Popular Music and Australian Culture

Popular Music and Australian Culture
Author: Bruce Johnson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2022-11-29
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1527591417

This volume explores aspects of popular music and culture from the twentieth century to the present day. It brings together contributions challenging or reassessing assumptions about how individual, subjective experience comes to terms with modernity. While the emphasis is on Australian case studies, the essays here raise larger questions, ranging from our disempowerment as consumers demanding instant gratification to our ambiguous status as observers of and participants in historical change. They examine the complex relationship between sound and visual media in the formation of various communities, and how this relates to daily lived experience.

Myths of Oz

Myths of Oz
Author: John Fiske
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2016-10-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1315511398

This book, first published in 1987, sets out to examine and extend our understanding of Australian popular culture, and to counter the long-established, traditional criticism bewailing its lack. The authors argue that the 'knocker's' view started from an elitist viewpoint, yearning for Australia to aspire to a European culture in art, music, literature and other traditional cultural fields. They argue however that there are other definitions of culture that are more populist, more comprehensive, and which represent a vitality and dynamism which is a true reflection of the lives and aspirations of Australians. Myths of Oz offers no comprehensive definition of Australian culture, but rather a way of interpreting its various aspects. The barbeque or the pub, an expedition to the shops or a day at the beach, the home, the workplace or the job queue; all these intrinsic parts of Australian life are examined and conclusions drawn as to how they shape or are shaped by what we call popular culture. The authors look too at monuments and symbols, from Ayers Rock to the Sydney Opera House, which both shape and reflect Australian culture, while a chapter on the Australian accent shows how language and terminology play a powerful role in establishing cultural standpoints. A particular strength of this book is that while delivering a provocative and stimulating series of viewpoints on popular culture, it also makes use of current academic tools and methodology to ensure that we gain new insights into the meanings and pleasures we derive from our everyday experiences.

From Pop to Punk to Postmodernism

From Pop to Punk to Postmodernism
Author: Philip Hayward
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia
Total Pages: 188
Release: 1992
Genre: Arts and society
ISBN: 9781863732512

"Is there anything distinctive about Australian popular music? Or are Kylie Minogue and Midnight Oil simply part of the international music market? What about Aboriginal bands such as Yothu Yindi? Are they another version of different story to tell?" "From Pop to Punk to Postmodernism takes a close look at Australian popular music and the context in which it is created, heard and sold. It looks at record companies and radio stations, music video and television, analysing their influence on the music we hear. It looks at the pub rock scene and the barriers this presents for female rock musicians. It also looks at how music: fits into youth culture: the creation of pop music in the 1950s and 1960s, the punk scene of the early 1980s and the recent phenomenon of the dance party." "From Pop to Punk to Postmodernism is a lively, readable study of Australian popular music and popular culture and includes contributions by music critics Craig McGregor, Marcus Breen, Graeme Turner and Sally Stockbridge."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dig

Dig
Author: David Nichols
Publisher: Verse Chorus Press
Total Pages: 611
Release: 2016-10-11
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1891241613

David Nichols tells the story of Australian rock and pop music from 1960 to 1985 – formative years in which the nation cast off its colonial cultural shackles and took on the world. Generously illustrated and scrupulously researched, Dig combines scholarly accuracy with populist flair. Nichols is an unfailingly witty and engaging guide, surveying the fertile and varied landscape of Australian popular music in seven broad historical chapters, interspersed with shorter chapters on some of the more significant figures of each period. The result is a compelling portrait of a music scene that evolves in dynamic interaction with those in the United States and the UK, yet has always retained a strong sense of its own identity and continues to deliver new stars – and cult heroes – to a worldwide audience. Dig is a unique achievement. The few general histories to date have been highlight reels, heavy on illustration and short on detail. And while there have been many excellent books on individual artists, scenes and periods, and a couple of first-rate encylopedias, there’s never been a book that told the whole story of the irresistible growth and sweep of a national music culture. Until now . . .

Fields, Capitals, Habitus

Fields, Capitals, Habitus
Author: Tony Bennett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2020-06-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781138392298

Fields, Capitals, Habitus provides an insightful analysis of the relations between culture and society in contemporary Australia. Presenting the findings of a detailed national survey of Australian cultural tastes and practices, it demonstrates the pivotal significance of the role culture plays at the intersections of a range of social divisions and inequalities: between classes, age cohorts, ethnicities, genders, city and country, and the relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The book looks first at how social divisions inform the ways in which Australians from different social backgrounds and positions engage with the genres, institutions, and particular works of culture and cultural figures across six cultural fields: the visual arts, literature, music, heritage, television, and sport. It then examines how Australians' cultural preferences across these fields interact within the Australian 'space of lifestyles'. The close attention paid to class here includes an engagement with role of 'middlebrow' cultures in Australia and the role played by new forms of Indigenous cultural capital in the emergence of an Indigenous middle class. The rich survey data is complemented throughout by in-depth qualitative data provided by interviews with survey participants. These are discussed more closely in the final part of the book which explores the gendered, political, personal and community associations of cultural tastes across Australia's Anglo-Celtic, Italian, Lebanese, Chinese and Indian populations. The distinctive ethical issues associated with how Australians relate to Indigenous culture are also examined. In the light it throws on the formations of cultural capital in a multicultural settler colonial society, Fields, Capitals, Habitus makes a landmark contribution to cultural capital research.

