We watched Cameron Crowe's 2000 film Almost Famous, and considered rock music in relation to the coming-of-age narrative: "cool" and "uncool," inside/outside and the role of the music journalist who straddles this boundary ("the enemy"); groupies, sorry "band-aids," and rock music's "traffic in women"; the music industry and the magazine's role in the publicity machine; childhood, responsibility, freedom from parents ("Rockstars have kidnapped my son!") and drugs ("I am a Golden God!"). We heard presentations about the history of MTV, psychedelic rock and cultural appropriation in hip-hop (see post further down).
We considered the literary genre of the music review, and conducted an in-class reading of such magazines as Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Spin, Time Out New York, Vice, Kerrang!, Arthur and The Wire. We read articles by Lester Bangs including "Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves" and discussed the genre of gonzo journalism: confrontational, chaotic and honest to the point of self-destruction.
This week's guest speaker was Zebidy Tank of Australian rock band Drop Tank, who illuminated us about the rewards and sacrifices of pursuing a career as a rock musician, the pros and cons of working with producers, the importance of image and promotion, the Sydney music scene, and the physical realities and interpersonal dynamics of playing in a band and performing live. Follow her career here and here.
