Reading Pop Production Eirik Askerøi Reading Pop Production Sonic Markers and Musical Identity Dissertation for the degree of PhD in Popular Music Performance University of Agder Faculty of Fine Arts 2013 Doktoravhandlingar ved Universitetet i Agder <59> ISSN: 1504-9272 ISBN: 978-82-7117-723-2 Eirik Askerøi, 2013 Trykk: Trykkeriet, Universitetet i Agder Kristiansand Table of Content ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................................... I PREFACE ......................................................................................................................................................... III 1. READING POP PRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 SPECTRES OF AUTHENTICITY ...........................................................................................................................................6 CONSTRUCTING MUSICAL IDENTITY .............................................................................................................................11 SONIC MARKERS AS AN ANALYTICAL CONCEPT ..........................................................................................................16 A MULTIPLICITY OF VOICES: VOCAL, INSTRUMENTAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL MARKERS ....................................28 Vocal Mediation...........................................................................................................................................................29 In the red zone: Instruments and technologies..............................................................................................31 Multi­voiced utterances ...........................................................................................................................................34 SYNOPSIS OF THESIS .......................................................................................................................................................37 2. SONIC MARKERS OF TIME: APPROPRIATION AND RETRONORMATIVITY IN BECK’S MUSIC...............................................................................................................................................................41 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................41 RETRONORMATIVITY ......................................................................................................................................................43 SONIC MARKERS OF TIME ...............................................................................................................................................48 “SEXX LAWS”....................................................................................................................................................................60 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................................................67 3. SONIC MARKERS AND TASTE: RE­CONTEXTUALISATION, SUBSTITUTION AND APPROPRIATION..........................................................................................................................................69 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................69 RE‐CONTEXTUALISATION: CÉLINE DION AND ANASTACIA’S “YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG”.................71 INSTRUMENTAL SUBSTITUTION: SENOR COCONUT’S “AUTOBAHN”......................................................................77 APPROPRIATION: PROMOE’S “SVENNEBANAN”.........................................................................................................82 CONSTRUCTING MARKERS OF TASTE............................................................................................................................89 4. NO LOVE IN MODERN LIFE: MATTERS OF PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTION IN A MORRISSEY SONG ........................................................................................................................................93 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................93 LYRICS AND VOCAL PERFORMANCE ..............................................................................................................................95 READING THE ELECTRIC GUITAR AS A SONIC MARKER........................................................................................... 100 DISCOURSES OF IRONY AND TERROR......................................................................................................................... 106 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................................ 110 5. TRANSMISSIONS: ON DIFFERENCE AND CONSTRUCTION IN JOY DIVISION..................... 113 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................. 113 “MADE FOR INSTANT MYTH” ..................................................................................................................................... 115 TEMPERAMENT AND PECULIARITY IN PERFORMANCE.......................................................................................... 122 TOWARDS CONSTRUCTING SPATIAL MARKERS........................................................................................................ 127 CONSTRUCTING DIFFERENCE—MUSICAL ANALYSES............................................................................................ 129 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................................ 138 6. STILL AROUND?: MANLY MARKERS OF VULNERABILITY AND NOSTALGIA IN JOHNNY CASH.............................................................................................................................................................. 143 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................. 143 CONSTRUCTING THE BOOM‐CHICKA‐BOOM SOUND................................................................................................ 145 CASH’S MUSICAL PARADOXES ..................................................................................................................................... 148 “HURT”: MARKERS OF VULNERABILITY AND NOSTALGIA ..................................................................................... 152 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................................ 162 7. FINAL COMMENTS............................................................................................................................... 165 SUMMARY AND FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................ 166 RESTRICTIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ................................................................................................................ 172 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................... 175 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................................................. 175 INTERNET RESOURCES................................................................................................................................................. 187 DISCOGRAPHY................................................................................................................................................................ 187 Analysed recordings................................................................................................................................................187 Referenced recordings ...........................................................................................................................................188 FILMOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................................... 190 Acknowledgments Although the process of completing a thesis might be a lonely endeavour at times, the work itself would be virtually impossible without good helpers, critics, colleagues and friends. First of all, I wish to thank my supervisor, Stan Hawkins, for the inspiration, scholarship and friendship he has shared, and for being my hardest and most valuable critic—in short, for contributing far more than anyone should expect from a supervisor. In addition, I would like to thank Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane and Martin Power for critical and constructive feedback, and for including my chapter on Morrissey in the anthology Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities (2011); Professor Susan McClary, Shara Rambarran, Mats Johansson,