Full Description
This is the first volume to examine the relationship between new religions, alternative spiritualities, and popular music, whether in theatrical productions, such as The Book of Mormon, or in the ways in which an organization such as Scientology uses music.
The internationally recognized scholars examine both the ways in which devotion to a band can lead to the establishment of a new religion, such as the Grateful Dead and the Church of Ultimate Devotion, and the ways in which new religions use popular music evangelistically, ritualistically, and as a source of income. It also looks at the significance of popular music for 'cult leaders,' such as Charles Manson, and the extent to which new religious beliefs shape the work of particular musicians and groups. What emerges is a picture in which religious beliefs and popular music cultures cross-fertilize each other in unexpected and fascinating ways.
The volume covers popular music in relation to groups that stem from world religions, such as Mormonism; alternative spiritualities, such as the New Age Movement; and new religions linked to particular musicians and groups. Interdisciplinary in its approach, this book draws on work from the study of new religions, the sociology of religion, popular music studies, ethnomusicology, and critical musicology.
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Introduction, Christopher Partridge (Lancaster University, UK); Tom Wagner (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)
1. The Mormon Hip Hop Musical Project, Jake Johnson (University of Oklahoma, USA)
2. ISKCON and Popular Music, Guy Beck (Tulane University, USA)
3. Globalist Breathing: Voice, Technology, and Antecedence in the Music of Islamic State, Tom Parkinson (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)
4. Religion, Music, and Cold War Politics: The Unification Church and The Little Angels in South Korea, Hee-sun Kim (Kookmin University, South Korea)
5. Haunted Paradise: The Continuity of Music-Making from Jonestown and the Peoples Temple, Helen Hawa-Diggle (Independent Scholar, UK)
6. Chant Down Babylon: Rastafari and Reggae, Christopher Partridge (Lancaster University, UK)
7. Children of Barleycorn: Music in the Druidic Religious Imagination, Christopher W. Chase (Iowa State University, USA)
8. Musical Creativity in The Process, William Sims Bainbridge (National Science Foundation, USA)
9. I Think I See the Mothership Coming: From Christian Scepticism to Alternative Religious Experiences in the P-Funk Universe, Richard Worth (University of Liverpool, UK)
10. 'Did You Ever Go Clear?': The Use (and Abuse) of Scientology in Popular Music, Tom Wagner (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)
11. A Melodic Disorder: Chaos Gnosticism in Contemporary Music, Paul Linjamaa (Lund University, Sweden); Johnny Olsson (Independent Scholar, Sweden)
12. New Age Music: The Sonic Production of Utopia, Steven J. Sutcliffe (University of Edinburgh, UK); Mary Briggs (University of Edinburgh, UK)
13. The Spirit of '76: Father Yod, The Source Family, and the Role of Popular Music, Alistair Smith (University of Exeter, UK)
14. Psychic TV: Hauntological Cultic Rejection and Autoethnographic Legacies, Mike Dines (Middlesex University, UK); Alastair Gordon (De Montfort University, UK); Francis Stewart (University of Stirling, UK)
15. Sacred Jazz and Devotion at the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, Peter Jan Margry (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands); Daniel Wojcik (University of Oregon, USA)
16. Spinning Centripetally or Spinning Centrifugally: Building a Religion from the Grateful Dead's Music, Michael Kaler (University of Toronto-Mississauga, Canada)
Index
