Image credits: photosteve101 (cc by 2.0)
This is the current running order of sessions that are planned for the module. Some of the screenings may change slightly before Monday the 22nd of September, but it’s 90% complete at this point. [Update: the module is now finalised]
The weekly sessions will be organized as follows, as sessions are comprised out of a mixture of different modes of contact:
- 2 x 90 minute lectures per week
- 1 x 60 min workshop per week
- 1 x 60 min group tutorial every other week (optional)
- 1 x 60 min module leader officer hour each week (optional)
- 1 x 120 min screening per week (optional)
Week 1
Lecture A: Orientation. Studying popular music: why and how?
Lecture B: Rock and roll and the popular music consumer
No screening in week 1
Week 2
Lecture A: I got the blues: American black popular music 1920-1970
Lecture B: Music and the American counter-culture
Screening: Born To Be Wild – The Golden Age of American Rock – Episode 1 (2014, BBC) [YouTube link]
Week 3
Lecture A: Soul, funk and protest
Lecture B: Afrobeat: the politics of Fela Kuti
Screening: Soundtrack for a Revolution (2009, Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman) or Freedom Riders (2010, PBS) [YouTube link]
Week 4
Lecture A: Roots, rocks, reggae: the politics of Bob Marley
Lecture B: Black British music (KEITH HUSSEIN)
Screening: Reggae Britannia (2011, BBC) [YouTube link]
Week 5
Lecture A: From progressive to art rock: cultural capital and musical intellectualism
Lecture B: Heavy metal, heavy times
Screening: Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements (2009, BBC) [YouTube link]
Week 6
Lecture A: Blank generation: the history of punk
Lecture B: Post-punk, or rip it up and start again
Screening: Punk Britannia (2012, BBC) [YouTube link]
Week 7
Lecture A: Electric dreams: disco and dancing
Lecture B: From the street: the birth of hip-hop
Screening: Scratch (2001, Doug Pray) [YouTube link]
Week 8
Lecture A: From gangster rap to conspicuous consumption
Lecture B: Gender trouble: from rap to r&b
Screening: N.W.A. The World’s Most Dangerous Group (2008, VH1) [YouTube link]
Week 9
Lecture A: Electronic music production: technology, technique and talent
Lecture B: Moral panics, dance music and rave culture
Screening: Moral Panics: The Agony and the Ecstasy (2000, Open University/BBC2) [Veoh link] & The Chemical Generation (2000, Mark Soldinger) [YouTube link]
Week 10
Lecture A: Branding Britishness: Britpop
Lecture B: Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll
Screening: Live Forever (2003, John Dower) [YouTube link]
Week 11
Lecture A: Digital disruption and the music industry
Lecture B: New music marketing in the 21st century
Week 12
Lecture A: The boy (band)s are back in town
Lecture B: Women in pop music
Screening: One Direction: This is Us (2013, Morgan Spurlock)