Musical eutopias: A positive critique of popular musics & mediated listening, with particular reference to the BBC & public service radio Kevin Edge Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of English, Communication and Philosophy Cardiff University M ay 2009 UMI Number: U585207 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 complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U585207 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Sum m ary Musical eutopias offers positive critiques of the socio-cultural aspects of popular musics, the medium of radio in general, and the British Broadcasting Corporation in particular. Marxian critiques of what ‘is’, together with normative, socialist visions of what ‘ought’ to be, are reviewed with reference to radio’s listening subjects and broadcasting ideals. Arguably, popular musics embraced by radio only offer a dystopian standardisation for a mass audience. However, it is mooted here that socio­ cultural knowledges mediated by a public service broadcaster can contribute p o sitiv ely to a subject’s negotiation of modernity and the objective world. The humanistic potentials of music and broadcasting are considered using two conceits: (1) Sir Thomas More’s diagnostic benchmark of desired alternatives and perfection: U topia; and (2) Utopia’s ‘desublimation’ in More’s quasi-antonymic term, eutopia which is anactual rite of resources and relative goodness. To sift for music’s utopia and the eutopian aspects of Theodor Adorno’s ‘music in radio’, the writings of Ernst Bloch, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas are reassessed and joined by new utopian theory from Caryl Flinn, Stephen Eric Bronner and allied thinkers. The cultural and allegorical dimensions of music, and the institutional histories and ideals of the BBC are examined through the work of Antonio Gramsci, Raymond Williams, Michel Foucault, David Levin, Christopher Norris, Simon Frith, Georgina Bom and others. A near-Kantian sensibility, imagination and understanding are argued to develop (after Marcuse) in the musical eutopias of public broadcasting. There, a dialectic of utopian musical desires, socio-political philosophies and independent professional agency promotes rich aesthetic content and an equitable discursive framework for all. The study concludes that such in-common, public service eutopias of musical and moral dimensions are still of value for subjects becoming rational, empathetic species beings. Such eutopias might even counter new media solipsism and any instrumentally driven calls for broadcast reform. Thesis word total: 79,929. Excludes indented quotations, footnotes, appendices, references and bibliography. Contents Summary [ii] Declaration and statements [vi] Acknowledgements [vii] PART ONE | Preliminaries [8] 1 Introduction: A rt A promise, perfection A reality [9] 1.1 Three propositions [11] 1.2 Central thesis [12] 1.3 Perspectives, concepts, themes [13] 1.4 Evaluation, control & reproduction of public culture [22] 1.5 Summary [27] Notes [28] 2 Framework, theories A foundations [32] 2.1 Introduction [32] 2.2 Marxism [33] 2.3 Critical theory & its thinkers [36] 2.4 Music St intersubjectivity [40] 2.5 Utopian & eutopian foundations [44] 2.6 The BBC [45] 2.7 Summary [49] Notes [50] PART TWO | Music’s utopia [54] 3 ‘Venturing beyond’: Bloch A the utopian trope in musk [55] 3.1 Introduction [55] 3.2 Utopia, music & language [56] 3.3 ‘What has gone wrong?’ non-identity, suhjectification& intersubjectivity [60] 3.4 Caryl Flinn on Bloch & music’s utopia [65] 3.5 In conclusion [69] Notes [73] 4 “La Promesse du Bonheur”: Adorno, music A radio [77] 4.1 Introduction [77] 4.2 Re-reading Adorno’s critiques [78] 4.3 Radio: “A format worthy of the human” [83] 4.4 Current of Music: Adorno’s radio theory & the autonomous subject [90] 4.5 Adorno’s mature thought [96] 4.6 Adorno& the dialectic [98] 4.7 In conclusion [101] Notes [105] 5 Technology, art & liberation: Marcuse reviewed [111] 5.1 Introduction [111] 5.2 Technology & mediated listening [111] 5.3 Desire [114] 5.4 “Between the dance floor & the barricade”: Marcuse & art [117] 5.5 Marcuse, aesthetics & intersubjectivity [120] 5.6 Art, radio & Otherness [122] 5.7 In conclusion [123] Notes [126] PART THREE | Musical eutopias [128] 6 Meta-musical readings & the utopian conceit [129] 6.1 Introduction [129] 6.2 “With hope in your heart”: Lyrics, protest & eutopia [135] 6.3 Expressive obligation [138] 6.4 Aesthetics St the dangers of language [142] 6.5 Allegory & music [144] 6.6 Radio St discourse [145] 6.7 In conclusion [149] Notes [151] 7 Music, radio & intersubjectivity [153] 7.1 Introduction [153] 7.2 Sociological St philosophical models of intersubjectivity [154] 7.3 “The listening self”: intersubjectivity& music [159] 7.4 Adorno & critiques of mediated intersubjectivity [164] 7.5 Intersubjectivity & radio: positive critiques [165] 7.6 In conclusion [173] Notes [175] 8 Performative places& broadcast space [180] 8.1 Introduction [180] 8.2 Historical St theoretical places & space [183] 8.3 Places, space, music St Foucault [185] 8.4 Praise St critique of eutopian places [189] 8.5 Eutopian space St spatial conservatism [191] 8.6 A deconstructive move [194] 8.7 Musical eutopias, Cale St the dialectical process [196] 8.8 The BBC St Bom’s imaginaries [199] 8.9 In conclusion [202] Notes [203] PART FOUR | Communication, society & eutopia [207] 9 Normative ambitions& institntional histories: Public service broadcasting & the BBC from Reith to Ravenscroft [208] 9.1 Introduction [208] 9.2 Public service broadcasting& the early BBC [208] 9.3 Adorno, administration & culture [219] 9.4 “Listen to Auntie”: critiques of the BBC [221] 9.5 Agency: Gramsci, Bloch, Adorno & Peel [225] 9.6 “Creating a Perfect Day”: The BBC’sMusic Live event [232] 9.7 Broadcast space, aesthetic experiment & the BBC’s future [235] 9.8 Defence of the BBC [236] 9.9 In conclusion [239] Notes [241] 10 Justness for yon: Habermas, the BBC & the public sphere [247] 10.1 Introduction [247] 10.2 Broadcasting critiqued & redeemed [248] 10.3 Gramsci & a social theory of the extant [252] 10.4 Habermas: analyses, critiques & normative propositions [254] 10.5 The BBC: Analyses, critiques & normative perspectives [265] 10.6 In conclusion [272] Notes [273] 11 Conclusion: Sensibility, imagination & understanding [276] 11.1 Introduction [276] 11.2 Sensibility, imagination & understanding [282] 11.3 Utopian & Eutopian problematics [292] 11.4 Omissions [294] 11.5 Findings & general conclusions [295] 11.6 Why should we turn to public service music radio? [296] 11.7 Final words [297] Notes [302] Appendices [304] Appendix A: The BBC Radio Wales “Big Buzz Event” & questionnaire 2003 [305] Appendix B: Popular musics defined [320] References [325] Bibliography [342] Declaration and statements Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed D*te: 2.°i ■ A • 7 Statement 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree o f PhD . Signed ^ , £ ° rz^ Statement 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. Signed D ate: ^ Statement 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for die tide and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed D*te: n « / . .... / Z"( • k ■ 2. a *’| Acknowledgements I should like to thank all my present and former colleagues in the Cardiff School of Art & Design, especially Dr Clive Cazeaux, Professor Tim Coward, Cath Davies, Chris Dennis, Ruth Dineen, Ellie Glover, Don Jackson, Mike Hose, Paul Jewell, Dr Helen Long, Dr Ashley Morgan, Dr Chris Short, Dr Steve Thompson and Noel U pfold. I am particularly grateful to the School for granting me a period of study leave in 2003 which allowed me to work in a sustained way for six months.I am also grateful to the many colleagues at conferences and to my broadcast media and graphic design undergraduates, all of whom have patiently listened to so many of my ideas about the BBC, and whose own perspectives and responses have made this work so enjoyable; particular thanks here go to broadcast media student and musician Philip ‘Ed the Viking’ Jackson for his thoughts on John Cale.I am grateful to Julie Barton and Paul Ford of BBC Radio Wales for allowing me to interview them on the subject of music, radio andThe Big Buzz live event of 2003. Special thanks are due to my supervisor, Dr Andrew Edgar whose unending patience, breadth of knowledge and attentive eye I will never match. I am greatly indebted to Professor Georgina E. M. Bom for her detailed comments, suggestions and appraisal afforded to me in her role of External Examiner. These have substantially driven many of the revisions and additions to be found in the present work.I also wish to thank Dr Peter R. Sedgwick of the Cardiff Philosophy Department for his supportive guidance that has helped with the necessary tasks of revision and improvement.I have to thank my parents, Jean and Bryan Edge, the rest of the Edge family and my two friends Richard Davis and Dr Steve Morris for their collective patience and encouragement Most of all, thank you Katie Coombs for never giving up on the prospect of our very own eutopia, when all too frequently it absented itself during precious weekends and holidays as once m ore I switched on my laptop computer.