Week 1–August 24: How can we analyse popular music without ruining it?

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘Gin and Juice’ (Snoop Dog and Dr Dre; The Gourds)

                                   2.) ‘Airbag’ (Radiohead, Easy Star All-Stars)

                                   3.) ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Nirvana, Tori Amos), ‘Bootylicious’ (Destiny’s Child), ‘Smells Like Booty’ (2Many DJs)

                                   4.) ‘Accentuate the Positive’ (Johnny Mercer, Perry Como)

Week 2–August 31: What makes a song a song?

1.) Moore, Allan. Little, tiny excerpt from Rock, the Primary Text: Developing a Musicology of Rock. Basingstoke: Ashgate, 2003.

2.) Gracyk, Theodore. ‘Preface’ and ‘That Wild, Thin Mercury Sound: Ontology.’ In Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996.

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘Columbus Stockade’ (J.E. Mariner and Band, Tarbox Ramblers)

                                   2.) ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ (U2, The Sensitive New Age Cowpersons)

                                   3.) ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ (Barrett Strong, The Flying Lizards)

                                   4.) ‘Tainted Love’ (Gloria Jones, Soft Cell)

• Tute Focus:  How do we construct an analytical method using concepts like ‘ontologically thick’ and ‘medium’ or ‘autographic’ and ‘allographic’?

Week 3–Sept. 7: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music I: ‘Race’ Music in the American Southeast.

3.) Palmer, Robert. ‘Beginnings.’ In Deep Blues. London: Macmillan, 1982.

4.) Waterman, C. and Starr, L. ‘St. Louis Blues: Race Records and Hillbilly Music.’ In American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Film Excerpt:              ‘American Roots Music’

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘Sink ‘Em Low’ (Bessie Jones and Group)

                                   2.) ‘Stewball’ (Lightnin’ Washington and Group)

                                   3.) ‘Catfish Blues’ (Robert Petway)

                                   4.) ‘From Four ‘Till Late’ (Robert Johnson)

                                   5.) ‘Judge Harsh Blues’ and  ‘Statesboro Blues’ (Blind Willie McTell)

                                   6.) ‘T’aint Nobody’s Business’ (Frank Stokes)

                                   7.) ‘The Lemon Song’ (Led Zeppelin)

                                   8.) ‘300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues’ (The White Stripes)

• Tute Focus:  What are the key expressive and performative elements of the blues?

Week 4– Sept. 14: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music II: From ‘Hillbillys’ to Hank Williams.

 

Reading

4.) Waterman, C. and Starr, L. ‘St. Louis Blues: Race Records and Hillbilly Music.’ (pt. 2) In American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

5.) Miller, Karl. ‘Race Records and Old Time Music.’ In Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

Film Excerpts:             ‘American Roots Music’ and ‘Honky Tonk Blues’

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘Last Words of Copernicus’ (Alabama Sacred Harp Singers)

                                   2.) ‘Can the Circle Be Unbroken,’ ‘Gospel Ship’ (The Carter Family)

                                   3.) ‘Settin’ the Woods on Fire,’ ‘My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It,’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ (Hank Williams)

                                   4.) ‘Guess Things Happen That Way’ (Johnny Cash)

                                   5.) ‘Under Your Spell Again’ (Buck Owens)

                                   6.) ‘Dwight Yoakum’ (Sarah Shook and the Disarmers)

• Tute Focus:  What are the key expressive elements of country music? How can this musical tradition be both distinct from and similar to the blues?

Week 5– Sept. 21: The Origins of Most Contemporary Popular Music III: Rhythm & Blues and the Rise of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

6.) Waterman, C. and Starr, L. ‘Choo Choo Ch-Boogie.’ In American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

7.) Palmer, Robert. ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.’ In Rock and Roll: An Unruly History. New York: Harmony Books, 1995.

8.) Escott, Colin.  ‘Come on, Let’s Go!’ from Mojo Magazine.

Film Excerpt:              ‘Elvis in the 50s’

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘Drunk’ (Jimmy Liggins)

                                   2.) ‘Mess Around' (Ray Charles)

                                   3.) ‘That’s All Right’ (Arthur Crudup, Elvis Presley),

                                   4.) ‘Hound Dog’ (Big Mama Thornton, Elvis Presley),

                                   5.) ‘Smokestack Lightnin’ and ‘Ain’t Superstitious’ (Howlin’ Wolf).

                                   6.) ‘Lonely Boy’ (The Black Keys)

• Tute Focus:  What musical forms and gestures link rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll?

Week 6– Sept. 28: The Schmaltz and Pop Orchestras in the 50s and 60s.

9.) Albin Zak

10.) Excerpts from The Frank Sinatra Reader.

