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Andy Higgins, BA Andy Higgins, B.A. (Hons), M.A. (Hons) Music, Politics and Liquid Modernity How Rock-Stars became politicians and why Politicians became Rock-Stars Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations The Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion University of Lancaster September 2010 Declaration I certify that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere 1 ProQuest Number: 11003507 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003507 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract As popular music eclipsed Hollywood as the most powerful mode of seduction of Western youth, rock-stars erupted through the counter-culture as potent political figures. Following its sensational arrival, the politics of popular musical culture has however moved from the shared experience of protest movements and picket lines and to an individualised and celebrified consumerist experience. As a consequence what emerged, as a controversial and subversive phenomenon, has been de-fanged and transformed into a mechanism of establishment support. Throughout this period, as rock-stars have morphed from ‘pariahs to paragons of virtue’, public confidence in the art of politics has declined to an all time low. Sharing similar challenges in terms of building cultural capital and maintaining a sense of credibility, rock-stars have therefore tended to succeed where politicians have largely failed. In order to arrest this decline Featherstone claims that liquid modem politics has gravitated towards the ease of ‘commodified consumer critique’ than using this shift as an opportunity for ‘serious political critique’1. Naively attempting to re-habilitate itself by constructing marketable identities to re- energise its popularity, potency and appeal, politicians have transformed themselves into media ‘personalities’. Stylistically re-engineered by adopting the entertainment protocols of the pop celebrity and the seductive language of consumerism, today’s politicians share more and more similarities with stars from the world of music. More fundamentally, modernity’s meltdown and re-ordering of traditional meanings encourages everything including both politics and music to become increasingly liquid, unfixed and indefinite. As consumerism replaces politics as the society’s all- powerful meta-value, its underpinning logic seeks to ingratiate, please and entertain where politics once sought to challenge and question. As a result the symbiosis of rock-star-politics is increasingly normalised and soaks more deeply into the fabric of liquid modem life. Seduced by the trappings of celebrity and carnival, the rock-star’s journey of transformation exemplifies many of the obstacles liquid modernity now places in the way of establishing moral responsibility and developing meaningful politics. Bauman’s sociological cement brings together many of these challenges and the burgeoning world of popular music culture now offers an interesting device to illuminate these ongoing difficulties. In this complex and highly unpredictable world it is increasingly difficult to even imagine new forms of transgression let alone mount a serious political challenge to the its market driven ethos. By mixing Bauman’s strident critique with an analysis of popular music’s fast moving industry of stars, controversies and consumption practices, this thesis provides an alternative reading through music culture of the continuing search for politics. 1 Mark Featherstone, ‘Event Horizon’ in Mark Davis and Keith Tester (ed) Bdumdn s Challenge Sociological Issues for the 21st Century (Palgrave Macmillan 2010) p. 138 2 Table of Contents Introduction............................................................................................................... p. 5 Chapter 1 From Protest Music to Carnivals of Charity ................................................... p. 17 Chapter 2 The 1960s - The beginning o f theEND of heavy modernity............................... p. 79 Chapter 3 The 1970s- The Filth, The Fury and the Politics o f ‘The Punk Refusal’ p. 122 Chapter 4 The 1980s - The Decade o f Polarity (the Triumph o f Aesthetics over Ethics).... 161p. Chapter 5 The 1990s - The Search for identity and meaning in an age o f consensus ........ p.221 Chapter 6 The 2, 000s- 9-11 and the death of protest music......................................................... p.272 Chapter 7 Conclusion - In Music and Modernity change is the only constant........................ p.325 Bibliography............................................................................................................................ p. 339 3 Acknowledgements With thanks to my supervisors Mark Lacy, Chris May and Cynthia Weber and everybody from Lancaster’s Department of Politics and IR who have been extremely supportive during the last three years. A particular note of thanks to Mark, who as a result of having a strong interest in this area and has been extremely enthusiastic and informed on all matters relating to post-politics and liquid modernity. The department’s secretaries have been wonderful in making things happen, so my thanks are extended to Clare Coxhill, Susan Riches and Helen Caton. Many people from both academia and popular music have spent time discussing ideas relating to this thesis so once again thanks goes to Mark Davies of the Bauman Institute, Ellis Cashmore, Scott Wilson, Steve Pickering, Stuart Diggle, Sean Gibbs, Roddy Hanson and particularly Sarah Tabemer who has been both supportive and at times inspirational throughout what has been a drawn-out process. Finally this thesis is dedicated to my mum, Beryl Higgins and my two sons Jack and Joe Higgins. 4 Introduction ‘Configurations, constellations, patterns of dependency and interaction are all thrown into the melting pot, to be subsequently re-cast and re-fashioned. The liquidizing powers have moved from system to society, from politics to life- policies — and have descended from the macro to the micro level of social cohabitation,2. Since the 1960s popular music has played a largely unexamined role in helping shape and soundtrack our lives to its many key ‘political moments’. Despite the many important ways in which music invades, constructs and constitutes the every-day it still however represents a lacuna in political theory. Its many roles in social and political movements, youth subcultures and in its conflicting relationships with censorship3 and commercialism remain largely under-explored4. Through its supporting cast of fans, festivals, products and controversies, a rich source of information is now available to help chart the political journey of the rock-celebrity. By mapping the transformation from sixties counter-cultural outsider to modem celebrity insider, a narrative is constructed to assist our understanding of changes to the shape and form of modem politics. This untold journey of transformation from ‘pariah to paragon’5 speaks with a particular urgency through music culture and its 2 Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity (Polity 2000) p. 7 3 Peter Blecha, Taboo Tunes (Backbeat Books 2004) p. 22 4 Jacques Attali, Noise : The Political Economy of Music: Theory and History of Literature volume 1 6: (University of Minnesota Press 1985) and M I Franklin, Resounding International Relations On Music, Culture and Politics (Palgrave Macmillan 2005) 5 John Street, Seth Hague and Heather Savigny, ‘Playing to the Crowd : The Role of Music and Musicians in Political Participation’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations www.bjpir.org (Volume 10 2008) p. 282 5 ever-changing associations with consumerism, celebrity and its deep desire to recover a sense of authenticity. The unfolding story of rock-star politics mimics the endemic restlessness of liquid modernity offering a new lens to view the themes, which now delineate the shifting contours and moving currents of modem politics. Music possesses an almost inherent ability to prowl the boundaries of what society deems to be acceptable and endows its creators with power to influence how we act. As the glue of the sixties counter-culture, as the force behind movements such as Rock Against Racism and as a key terrain within the ‘culture wars’, popular music time and again demonstrates an ability to engage in a dialogue with power. Unlike incarnations such as Dylan, Lennon, Hendrix and Strummer, the music star’s new-found role has become increasingly understood as more celebrity than populist, and as a figure of consensus rather than critique. From the often challenging and politicised world of popular music during the sixties, seventies and eighties the most visible manifestations of that angst and controversy are now establishment figures such as Bono and Bob Geldof. As hybrid political-musicians these stars are now associated with popular consumer campaigns and as a result increasingly distanced from any radical or movement
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