates of youth and rock music in Mexico. Their work deserves to be recognized more widely and extended productively. * * * Without question, my family and friends have also helped make this dissertation possible. My parents, Sheila Red and Richard Red, have always supported and encouraged me even when they didn’t have any idea what I was up to or why I was doing it. I have appreciated their unflagging support from the first time I decided to live in Mexico City in 1998, when I was still a teenager, to my more recent forays that coincided with devastating tales of danger and violence. I am also thankful to my more recently acquired parents, Joy and Denny Swanson, for their kindness, cheer, and the kids-ski-free program. Many thanks to Marc Swanson for being an entertaining brother-in-law who is always up for a good argument. And special appreciation to Uncle Wayne whose generosity has made this entire journey markedly smoother. I owe deep gratitude to my grandparents. The three that I knew all passed away during my Ph.D. program. I’ll always remember my grandfather, Arthur Red, with his Texas accent, huge belt buckles, cowboy boots and shirts, quick smile (for me, particularly), and considerable strength. My grandmother, Esther Lucille Red FitzPatrick, was a warm, funny, engaging storyteller who gave the best hugs, endured incredible hardships, and created a strangely tight-knit and intimately bound family around her. My grandmother, Dorothy Mae Fitzgerald, was a rock of strength and stability whose love and support of my education were profound. She was the person in my family with whom, as an adult, I could best relate; she