Feb 1 - Elvis, Part I

Reading:

• Karal Ann Marling (1994) “When Elvis Cut his Hair: The Meaning of Mobility,” As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s”

Artifact for posting:

• One of the videos below. (Disregard what syllabus says about listening/posting)

Jan 27- The Soldier, Part II

USMC advertisement--heavy metal soundtrack starts at around 0:40

Reading:

• Jonathan Pieslak (2009) “Music as an Inspiration for Combat,” and “Metal and Rap Ideologies in the Iraq War,” from Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War

Listening (all available on Blackboard):

• Eminem, “Go to Sleep” 
• Drowning Pool, “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” 
• Bloodhound Gang “The Roof Is on Fire”
• Metallica, “The Four Horsemen,” “Seek and Destroy,” “One” 
• Slayer, “Bloodline”

Optional:

• Listen to clips from Pieslak's interviews with soldiers about the use of music in the war: http://jon.pieslak.com/asom/

January 25-The Soldier, Part I

Reading:

• Walter Spalding, "Music as a Necessary Part of the Soldier's Equipment," The Outlook (June 5, 1918)
• Fullerton Waldo, “Music and the War,” The Outlook (19 January 1916)
• Christina Gier (2008) “Gender, Politics, and the Fighting Soldier's Song in America during World War I,” Music and Politics
• Carol Burke (1989) “Marching to Vietnam,” Journal of American Folklore

Listening:

• “Over There,” “Good-bye Broadway,” and “Joan of Arc” (all available as links on p. 8 of Gier article)

*Artifact posting may be on one of the Outlook articles, or on one of the songs

NOTE: If you do not read music and/or are unfamiliar with some of the musical terminology in the Gier article, do not worry--just do the best you can and try to figure out what the overarching points are of those paragraphs.

Jan 20-Space Age Pop & Exotica (Bachelors, Husbands & Playboys II)

Readings:

• Shuhei Hosokawa (1999) “Martin Denny and the Development of Musical Exotica,” from Widening the Horizon: Exoticism in Post-War Popular Music
• Barbara Ehrenreich (1983) “Breadwinners and Losers: Sanctions Against Male Deviance” and “Playboy Joins the Battle of the Sexes,” from The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment

Listening:

• Tracks by Juan García Esquivel, Martin Denny available on Blackboard

NOTE: If your comment doesn't immediately show up after you click post & type in the word verification, do not worry. All posts get emailed to me regardless of whether they show up in the "comments" field.

January 18-Bachelors, Husbands & Playboys, Part I

Readings (both available on Blackboard):

• Keir Keightley (1996) “’Turn It Down!,’ She Shrieked: Gender, Domestic Space, and High Fidelity, 1948-1959,” Popular Music
• Liner notes to The Esquire Album of Music for the Continental Host (RCA Victor, 1957)

Also, study the album cover above.