posted by davidt on Wednesday September 09 2009, @10:00AM
goinghome writes:
'The British Pop Dandy: Male Identity, Music and Culture' written by Stan Hawkins was released this year.

The overview was mainly provided by publishers Ashgate:

  - Who are pop dandies? Why are stars like David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker, Pete Doherty, and Robbie Williams so dandified? Taking up a wide range of British pop stars, Hawkins seeks to find out why so many British pop stars have cast themselves in roles that often take style to absurd extremes. In this study, male pop artists are mapped against a cultural and historical background through a genealogy of personalities, such as Oscar Wilde, W.H. Auden, Andy Warhol, Noël Coward, Derek Jarmen, David Beckham, and countless others. A critical analysis of issues and approaches to musical performance through masculinity becomes the focal point of this fascinating study.

Ranging from the sixties to beyond the twentieth century, The British Pop Dandy considers the construction of the male pop icon through the spectacle of videos, live concerts, and films. Why do we derive pleasure from the performing body, and how is entertainment linked to categories of gender and sexuality? The author insists that pop performances can be understood through human characteristics that relate to the particulars of dandyism, camp and glamour, and this he theorizes through the work of Charles Baudelaire. One of the political objectives of the dandy is to liberate himself through a denial of the structures that assume fixed identity. Not least, it is acts of queering in pop music that characterizes entire generations of male artists in the UK.Setting out to discover what distinguishes the British pop dandy, Hawkins considers the role of music and performance in the articulation of hyperbolic display. It is argued that the recorded voice is a construction that idealises self-representation, and absorbs the listener's attention. Particularly, camp address in singing practice is taken up in conjunction with a discussion of intimacy, which forms part of the strategy of the performer.

In a range of songs and videos selected for music analysis, Hawkins points to the uniqueness of the voice as it expresses a transgressive quality that often comes across 'put-on', naive and vulnerable. To this end, vocal performativity is considered part of music's discursive disciplining through some of the greatest pop tracks, videos, concerts, and films of our time. It is also argued that shifting signs of masculinity can be understood through musical process and style. While musicological in its main focus, this study is interdisciplinary and sets out to open new modes of thinking on the complex issues surrounding how male identity, music and culture have developed in the UK. -

In google's preview section if you scroll to page 70 you'll find one instance of a couple of pages analysing Morrissey's impact.
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  • David Beckham... (Score:1, Insightful)

    ...a dandy?? Having lots of new, expensive clothes is NOT the same thing as having style. Both Beckhams are totally and utterly devoid of any sense of style. The Beatles noted that money can't buy you love; it can't buy you style either, David and Victoria.
    Anonymous -- Wednesday September 09 2009, @01:32PM (#338759)
  • That might be one of the worst written summaries of a book that has no clear thesis.

    The writing of the review is so overwrought that it could easily be mistaken for your typical, bullshit University essay.

    Nick The Name -- Wednesday September 09 2009, @03:20PM (#338768)
    (User #20764 Info)
  • i checked out the moz part on pg 70 (follow the link) and though it uses the usual academic lanuage (agency/gaze/etc) it seems interesting. i remember once stumbling onto an academic essay online refering to morrissey and camp that was actually excellent and written with a lot of insight. i noticed that in this guys book he says "unlike morrissey pasolini was politically uncompromising" i hate it when someone directly contradicts the facts about thier subjects like that
    cblo -- Wednesday September 09 2009, @06:59PM (#338773)
    (User #22893 Info)
    • Re:book by goinghome (Score:1) Tuesday September 15 2009, @01:20PM


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