Challenge the Popular Music Orthodoxy!!!

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"CALL FOR PAPERS:
Skip a Beat: Challenging Popular Music Orthodoxy
The Second Annual EMP Pop Conference
Experience Music Project, Seattle, WA
April 10 to 13, 2003

"The blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll." For decades now, a particular story of popular music, with rock and the baby boom generation at its core, has grabbed the center of most histories. Similarly, from bluegrass to reggae to hip-hop, thereís often a "golden age" associated with a specific style of music. What accounts for particular moments achieving greatness? Why have certain narratives assumed such power? What effect do these valorizations have on the making, marketing, consumption, or longevity of music?

For this yearís Pop Conference, we invite papers from any perspective that look toward a new interpretive synthesis or a better justification of the old one. The hope is that, rather than critiquing the longing for authenticity, participants will suggest alternate viewpoints. Possible topics include, but are by no means limited to, the ideas mentioned above as well as:

African-American and Latino perspectives on the "rock" story
Putting jazz, show tunes, and classical back into the picture.
The global influence of disco.
The impact of new developments, from hip-hop to electronica, on the way we value the past.
Post-baby boom, late-20th century socio-political effects on musicians: e.g. civil rights, immigration, feminism, gay liberation, and globalization.
The sound of music, rather than lyrics, as an ongoing interpretive challenge.
Alternative rock, a decade of alternatives later.
The links between musical genres and literary genres such as science fiction and mysteries.

The Pop Conference is an annual event, sponsored by the Seattle museum Experience Music Project, that connects academics, journalists, musicians, industry figures, and anyone else interested in ambitious music writing that crosses disciplinary walls. Our first conference featured keynotes by Robert Christgau and Simon Frith, as well as papers by Gary Giddins, Deena Weinstein, Luc Sante, Simon Reynolds, Jon Pareles, Jason Toynbee, Sarah Dougher, Geoffrey OíBrien, Susan Fast, and many others. A volume of the proceedings is currently being readied for publication, most likely with Harvard Press. The program committee for this yearís conference includes Daphne Brooks (Princeton), Robert Christgau (Village Voice), Shannon Duddley (University of Washington), critic Greil Marcus, Ann Powers (EMP), Kelefa Sanneh (New York Times), Steve Waksman (Smith), Gayle Wald (George Washington), Robert Walser (UCLA), and Eric Weisbard (EMP).

The conference will feature a variety of panels, keynotes, and performances. We welcome maverick suggestions and can accommodate nearly any form of technological presentation. Proposals should include a 250-word-or-fewer abstract of the paper, a 50-word biography of the presenter, preferred affiliation/title, and complete contact info. Please send all proposals by November 30, 2002, to Eric Weisbard at EricW@emplive.com. E-mail submissions are preferred, but submissions may also be sent through US mail to:

Eric Weisbard
Experience Music Project
2901 Third Avenue
Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98121

For more information on last yearís Pop Conference and updates on 2003, go to: http://www.emplive.com/visit/education/pop_music.asp"

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 6 September 2002 12:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Let's do an ILX Submission!

(yes this is obv. impossible, but let's do it anyway)

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 6 September 2002 12:13 (twenty-three years ago)

yes yes yes but do we have to be 'maverick'?

― Josh (Josh), Friday, 6 September 2002 12:18 (twenty-three years ago)

"Shedding the Rock 'n Roll legacy: electronic dance music and metal after 1985"

― Siegbran Hetteson (eofor), Friday, 6 September 2002 12:20 (twenty-three years ago)

"Shedding the Rock 'n Roll legacy: electronic dance music and metal after 1985"

Good one. But I think Chuck Eddy already did that... once or twice.

― Diego Hadis (dhadis), Friday, 6 September 2002 12:38 (twenty-three years ago)

thesis: rock'n'roll= giving a gorm

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 6 September 2002 12:40 (twenty-three years ago)

would anyone really care if i pulled a driveby during this convention next year?

