Mark, you'll dig this posting from the ILM board, having constructed pop-culture syllabi of your own; maybe other Clubbers will as well.
http://ilx.wh3rd.net/thread.php?msgid=6936461From The Beatles to Brit Pop:
British Popular Music and 20th Century British Popular Culture
This course will critique the socio-cultural impact of British popular music between 1963 and 1999. Songs and LPs will be read as texts which can offer unique insights into British views of class, sex and sexuality, race and politics. We will consider the influence of American culture (Black American culture in particular) on British popular music, the impact of immigration on concepts of Britishness, changing concepts of youth, the impact of changing technologies on music production and consumption, popular music scenes and the importance of location. Every week students will be expected to listen to at least three important LPs, attend a screening and engage in preparatory reading.
PREPARATORY READING
T.W. Adorno (1941), ‘On Popular Music’ in S. Frith and A. Goodwin (eds) (1990) On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word, Routledge, London.
A. Bennett, Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, Identity and Place, Chapters 1 and 2 (11-51)
Week 1: British Pop in the 60s
READING: Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties, ‘Introduction’ (1-33)
LISTENING: Selections from The Yardbirds, Roger the Engineer (1966)
The Beatles: Revolver (1966)
The Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Cream, Disraeli Gears (1967)
The Small Faces, Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (1967)
The Kinks, Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
Van Morrison, Astral Weeks (1968)
The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (1968)
The Rolling Stones, Let it Bleed (1969)
The Who, Tommy (1969)
SCREENING: Selections from The Beatles Anthology,
The Rolling Stones Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus (1968)
Week 2: Blues Rock and Heavy Metal
READING: E. Berelian (2005), The Rough Guide to Heavy Metal, London, Rough Guides.
LISTENING: Selections from Free, All Right Now (1970)
Led Zeppelin II (1969)
Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
Black Sabbath, Paranoid (1971)
Deep Purple, Made in Japan (1972)
SCREENING: The Song Remains the Same (1976)
Week 3: Progressive Rock
LISTENING: Selections from Soft Machine, Third (1970)
Yes, Close to the Edge (1972)
Genesis, Selling England by the Pound (1973)
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Henry Cow, Leg End (1973)
Pink Floyd, Wish you Were Here (1975)
READING: P. Stump (1997) The Music’s all that Matters: History of Progressive Rock, Quartet.
SCREENING: The Making of Dark Side of the Moon
Week 4: From Folk to Folk Rock
LISTENING: Selections from Martin Carthy, Martin Carthy (1965)
Bert Jansch, Bert Jansch (1965)
Nick Drake, Five Leaves Left (1968)
Fairport Convention, Liege and Lief (1969)
Roy Harper, Flat Baroque and Berserk (1970)
Richard and Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974)
Billy Bragg, Talking with the Taxman about Politics (1986)
READING: N. Mackinnon (1994) The British Folk Scene: Musical Performance and Social Identity, Open University Press, Buckingham.
SCREENING: Acoustic Routes
Week 5: Art Rock and Eccentricity
LISTENING: Selections from Scott Walker, Scott 4 (1969)
Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure (1973)
Robert Wyatt, Rock Bottom (1974)
David Bowie, Heroes (1977)
Kate Bush, The Kick Inside (1978)
Brian Eno, Ambient: Music for Airports (1978)
Peter Gabriel III (1980)
Peter Gabriel IV (1982)
Week 6: Punk
LISTENING: Selections from The Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
The Clash, The Clash (1977)
Anti-Nowhere League, Anti-Nowhere League Punk Singles Collection
READING: J. Savage (2005), England’s Dreaming, Faber and Faber.
SCREENING: Punk: Attitude (Dir. Don Letts, 2005)
FURTHER READING:
D. Hebdige (1985), Subculture: The Meaning of Style, London, Routledge.
D. Laing (1985) One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock, Open University Press, Milton Keynes.
Roger Sabin (ed.) (1999), Punk Rock, So What?: The Cultural Legacy of Punk, Routledge.
Week 7: Post-Punk and Pop
LISTENING: Selections from Wire, Pink Flag (1977)
Gang of Four, Entertainment! (1979)
PIL, Metal Box (1979)
Japan, Quiet Life (1980)
Duran Duran, Duran Duran (1981)
READING: S. Reynolds (2006), Rip it up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984, Faber and Faber.
Week 8: Ska, Rude Boy, Two-Tone, Mod, Reggae and the Mainstream
LISTENING: Selections from Elvis Costello, My Aim is True (1977)
The Specials, The Specials (1979)
Madness, One Step Beyond (1979)
The Police, Regatta de Blanc (1979)
The Jam, Sound Effects (1979)
UB40, Signing Off (1980)
READING: D. Thompson (2004), 2 Tone, The Specials and the World in Flame: Wheels out of Gear, Helter Skelter.
E. Verguren (2004), This is a Modern Life: the 1980s Mod Scene, Helter Skelter.
D. Hebdige, ‘The Meaning of Mod’ in S. Hall and T. Jefferson (eds) Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (1976)
D. Hebdige, ‘Reggae, Rastas and Rudies’ in S. Hall and T. Jefferson (eds) Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (1976)
Week 9: From Manchester to Madchester
LISTENING: Selections from Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures (1979)
New Order, Power, Corruption and Lies (1983)
The Smiths, The Queen is Dead (1985)
The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses (1989)
Happy Mondays, Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches (1990)
READING: D. Thompson and D. Sultan (2005), True Faith: An Armchair Guide to New Order, Joy Division, Electronic, Revenge, Monaco and The Other Two, Helter Skelter.
S. Goddard (2004), The Smiths: Songs that Saved Your Life, Reynolds and Hearn.
SCREENING: 24 Hour Party People (Dir. Michael Winterbottom)
Week 10: Soul and Dance
LISTENING: Selections from Neneh Cherry, Raw Like Sushi (1988)
Soul II Soul, Club Classic Vol. 1 (1989)
Massive Attack, Blue Lines (1991)
Leftfield, Leftism (1995)
Week 11: Indie and Brit Pop
LISTENING: Selections from Jesus & Mary Chain, Psychocandy (1985)
My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (1991)
Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque (1991)
Oasis, Definitely Maybe (1993)
Blur, Parklife (1994)
Pulp, Different Class (1995)
READING: J. Harris (2004), The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock, London, Harper.
FURTHER READING
J.J. Beadle (1993) Will Pop Eat Itself?: Pop Music in the Sound Bite Era, Faber and Faber, London.
A. Bennett, B. Shank and J. Toynbee (eds), The Popular Music Studies Reader, London, Routledge 2005.
D. Bradley (1992) Understanding Rock ‘n’ Roll: Popular Music in Britain 1955-1964, Open University Press, Buckingham.
I. Chambers (1985) Urban Rhythms: Pop Music and Popular Culture, Macmillan, London.
Stanley Cohen (1987) Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers, 3rd edn, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Sara Cohen (1991) Rock Culture in Liverpool: Popular Music in the Making, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
S. Frith (1983) Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock, Constable, London.
S. Whitely (1992) The Space Between the Notes: Rock and the Counter-Culture, Routledge, London.
J. Lull (1992) Popular Music and Communication, 2nd edition, Sage, London.
P. Gilroy (1993) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, Verso, London.
