The Affordances Of Repackaged Popular Music From The Past *** De betekenis en waarde van opnieuw aangeboden populaire muziek uit het verleden ISBN: 978-90-76665-30-6 Publisher: ERMeCC – Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture Cover design: Leon Pals Printing: Ipskamp Printing, Enschede © 2017 Simone Driessen The Affordances Of Repackaged Popular Music From The Past *** De betekenis en waarde van opnieuw aangeboden populaire muziek uit het verleden Thesis to obtain the degree of Doctor from the Erasmus University Rotterdam by command of the Rector Magnificus Prof.dr. H.A.P. Pols and in accordance with the decision of the Doctorate Board The public defense shall be held on Thursday 29 June at 11.30 hours by Simone Maria Robert Driessen born in Roermond Doctoral Committee: Promotor: Prof.dr. M.S.S.E. Janssen Other members: Dr. M. Duffett Dr. H.J.C.J. Hitters Prof.dr. S.L. Reijnders Co-promotor: Dr. J.M. Engelbert Acknowledgements Over the past years, many people have contributed to this thesis, and I wish to express my gratitude for their encouragement, inspiring stories, patience and endless optimism. First, I would like to thank my supervisor Susanne Janssen, for giving me the opportunity to become a PhD-lecturer in the Media and Communication department, her inspirational guidance, and continuous faith and support throughout the years. It has been a great pleasure working with you. I was very lucky to have Jiska Engelbert as co-supervisor. Jiska’s personal and academic support, encouraging advice, and endless enthusiasm and faith have helped me through this intensive, yet amazing, period. I also want to thank those that have shared their stories with me as interviewees for this thesis. Without them, it would not have been possible to write this dissertation. Also, I’d like to thank Manuela Tecusan for proofreading this dissertation. I had the pleasure of working together with a great group of lecturers in the Department of Media & Communication, to conduct research in the company of ambitious peers at the Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Culture and Communication (ERMeCC), the PhD Club and RMeS, and to have had the help of the amazing support staff team of the M&C department. Many thanks to all of you! I would particularly like to thank Etienne for being my Jedi-master in academia, life and lecturing, and Rian, Yosha, and Anouk for being the most cherished companions in this PhD process. Arno, Amanda, Abby, Emy, Janna, Leonieke, Niels, Pauwke, Qiong, Rhythma, Ruud, Rens, Rashid, and Sharon: thank you for being great company in the office, at conferences or at coffee dates, and your valuable advice and feedback on research or teaching. Thank you Karin, Irena, Ivo, Jenny, Marleen, Maurice, Mitzi, Rosadinde, and Sofie for being there, keeping me grounded, and distracting me when needed. I am grateful to my parents, sister, and my dearest nephew and niece, Thimo and Amber, for their encouragement and love. Finally, I would like to express gratitude to the person who actually deserves a book of thanks: Leon, all I can say is thank you. Your continuous support, patience, words of encouragement and wisdom, and love have made this thesis a possibility. Thank you all, for everything. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 11 1.1 Retromania ..................................................................................................................... 12 1.2 The value of retromania: The case of Top 2000 ............................................................ 14 1.3 Aims of the thesis ........................................................................................................... 16 1.4 Research questions and case studies .............................................................................. 18 1.5 Thesis structure .............................................................................................................. 20 2. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 23 2.1 Taking the mainstream music audience seriously .......................................................... 23 2.1.1 The meaning of mass culture in everyday life ........................................................ 24 2.1.2 The active music audience ...................................................................................... 26 2.2 Mainstream music defined ............................................................................................. 29 2.2.1 Synthetic and organic mainstream music ................................................................ 29 2.2.2 Contextualizing mainstream popular music ............................................................ 31 2.3 Repackaged popular music ............................................................................................. 32 2.3.1 The rockumentary and nostalgia TV shows ............................................................ 36 2.3.2 The tribute band ...................................................................................................... 37 2.3.3 The popular music reunion ...................................................................................... 38 2.4 Affordances of repackaged music in everyday life ........................................................ 41 2.4.1 Mapping the field: Music and the life course .......................................................... 42 2.4.2 Making sense of the self through repackaged music ............................................... 46 2.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 49 3. Research Design and Method ........................................................................................ 51 3.1 Methodological considerations ...................................................................................... 51 3.2 Collecting meanings on repackaged music in life-course narratives ............................. 54 3.2.1 Interviews ................................................................................................................ 55 3.2.2 Qualitative content analysis .................................................................................... 60 3.3 Sample and participant selection in the different cases .................................................. 63 3.3.1 Sampling and recruiting in the one-off reunion: The Big Reunion ......................... 65 7 3.3.2 Sampling and recruiting in the survival act: The Backstreet Boys ......................... 66 3.3.3 Sampling and recruiting in Doe Maar’s recurring reunions .................................... 67 3.3.4 Implications of the sampling and recruiting process ............................................... 68 3.4 The analysis of data ........................................................................................................ 69 3.5 Aca-fan or fan-academic? .............................................................................................. 71 3.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 73 4. Reading the Big Reunion in the life course .................................................................. 75 4.1 Case study: The Big Reunion ......................................................................................... 77 4.2 The Big Reunion: Modes of repackaging ...................................................................... 80 4.2.1 The TV series .......................................................................................................... 80 4.2.2 The live dimension: The one-off reunion concerts ................................................. 83 4.2.3 Making sense of the Big Reunion phenomenon ...................................................... 85 4.3 Method ........................................................................................................................... 88 4.4 Results ............................................................................................................................ 91 4.4.1 A nostalgic reading of the Big Reunion .................................................................. 92 4.4.2 Being ironic, yet defending mockery ...................................................................... 97 4.4.3 Questioning the reunion formula ........................................................................... 104 4.5 Conclusion and discussion ........................................................................................... 107 5. How Continued Engagement with the Backstreet Boys Features in Long-Term Fans’ Narratives about Their Life Course ..................................................................... 111 5.1 Case study: The Backstreet Boys ................................................................................. 112 5.2 Repackaging the Backstreet Boys ................................................................................ 116 5.3 Method ......................................................................................................................... 119 5.4 Results .......................................................................................................................... 122 5.4.1 Developing the self and one’s skills by being a fan .............................................