Full Description
Popular music and masculinity have rarely been examined through the lens of research into monstrosity. The discourses associated with rock and pop, however, actually include more 'monsters' than might at first be imagined. Attention to such individuals and cultures can say things about the operation of genre and gender, myth and meaning. Indeed, monstrosity has recently become a growing focus of cultural theory. This is in part because monsters raise shared concerns about transgression, subjectivity, agency, and community. Attention to monstrosity evokes both the spectre of projection (which invokes familial trauma and psychoanalysis) and shared anxieties (that in turn reflect ideologies and beliefs). By pursuing a series of insightful case studies, Scary Monsters considers different aspects of the connection between music, gender and monstrosity. Its argument is that attention to monstrosity provides a unique perspective on the study of masculinity in popular music culture.
Contents
Introduction
Jon Hackett
1. A Night at the Opera: Updating The Phantom
Mark Duffett
2. 'His Muscles Still Bulged Like Iron Bands': King Kong and the Promotion of Lead Belly
Mark Duffett
3. Colonel Parker and the Art of Commercial Exploitation: The Manager as Monster
Mark Duffett
4. The Platformed Prometheus: Frankenstein and Glam Rock
Jon Hackett
5. The Case of Mark Chapman: Extreme Fandom as Monstrosity?
Mark Duffett
6. Exhuming the Gravediggaz: Gothic Hip Hop and Monster Capital
Jon Hackett
7. Masculinity on Trial: Noir Désir and Perverse Narcissism
Jon Hackett
8. 'Jingle Jangle Man': Jimmy Savile, Paedophilia and the Music Industry
Mark Duffett
References
Endnotes
Index
