Popular Music in Contemporary France Berg French Studies General Editor: John E. Flower ISSN: 1345-3636 John E. Flower and Bernard C. Swift (eds), François Mauriac; Visions and Reappraisals Michael Tilly (ed.), Beyond the Noveau Roman: Essays on the Contemporary French Novel Alec G. Hargreaves, Voices from the North African Immigrant Community in France: Immigration and Identity in Beur Fiction Colin Nettlebeck, Forever French: The French Exiles in the United States of America during the Second World War Richard Griffiths, The Use of Abuse: The Polemics of the Dreyfus Affair and its Aftermath Bill Marshall, Victor Serge: The Uses of Dissent Allan Morris, Collaboration and Resistance Reviews: Writers and the Mode Rétro in Post-Gaullist France Malcolm Cook, Fictional France: Social Reality in the French Novel 1775–1800 W. D. Halls, Politics, Society and Christianity in Vichy France David H. Walker, Outrage and Insight: Modern French Writers and the ‘Fait Divers’ H. R. Kedward and Nancy Wood, The Liberation of France: Image and Event David L. Looseley, The Politics of Fun: Cultural Policy and Debate in Contemporary France John E. Flower, Pierre Courtade: The Making of a Party Scribe Nicholas Hewitt, Literature and the Right in Postwar France: The Story of the ‘Hussards’ Alex Hughes and Kate Ince, French Erotic Fiction: Women’s Desiring Writing, 1880 –1990 Laïla Ibnlfassi and Nick Hitchcott, African Francophone Writing: A Critical Introduction Jennifer E. Milligan, The Forgotten Generation: French Women Writers of the Inter- war Period Martin Evans, The Memory of Resistance: French Opposition to the Algerian War Owen Heathcote, Alex Hughes and James S. Williams (eds), Gay Signatures: Gay and Lesbian Theory, Fiction and Film in France, 1945–1995 Nicki Hitchcott, Women Writers in Francophone Africa Philip Dine, French Rugby Football: A Cultural Study Popular Music in Contemporary France Authenticity, Politics, Debate David L. Looseley Oxford • New York First published in 2003 by Berg Editorial offices: 1st Floor, Angel Court, 81 St Clements Street, Oxford, OX4 1AW, UK 838 Broadway, Third Floor, New York, NY 10003–4812, USA © David Looseley 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Berg. Berg is the imprint of Oxford International Publishers Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 85973 631 9 (Cloth) ISBN 1 85973 636 X (Paper) Typeset by JS Typesetting Ltd, Wellingborough, Northants Printed in the United Kingdom by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn To Avril, Rhiannon, my parents May and Len, and my sister Jennifer Humble, amongst whose records I first encountered French popular music in the 1960s This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix French Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 Part I: Defining Authenticity 1 Popular Music before 1958 9 2 The 1960s: Authenticity and Barbarism 21 3 From 1968 to the Present: Authenticity and Métissage 37 4 Chanson as National Myth: The Authenticity Debate 63 5 Denationalising Authenticity: The Sociological Debate 87 Part II: Politicising Authenticity 6 Music and Politics before 1981 113 7 Music and Politics 1981–93 131 8 Policy and the Music Industry at the End of the Millennium 151 9 Policy and Its Discontents: The Republican Debate 167 10 Techno and the State: The Cultural Debate 183 Conclusion 203 Chronology 215 Bibliography 223 Index 235 – vii – This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements I am pleased to acknowledge the help of the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the University of Leeds in funding a year’s research leave for this project, and the assistance of a wide range of people in its preparation and completion. I am indebted to the following French academics and others involved in music or policy, who have variously provided documentation, information or interviews: Jean-Rémy Abélard, Marie-Agnès Beau (French Music Bureau, UK), Olivier Donnat, Antoine Hennion, Fred Hidalgo (Chorus), Didier Martin (Martin Musique, La Flèche), Monique Massé, Frédérique Mauduit (Ministry of Culture), Pierre Mayol (Ministry of Culture), André Ménage, Xavier Migeot, Philippe Poirrier, Jacques Rigaud, Anna- Michèle Schneider (Ministry of Culture), and particularly Patrick Mignon and Philippe Teillet for their time and patience. Special thanks go to my friends Guy Groulay, Jocelyn Termeau, Nelly Termeau and Michel Varache, for the multiple benefits of their personal knowledge, record collections, linguistic advice and hospitality. I would also like to say thanks to friends and colleagues in the French Department at the University of Leeds, where since 1994 I have found a