Film Excerpt:             

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning’ (Frank Sinatra, 1954)

                                   2.) ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ (Perry Como, 1963)

                                   3.) ‘Turn Out the Moon’ (The Walker Brothers, 1967)

                                   4.) ‘In the Darkest Place’ (Elvis Costello, 1999)

Week 7–Oct. 12: Soul Goes Big in Chicago and Detroit in the 50s and 60s.

 

8.) Kempton, Arthur. ‘Family Values.’ In Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005.

9.) Smith, Suzanne. ‘Afro-American Music without Apology’ from Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Film Excerpt:              ‘Sam Cooke: Legend.’

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘Touch the Hem of His Garment’ (The Soul Stirrers)

                                   2.) ‘Can I Get a Witness’ (Marvin Gaye)

                                   3.) ‘Nowhere to Run’ (Martha and Vandellas)

                                   4.) ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ (The Four Tops)

                                   5.) ‘Tracks of My Tears’ (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles).

                                   6.) ‘Back to Black’ (Amy Winehouse)

• Tute Focus:  How are Chicago Soul and Motown the music of both segregation and integration?

Week 8–Oct. 19: Punk From Detroit to New York to London in the 70s.

 

10.) Hasted, Nick. ‘Search and Destroy.’ From Uncut.

11.) Gendron, Bernard. ‘Punk Before Punk’ and ‘The First Wave.’ In Between Monmartre and the Mudd Club. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Film Excerpt:              ‘Punk: Attitude’ and 'The Filth and the Fury’

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ (The Stooges)

                                   2.) ‘Kick Out the Jams’ (The MC5)

                                   3.) ‘Run, Run, Run,’ ‘I Can’t Stand It’ (Velvet Underground)

                                   4.) ‘Anarchy in the UK,’ ‘God Save the Queen’ (Sex Pistols)

• Tute Focus:  Why does early ‘punk’ sound the way it does? Why was it the Sex Pistols that become so influential?

Week 9–Oct. 26: Punk and After in Australia and New Zealand in the 70s and 80s.

12.) ‘In Love With Those Times: Flying Nun and the Dunedin Sound’ from Stylus Magazine.

13.) Stafford, Andrew. ‘Know Your Product’ and ‘The Most Primitive Band in the World.’ In Pig City: From The Saints to Savage Garden. St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 2004.

Film Excerpts:             ‘Long Way to the Top,' 'Heavenly Pop Hits'.

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘I’ll Only See You Alone Again,’ ‘Part Past Part Fiction’ (The Chills)

                                   2.) ‘Made Up in Blue,’ ‘It’s a Lie’ (The Bats)

                                   3.) ‘I’m Stranded,’ ‘Know Your Product’ (The Saints)

• Tute Focus:  How can we link the values of punk to the scenes in Brisbane and Dunedin?

Week 10–Nov. 2: Punk After ‘Punk’: Washington D.C. in the 80s and 90s.

14.) Anderson, Mark, and Jenkins, Mark. ‘Merchandise.’ In Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital. Brooklyn, NY: Akashic Books, 2003.

Film Excerpt:              ‘Instrument’

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘N-Sub Ulysses’ (Nation of Ulysses)

                                   2.) ‘Facet Squared,’ ‘Do You Like Me’ (Fugazi)

• Tute Focus:  How is D.C. punk representative of the way punk evolved into the 90s?

Week 11–Nov. 9: The (Re)Birth of Electronic Dance Music.

15.) Butler, Mark. ‘The History and Creation of Electronic Dance Music.’ In Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.

Film Excerpt:             

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone’ (The Temptations)

                                   2.) ‘Ten Percent’ (Double Exposure, Walter Gibbons remix)

                                   3.) ‘I Feel Love’ (Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder)

                                   4.) ‘Pump Up the Volume’ (M.A.R.R.S, 1987)

                                   5.) ‘Tranzister’ (Kevin Saunderson, 1988)

                                   6.) ‘Around The World (Live)’ (Daft Punk, 2007)

• Tute Focus:    How did electronic dance music develop aesthetically after the ‘death’ of disco (ca. 1980)?

Week 12–Nov. 16: Two Turntables and a microphone.

16.) Chang, Jeff. Excerpt from Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005.

17.) Rose, Tricia. Excerpt from Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1994.

Film excerpt:              ‘Scratch.’

Songs of the Week:   1.) ‘The Message’ (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

                                   2.) 'Respiration' (Blackstar)

                                   3.) ‘How Much a Dollar Cost’ (Kendrick Lamar)

• Tute Focus:       How can we link the two most musically important aspects of hip hop, lyrical flow and rhythmic flow, to one another analytically?