Australian Popular Culture

Australian Popular Culture
Author: Ian Craven
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1994-04-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780521466677

Australia's leisure culture is legendary, and as millions of British viewers of Neighbours, fans of Yothu Yindi or drinkers of Castlemaine XXXX would attest, Australian popular culture is popular outside of Australia. Australian Popular Culture is an exciting collection of essays bringing together new perspectives on the nature and meaning of a nation's changing life. The collection also explores the idea of popular culture at large. Leading authors represent a range of approaches, backgrounds and fields to explore subjects of wide interest within the categories of 'the everyday', 'the mass media' and 'critical theory'. Chapters are devoted to the Aussie Back Yard; Vegemite; postage stamps; Australian Rules football; the introduction of television; Crocodile Dundee; The Lindy Chamberlain Affair; Spycatcher; Domesticity, leisure and love and Postmodernism and Australian Culture.

The Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage

The Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage
Author: Sarah Baker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 923
Release: 2018-05-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1315299291

The Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage examines the social, cultural, political and economic value of popular music as history and heritage. Taking a cross-disciplinary approach, the volume explores the relationship between popular music and the past, and how interpretations of the changing nature of the past in post-industrial societies play out in the field of popular music. In-depth chapters cover key themes around historiography, heritage, memory and institutions, alongside case studies from around the world, including the UK, Australia, South Africa and India, exploring popular music’s connection to culture both past and present. Wide-ranging in scope, the book is an excellent introduction for students and scholars working in musicology, ethnomusicology, popular music studies, critical heritage studies, cultural studies, memory studies and other related fields.

Australian Television Culture

Australian Television Culture
Author: Tom O'Regan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2020-07-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 100025626X

Australian television has been transformed over the past decade. Cross-media ownership and audience-reach regulations redrew the map and business culture of television; leading business entrepreneurs acquired television stations and then sold them in the bust of the late 1980s; and new television services were developed for non-English speaking and Aboriginal viewers. Australian Television Culture is the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental changes of this period. It is also the first to offer a substantial treatment of the significance of multiculturalism and Aboriginal initiatives in television. Tracing the links between local, regional, national and international television services, Tom O'Regan builds a picture of Australian television. He argues that we are not just an outpost of the US networks, and that we have a distinct television culture of our own. '.a truly innovative book. The author ambitiously strives for a large-scale synthesis of policy, program analysis, history, politics, international influences and the Australian television system's place in the world.' - Associate Professor Stuart Cunningham, Queensland University of Technology

Bee Gees, Process and Latent Elements in Music Production

Bee Gees, Process and Latent Elements in Music Production
Author: Pat O’Grady
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2024-11-26
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1040264026

This book examines the creative process of the Bee Gees and the latent elements that shaped their sound. From their formative Australian work to the highs of their disco years and the scores of songs they wrote and produced for other artists, the Bee Gees’ catalogue is vast and varied. It is also distinctive. Songs feature their signature falsetto vocals, close three-part harmony, and knack for pop songwriting. This book takes a unique approach to the musicology of music production. It analyzes processual accounts and demo recordings to uncover what are defined as the latent elements of music production, such as instruments, lyrics, meanings, space, sounds, and recording techniques that are crucial in shaping the completed recordings but are absent from what we hear. It is a must-read book for music production academics and students, as well as anyone interested in the Bee Gees’ creative process.

John Farnham's Whispering Jack

John Farnham's Whispering Jack
Author: Graeme Turner
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2022-03-10
Genre: Music
ISBN: 150138208X

The album examined in this book transformed the singer John Farnham from a faded teen pop star into the most popular solo rock performer in Australia, in a career that has lasted for more than 30 years. Whispering Jack remains the top-selling album by an Australian artist in Australia, and constitutes the turning point in Farnham's bid to achieve credibility as an adult contemporary musician. The first single from the album, 'You're the Voice,' has achieved such iconic status that it is routinely referred to as Australia's unofficial national anthem. The book examines the album, its context and that history in order to recover a crucial conjuncture in the development of Australian rock and popular music, one that has previously been ignored in Australian popular music studies.