remarkably congenial and supportive working environment. I am especially grateful to David Roe and Christopher Todd, who year after year have taken the time to look out for and supply press and audiovisual sources. Susan Dolamore and Jim House have also been a great help in this regard and Nigel Armstrong, Marie-Anne Hintze and Kamal Salhi have provided some valuable linguistic advice. Thanks to David Platten and Max Silverman, whose generosity in sharing courses and ideas of a cultural nature has made an important intellectual contribution to the book, while David’s other life as guitarist and recording artist has proved useful. Both have also kindly read parts of the book in draft, as has Kim Harrison. Susan Miller, musician with Charanga del Norte, and Angela Griffith of Greenhead College Huddersfield have advised me on music terminology. I also much appreciated the help of French studies colleagues Jeremy Ahearne (Warwick), Peter Hawkins (Bristol) and Chris Tinker (Heriot-Watt); and am indebted to the following students, undergraduate and postgraduate, for their ideas, documentary help and – ix – Acknowledgements enthusiasm: Abbie Boak, Helen Charles-Edwards, Sharon Dickinson, Helen Easter, Eleanor Edwards, Kim Harrison, Evan Hughes, Zebi Jackson, Rachel Jenkins, Eleanor Moore, Jonathan Sewell and all the members of my special- subject groups over the years. Lastly, thanks to my daughter Rhiannon, who has helped me keep one foot in contemporary music, the other in contemporary France and, with her dry humour and sharp intelligence, both feet firmly on the ground; and to my wife Avril, for reading, discussing and everything. The epigraph to Part I is taken from Bernard Lavilliers’s song ‘Noir et blanc’, published by Big Brother Company and released by Barclay on the singer’s 1986 album Voleur de feu (CD no. 829 342 2). Thanks to the French Music Bureau (UK) for assistance regarding permission to reproduce. – x – French Abbreviations BIPE Bureau d’information et de prévisions économiques (Bureau for Economic Information and Forecasting) CENAM Centre national d’animation musicale (National Centre for Music Animation) CIR Centre d’information du rock (Rock Information Centre; now part of IRMA) CNC Centre national de la cinématographie (National Cinema Centre, Ministry of Culture) CNCL Commission nationale de la communication et des libertés (National Commission for Communication and Liberties; fore- runner of CSA) CSA Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (Higher Audiovisual Council; the national regulatory body for broadcasting since 1989) DDC Direction du développement culturel (Directorate for Cultural Development, Ministry of Culture) DDF Délégation au développement et aux formations (Delegation for Development and Training; successor to the DDC) DEP Département des études et de la prospective (Department for Studies and Forecasting, Ministry of Culture; formerly the SER) DMD Direction de la musique et de la danse (Directorate for Music and Dance, Ministry of Culture) FAIR Fonds d’action et d’initiative rock (Action and Initiative Fund for Rock) FLIP Force de libération et d’intervention pop (Pop Liberation and Intervention Force) FLJ Front de libération de la jeunesse (Youth Liberation Front) FN Front national (National Front) FNAC Fédération nationale d’achat des cadres (Executives’ National Purchasing Federation; nation-wide chain selling books, records and photographic materials) HEC École des hautes études commerciales (School of Advanced Business Studies) – xi – French Abbreviations IFCIC Institut pour le financement du cinéma et des industries culturelles (Institute for the Financing of Cinema and the Cultural Industries) IRCAM Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (Institute for Music/Acoustic Research and Coordination) IRMA Centre d’information et de ressources pour les musiques actuelles (Information and Resource Centre for Present-Day Musics) MIDEM Marché international du disque, de l’édition musicale, de l’équipe- ment et de la vidéo-musique (International Market for Records, Music Publishing, Equipment and Music-Video; annual trade fair) MJC Maisons des jeunes et de la culture (Houses of Youth and Culture; a national network of youth centres begun after the Liberation) ORTF Office de la radiodiffusion-télévision française (French Radio and Television Office; French broadcasting body, broken up in 1974) PCF Parti communiste français (French Communist Party) PS Parti socialiste français (French Socialist Party) RMC Radio Monte-Carlo RTF Radio-Télévision française (forerunner of ORTF) SACEM Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (Society of Music Authors,