This paper explores several narratives of race and racialized music production in postwar American popular musics, to study the ways in which race has played an intrinsic role in structuring not only contemporary expectations of popular music-making, but also the frameworks by which we continue to study American popular musics today. The essay discusses two case studies from Detroit's music cultures of the 1960s – black pop star Marvin Gaye and the white hard rock group the MC5 – to illustrate how entrenched expectations of racialized performance served to inform contemporary and still-current critiques of these groups; these case studies also reveal the inadequacy of some standard musico-racial narratives in interpreting the racialized dimensions of these artists' performances.

Though British singer Dusty Springfield had a very prominent and successful career, she is often left out of the history books. Her North American legacy has been reduced to her album Dusty in Memphis, an inaccurate and incomplete representation of Dusty Springfield’s career. Many aspects of her career are largely ignored, for scholars put her sexuality, her ability to “sound black,” and the influence of black musicians at the forefront of Dusty Springfield scholarship. The purpose of this project is to highlight influential musicians, experiences, and talents which have been left out of Dusty Springfield studies. This thesis focuses on Dusty Springfield’s performance experiences, her songwriting abilities, her audience/performer dichotomy, and various people and styles that have influenced her persona. By examining the artists and experiences that influenced her career, this thesis explores the ways in which persona is constructed and how it functions in the pop music industry.

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Notre thèse analyse la production artistique de Michael Jackson, en termes commerciaux, stylistiques, visuels, en ciblant les dynamiques et tensions raciales qui innervent ses strates narratives. La première partie porte sur les classements coloristes et la posture ubiquitaire des opus jacksoniens, recontextualisés au sein de la société américaine et de l’industrie du disque racialisée. La deuxième partie analyse les composantes éclectiques et stylistiques de la pop jacksonienne et la manière dont les conventions employées se situent et opèrent face aux constructions catégoristes existantes. Enfin, la troisième partie traite des dynamiques et tensions raciales portées par les productions visuelles (vidéos, image artistique) et les textes, comme autant de fondements identitaires de son potentiel crossover et fédérateur auprès d’un public international et transracial. / Our thesis analyses Michael Jackson’s artistic production, through marketing, stylistic and visual aspects, targeting racial dynamics and tensions which invigorate its narrative layers. The first part is about the colorist charts and the ubiquitous posture of jacksonian opuses, recontextualized against american society and racialized record industry. The second part analyzes the stylistic eclectism of Jackson’s pop music and the way he uses the conventions from the musical and racial categorization. Finally, the third part is about racial dynamics and tensions carried by visual productions (video clip, artistic image) and lyrics, as elements of identity fundations of Jackson’s crossover and his federative appeal to an international and transracial audience.

Thesis advisor: Lynn Lyerly / Based in 1960s Detroit, the Motown Record Company established itself and thrived as an independently run and successful African American business. Amidst humble origins in a two-story house outside of which Berry Gordy hung the sign, "Hitsville USA," Motown encouraged America's youth, urging them to look beyond racial divides and to simply sing and dance together in a time where the theme of unity was becoming increasingly important. Producing legends such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, Gladys Knight, and the Jackson Five, Motown truly created a new sound for the youth of America and helped shape the 1960s. Competing with the "British Invasion" and "the Protest Movement," in 1960s music, Motown is often said to have had little or no impact on the political and social revolution of the time because Motown did not produce "message music." The 2006 film, Dreamgirls even depicts Gordy and Motown as hypocrites and race traitors. Yet Motown embodied one of the principles the Civil Rights Movement preached most: black success and independence. Although the founder of Motown, Berry Gordy, never had the intention of proclaiming a message of black independence and empowerment through his actions of establishing an independent record company, he accomplished one of the goals of the Civil Rights Movement: black economic independence. The establishment and success of Motown was an intrinsically political act that served as proof to Civil Rights claims that African Americans could be just as independent and successful as whites. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: History Honors Program.

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