(that can be the title of the paper as well as a legit question.)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 12:42 (twenty-three years ago)

If ilx = Watership Down, this conference = Efrafa.

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 6 September 2002 13:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Jess, why do you want to "pull a drive-by" on presenter John Darnielle? Kinda rough, don't you think? But hey, gangsta is as gangsta does....

― Matt C., Friday, 6 September 2002 13:35 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm sorry, would it have been better if i had added the tags?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 13:40 (twenty-three years ago)

hah, that's the < sarcasm> tags.

(fucking html.)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 13:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I guess that would have eased my troubled mind, sure. I thought I was going to have to contact some authorities or something, in a last-minute bid to save the life of an Iowan death metal intellectual.

But the question is: were you really being sarcastic? Would this world be a better place without such "intellectual" conferences? Or are they just a better-funded and more-bullshitty version of what we do here?

― Matt C., Friday, 6 September 2002 13:47 (twenty-three years ago)

The links between musical genres and literary genres such as science fiction and mysteries
This rings a bell. Didn't someone on ILX ask/comment about this recently? (mark?)

― zebedee, Friday, 6 September 2002 13:53 (twenty-three years ago)

no, you're right. i really was going to go bun a guy with my ramen money, steal a hoopty from one of my neighbors, drive to seattle (it's only 45 mins away, i figure i could get there before anyone noticed it was gone), and begin picking off celebrity music journalists, starting with chuck eddy (because i'm bitter he won't recognize my genius, natch.) how silly of me not to have realized.

it's not possible to have a "more-bullshitty" version of "what we do here." (better funded, maybe.)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 13:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Jess: Geez. Turns out I'm the one who should have used sarcasm tags.

― Matt C., Friday, 6 September 2002 14:43 (twenty-three years ago)

what set you claim jess? it's awannnn, B

NE Story Co. REPPAZENT

incidentally last year's conference was way more fun than I'd've expected, and the anti-conference column in the Stranger -- "talking about music IS KILLING MUSIC" -- was the worst, funniest piece of non-crit I've ever read

― J0hn Darn1elle, Friday, 6 September 2002 14:47 (twenty-three years ago)

that was me trying to be funny by the way - i love everybody here

― J0hn Darn1elle, Friday, 6 September 2002 14:50 (twenty-three years ago)

heh, john you know i love you too even i think you're full of shit 25% of the time.

(did you ever get those cd's btw?)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 14:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Only 25%? I have a new best friend!

No I didn't get 'em - didja send 'em?

― J0hn Darn1elle, Friday, 6 September 2002 15:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I AM SUBMITTING SOMETHING TO THIS DAMNED THING EVEN IF IT KILLS ME. It can be part of a "collective" thing, I don't care.

Problem is, I don't know what to write about. One distant possibility is finally finishing up my early history of synthesizers in pop music (1966-1971), but even that would take loads of research. Plus, I don't really know what this mini-history has to say about the "master narratives" of rock.

It's an EXCELLENT subject choice, though. It sounds like they're trying to move beyond critiques of rockism, fine by me.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:03 (twenty-three years ago)

jess are you sure you didnt mean THE WIGGA TAG!!??

― simon trife (simon_tr), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:05 (twenty-three years ago)

MIKE YOU WILL FINISH THAT PIECE OR I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN. (i have been waiting a year for that, hem hem.)

john, i did send em. they havent been returned yet, so maybe we're okay. i swear to christ the olympia post office is cursed.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:05 (twenty-three years ago)

simon: my mistake!!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Who will hate me if I submit '10 Theses on the Philosophy of Rockism'

― alext (alext), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:19 (twenty-three years ago)

"The Chronotopic Hyperghetto: A Bakhtinian Approach to Genre in Hip-Hop"

"Conversation as Criticism: Reclaiming the listner, reclaiming the artist."

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Better Yet:

"Afro No-Futurism: Flippin the Oldskool Script"

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:31 (twenty-three years ago)

"Uh...George Clinton Is, Like, Good and Stuff: Representational Post-Post-Post-Musical Critical Theorems and Their (Un)Limitation(Ism)s."

