Course Bio

When in 2003 P!nk famously declared “if God is a DJ, life is a dance floor”, she did more than create an under-appreciated early-2000s classic: she aphorised the fact that, for many, popular music is not merely an accessory to daily life but is rather the very stage upon which life is lived. Clearly, no matter what its detractors may say, popular music matters. 

In this course, we will explore why popular music has mattered to so many over the past several decades, introducing you to a range of musical styles as well as theoretical and methodological approaches in order to better equip you for your own further research. Our discussions will revolve around eight key areas — politics and polemic, musical analysis, authenticity and appropriation, media technologies, fandoms, place and space, feminism, and queerness — each illuminated by diverse musical styles and experiences. From the blues women of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, through the Blitz Kids of the ’80s and the ravers of the ’90s, to the 21st-century popstars more familiar to contemporary audiences, we’ll see how these central themes recur across the history of popular music. Importantly, the course will also spend a significant amount of time considering those who consume popular music and the fandoms that arise, whether they be the fan armies of Swifties and the like, the internet subcultures of goths and emos, or the queer communities who deify certain pop icons. To this end, we will see how the history of popular music intersects with other arenas — politics and fashion, identity and community — with our investigations travelling all over the world: the genba of Japan, illegal warehouses in the UK, and drag bars in Brooklyn. And though our focus will be broad, we will spend most time on voices often excluded from academic discourse, those that foreground discussions of race, gender, and sexuality. Finally, we will also consider popular musicology writ large, and assess the musicological and aesthetic debates (of which there are many) pertaining to the study of popular music. 

By the end of the course, students should be able to speak authoritatively on important issues in popular music and will be equipped to interrogate their own research project within their extended essay.