Op-Ed: Popular musicians worthy of academic study

Chris V Thangham’s posting, University In Liverpool offers ‘Masters in the Beatles’Degree roused me into thinking of other musicians who were influential enough to warrant academic investigation.

The Beatles phenomenon and all its associated themes are certainly worthy of academic study but I could not help thinking that in the world of contemporary music there are other performers that are equally worthy, if not more worthy, to study as The Beatles. From a literary perspective Bob Dylan could be studied on his poetry alone. Poetic technique used by Dylan demonstrates all aspects of poetry including, metaphor and metonymy, metre and rhyme, assonance and alliteration not to mention his brilliant use of imagery. As for social commentary, well Dylan’s work speaks for itself (and many others). The musical bard sang about nuclear war, Hard Rain, civil rights Only a pawn in their game and The lonesome death of Hattie Carroll. See Wikipedia. Dylan’s interest in US farming communities it could be argued were possibly influenced by his admiration for Woody Guthrie (Another contender worthy of academic study). This was reflected in his songs Ballad of Hollis Brown and North Country Blues. The boy from Hibbing sang about politics, religion, injustice, the dustbowl, migration, hardship, drink, drugs, sex and relationships. A vast amount of Dylan’s work is I feel culturally and historically significant. From a British perspective what about The Clash? The boys from London grew up through street riots and strikes. Militant left-wing local councils that were waging class war with a right-wing Government. The Clash wrote songs about British and American imperialism, terrorism, Nicaragua. One song in particular reflected the ‘No Future’, nihilist zeitgeist of the punk movement, IRA fears and a disdain for the state. The song ‘Career Opportunities’ went: I hate the army an' I hate the R.A.F. I don't wanna go fighting in the tropical heat I hate the civil service rules And I won't open letter bombs for you (see) The Clash sang about the overthrow of Salvadore Allende in Chile, 'Please remember Victor Hara in the Santiago Stadium' This was a line about a Chilean folk singer whose hands were allegedly chopped off by Pinochet’s henchmen. The same song themed The Bay of Pigs, this song, Washington Bullets is a virtual one song history lesson. They also covered the Spanish Civil war. On their second album Give Em Enough Rope topics included gang warfare in London, drug raids The music industry and terrorism. In later work they wrote about media fixation, The Right Profile, a song about movie star Montgomery Clift who caused a sensation returning to the movies following a bad car accident in which he was badly scarred. The Clash were the epitome of postmodernism, just like Don Delillo who wrote the novel White Noise which featured the character Murray J Siskind who studied Elvis Presley. The two examples used in this piece both emerged out of a seismic period of change. The material came directly from lived experience, a praxis of production. Dylan and The Clash did not write formulaic songs to engender revenue, they spat out their thoughts whether people liked them or not. They saw a world they did not like and they protested. Through the medium of music they made many millions of people aware of the world around them. There are many other performers out there who are or were equally significant and I’m sure DJ readers will have their favourites, and they might disagree with mine. In summing up however The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Clash chronicled their eras in much the same way as say Orwell or Hemingway. So why not study them and see what can be learnt from them. (see also) white noise