You know I'm in. I'll send y'all a post card with Paul Allen's big smiling mug all over it.

― Matt C., Friday, 6 September 2002 15:34 (twenty-three years ago)

"the balaknization of dance music and why no one cares."

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:37 (twenty-three years ago)

(a: "because you're all stupidheads.")

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:38 (twenty-three years ago)

haha that should be "balkanization" of course. although the balklavaization of dance music might also be an interesting tack.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:39 (twenty-three years ago)

(and anyway, i've already decided my entry is going to be called "no more wire hangers", but i'm not telling what it's about.)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Who will hate me if I submit '10 Theses on the Philosophy of Rockism'

Oh, I wouldn't -- it's just that they seem to be steering away from issues of authenticity with this conference.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:42 (twenty-three years ago)

and begin picking off celebrity music journalists, starting with chuck eddy

Start with Ann Powers please.

― Jody Beth Rosen, Friday, 6 September 2002 15:42 (twenty-three years ago)

hey alex if you do ten then i only have to find 86!!

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 6 September 2002 15:43 (twenty-three years ago)

titles containing colons suggested seriously will no longer be considered

― Josh (Josh), Friday, 6 September 2002 17:12 (twenty-three years ago)

haha that should be "balkanization" of course. although the balklavaization of dance music might also be an interesting tack.
[HOMER SIMPSON]Mmmmmmm....Musical Baklava....(drooool)[/HOMER SIMPSON]

― Lord Custos Alpha (Lord Custos Alpha), Friday, 6 September 2002 17:29 (twenty-three years ago)

"The Class/Genre Bridge and Hip-Hop Speech Acts"

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 6 September 2002 18:11 (twenty-three years ago)

title = "Simon: My Mistake"
text = i shall claim to be art garfunkel with tremendous somewhat scary vigour, and eventually have to be hustled off towards a huddle of men in white coats

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 6 September 2002 18:18 (twenty-three years ago)

"where have all the flowers gone?: why starland vocal band is the most important pop act of the 20th century"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 6 September 2002 19:04 (twenty-three years ago)

"Indie Guilt: C/D?"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 6 September 2002 19:14 (twenty-three years ago)

I love talk about how readings of arts change over the years. It fascinates me that (taking the NME polls as an authority for the sake of hyperbole) What's Going On was of negligible value in the mid-70s but ten years later was the greatest album ever, which didn't last to the next decade. This is infinitely more fertile ground than bloody Sight And Sound publishing "As you were, everyone" every ten years. And, it occurs to me, one of our most intelligent posters here has just written a book on this subject, more or less, though not in the musical area. I'm not sure how much he wants to talk about his work on the board, though, anyway.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 7 September 2002 18:50 (twenty-three years ago)

"Indie Guilt: C/D?"
I'm with Dom but only if its presented by Steve Albini

― brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 8 September 2002 17:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Electronic dance music and metal after 1985 have not shed the rock 'n' roll legacy.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Sunday, 8 September 2002 21:55 (twenty-three years ago)

would anyone object if I did mine on ILM?

― M Matos (M Matos), Sunday, 8 September 2002 22:58 (twenty-three years ago)

go for it, MM

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 9 September 2002 08:39 (twenty-three years ago)

five months pass...

revive coz they've announced the program:

http://www.emplive.com/visit/education/popConf.aspÃ¼

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 20 February 2003 06:06 (twenty-two years ago)

holy shit that looks incredible. and terrifying at the same time. still, anyone got a spare $XXXX for a ticket to Seattle?

― Charlie (Charlie), Thursday, 20 February 2003 06:52 (twenty-two years ago)

haha just kidding chuck

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 20 February 2003 06:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Can one submit a website too? Or do I need to print it first? My submission: http://www.jahsonic.com

Central theses:
Music Journalism is not Rock Criticism
Music as a Producer's medium
...
Jan

― Jan Geerinck (jahsonic), Thursday, 20 February 2003 09:07 (twenty-two years ago)

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