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ARLT 101g: Authenticity in Popular Music Echols Spring 2008 Taper Hall M,W, 1:00-2:50 Authenticity has loomed large in American popular music since the 19th century. However, in the last half-century critics and listeners alike have grown ever more invested in the “realness” of musicians and their music. Particularly in rap and punk, no sin is greater and potentially more career-deflating than faking it, or being perceived as faking it. Even mainstream pop acts, including Milli Vanilli and Kelly Clarkson, have run into problems. There is no single standard for authenticity, but critical variables include socio-economic background, anti-commercial posture, street credibility, proximity to audience, political affiliation, purity of sound, and sincerity of emotion. This class investigates our culture’s investment in the notion of musical authenticity. It explores the ways that musicians, who, after all, are performers, have negotiated the demands of “realness,” and how their negotiations have varied according to genre, gender, race, and historical period. To that end, we will focus on thirteen artists--Robert Johnson, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix, Jay-Z, Kathleen Hannah, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Patti Smith, and the Sex Pistols--all of whom in different ways enrich our understanding of the ways in which authenticity operates. For example, Bob Dylan was regarded as the genuine article even after the mainstream media revealed that his name and much of his life story were fabricated. How has Dylan succeeded (to this day) in evading the charge of faking it? And what do we make of British punk, which some have argued grew out of “fake culture”? This course sharpens students’ critical ability through the practice of close reading, which is employed here in relation to musical texts, biography, critical reviews, films and videos. It will also familiarize students with the exciting scholarship about popular music emerging from Cultural Studies, History, Anthropology, Musicology, Gender Studies and American Studies. Finally, this class requires active learning. All students will be required to take part in aclass presentation (with music and video clips included) sometime during the semester. It will require some research beyond class readings, and writing a short a 4-5-page paper about your findings. Class Requirements: -Thoughtful reading of the material by the due date listed on the syllabus. Class attendance and participation affect your grade. Note that you are allowed only one excused absence. Five absences will result in a failing grade. -Class project, including 4-5 paper (25%) -Two short papers (3-5 pp.) on specific topics (20%) -Take-home midterm (25%) -Final Paper (6-8 pp.) (30%) Books Legs McNeil, Please Kill Me Gerald Early, One Nation Under a Groove Jon Savage, England's Dreaming Tricia Rose, Black Noise Charles Cross, Heavier than Heaven David Hajdu, Positively 4th Street Course Reader A course reader is required and available for purchase. Articles in the reader are marked on the syllabus with an asterisk. Course Outline 8-27--Introductory Lecture 8-29--The Blues and Its Guard Keepers 9-3---Labor Day--No Class 9-5--Robert Johnson: Iconic Bluesman *Elijah Wald, Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, pp. xiii-82 9-10--Film: The Search for Robert Johnson 9-12--Folk Music and “The People” *Robert Cantwell, When We Were Good: The Folk Revival, pp. 116-150 9-17--Billie Holiday: Lady of Hip-ness Film clip: Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday 9-19--The Folk Revival of the 1960s David Hajdu, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina, and Richard Farina, pp. 3-157 9-24--Film: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan 9-26--Hajdu, pp. 157-end 10-1--Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Sanctified Rocker *Gayle Wald, “Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Prehistory of ‘Women in Rock,’” in Eric Weisbard, This is Pop 10-3--Soul Music: James Brown: Black and Proud Film Clip: Ed Sullivan Show 10-8--Soul Music: The Sound of Young America--Motown Gerald Early, One Nation Under a Groove, p. 1-65 Film Clip: Ed Sullivan Show 10-10-Soul Music: The Sound of Young America--Motown Early, One Nation Under a Groove, pp. 67-135 Film Clip: Standing in the Shadows of Motown MIDTERM DUE 10:15- Soul on Ice: Jimi Hendrix *Charles S. Murray, Crosstown Traffic, pp. 78-105 Film Clips: Monterey Pop; The Mike Douglas Show w/Sly Stone 10-17-Janis Joplin: Queen of the Real Film Clip: Janis the Way She Was 10-22-Film: The Festival Express 10-24-Black Moses: Isaac Hayes Film Clip: 10-29-Patti Smith: Punk Poet? Please Kill Me, pp. 10-31--Sex Pistols and British Punk Film: The Filth & the Fury: A Sex Pistols Film 11-5-- Jon Savage, England’s Dreaming, p. 1-104 11/7---Savage, pp. 105-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 11-12--Savage, pp. 11-14--Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, pp xxxxxxxx Film Clip: Eight Mile 11-19--Rose, pp. xxxxxxxx Film Clip: Hustle and Flow 11-21--No Class 11-26--Jay-Z: Status-tician of Rap *Kelefa Sanneh, "Getting' Paid: Jay-Z, Criminal Culture, and the Rise of Corporate Rap in Lethem, ed., Da Capo Best Music Writing 2002 12-3--Kurt Cobain Charles Cross, Heavier than Heaven 12-5--Summary