Nirvana- Come as you are

"It’s Like Canada Reduced”: Setting the Scene in Montreal

Stahl, G. (2004) ‘“It’s Like Canada Reduced”: Setting the Scene in Montreal’. In               

          Bennett, A. and Kahn-Harris, K. (eds) After Subcultures, London: Ashgate.

Geoff Stahl‘s journal goes into depth about not only scene but the semiotic and social value that are embedded within particular scenes. Stahls’ examples of scene take place in Canada, they explore the urban music making ‘scene’ from the mid to late nineties.

With this particular article having a strong focus on the Canadian music making scene it is automatically different from any of the other articles I have referenced. This being so this journal does have some similarities with certain elements presented in Music Scene: Local, Translocal and Virtual. For example the two both go into detail about what elements make the scenes they each discuss, scenes.

Although this journal article is not about the Grunge subculture/scene directly but, it has given some examples of the way in which a music scene takes over a city and even country, dominates political discussion and becomes a part of the nation’s lifestyle. Being given an example of different places, time periods and ways in which a scene can be examined gives me a broader spectrum of knowledge on scene, which will be helpful in writing my final assessment.

"It's Like Canada Reduced": Setting the Scene in Montreal

Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual.

Bennett, Andy, and Richard A. Peterson, eds. Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual. 1st ed. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. Print.

This book is about local, translocal and virtual scenes. This book demonstrates the differences between the music realms that are currently being looked into using a scenes perspective. Each different chapter of the book focus on different aspects of scene ranging from how to create and negotiate scenes to the activities needed to sustain them.

Although Music scenes: Local, Translocal and virtual and Straws’ journal on Systems of Articulation both discuss scene they have significant differences. This book explores the different aspects of different scenes; this includes differentiating the differences between local, translocal and virtual musical scenes. This is different from Straws journal because within the journal the social and cultural meaning and value behind music scenes are discussed.

This book has bettered my understandings between scene itself and ‘subcultures’. In the introductory chapter Bennett explains ‘scene’ as a term that presumes that a society has one commonly shared culture from which the subculture is deviant. This is helpful in giving me a deeper understanding of the topics my final essay will be based upon.


Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual

Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes in Popular Music

Straw, Will. 'Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Scenes and Communities in Popular Music,' Cultural Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3. 1991. 361-375.

Will Straw’s journal discusses importance within music in processes of social differentiation and interaction.  He discusses the enforcement of boundaries between musical forms, the marking of racial, class-based and gender differences, and the maintenance of lines of communication between dispersed cultural communities are all central to the elaboration of musical meaning and value (5). Straw talks about music tastes and consumption patterns with relation to categories of social identity.

 This journal has some resemblance to Stahls journal in the sense that they both discuss the semiotic and social value that is associated within particular scenes. In saying this, the two journals are also very different because Stahls explores semiotic and social value within a music making scene, in a particular country over a certain time period. This journal however, discusses these in relation to how they play different roles in distinguishing individual scenes.

 

This article has helped me realise that not only are scenes just different musical practices developing within a given geographical space but, has allowed me to take into consideration the historical heritage of its musical community. This should prove to be helpful to me when I apply this to my chosen subculture of Grunge.

Will Straw- Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes in Popular Music. 

Popular Music

Shuker, Roy. Popular Music : The Key Concepts. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2005. Print.

Roy Shukers Popular Music: The Key Concepts focuses on the terms and concepts that are involved in popular music. Along with the terms and concepts of the impact the internet and reality television programs have on popular music are also explored. This book covers musical scenes and subcultures to musical phenomena and tribute bands.

This book (eBook) differs from all above mentioned sources. It served to me as a glossary of all the significant popular music terms. This is different to the other sources used because, opposed to the other sources that shed light on semiotic and cultural values or other examples of scene this provides details on the elements of popular music.

 

 Shuker’s Popular Music: The Key Concepts has been a key reading throughout Musc2000 in providing clear concise definitions of the key terms involved with popular music. The information the book provides will be a key component in assisting in making my final essay comprehensible. This text provided the most concise explanations of scene, locality and information on ‘Seattle Scene’ which I consider to be valuable knowledge for the next essay.

Popular Music: The Key Concepts

Pearl Jam- Original Grunge Band

Welcome!

Hi, welcome to my blog.
Here you will find text, images and video clips related to my chosen topic of  Grunge. Within this there will be parts on the change throughout the late 80's and early 90's. Also you may notice a few Nirvana related posts, this is because I have an interest in them.  Along with these I will be posting my MUSC2000 assessment, which is an annotated bibliography for our final essay.
Thanks, Shelly.