This thesis examines the relationships between popular contemporary musical styles and classic-era art music. Analysis of pop-rock songs, and their referential treatment in art rock, classical music, and society will be examined. Pop-rock musicians borrow from the masters of the past and from each other. Rock guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen employ a virtuosic technique suggestive of Liszt and Paganini. The group Rush borrowed freely from opera seria. Frank Zappa referenced contemporary musicians as well as classical techniques. Referential treatment in popular music and the recent advancements in technology, have challenged copyright law. How these treatments and technologies affect copyright legislators and musicians will be discussed.

This study attempts to address a gap in existing subcultural research. While there has been extensive work done on the experiences of men in subcultural groupings, the examination of women's experiences is sadly lacking. Using a combination of participant observation and ethnographic interviewing, this study looks at the role women play in the local rock music scene. Some interesting themes emerge that challenge existing notions that women are either marginal or absent from subcultural activity. Women in the scene occupy a richly contradictory social position. While they exercise an impressive degree of sexual and financial autonomy, as illustrated by their initiation of relationships and breadwinner roles in partnerships with male musicians, they also adopt many goals and behaviors typically associated with mainstream constructions of proper femininty. Women in the rock scene are seldom performers, instead they are concentrated i n the role of the "nurturent caretaker" (Cole 1993: 89/90) allowing the male musicians to retain recognition, prestige and power in the scene. This construction of the male role as central reflects the acceptance of patriarchal ideology in the scene and obscures the contribution of women to the material maintenance of the subculture. Women's roles in the scene can be characterized as a simultaneous acceptance and rejection of mainstream prescriptions for feminine behavior. While women in the rock scene are undeniably the focus of much sexual objectification and exploitation, they cannot be viewed as either passive or dependent. Women are described by scene members as sexually powerful decision makers, and although women's power is cast in disappointingly sexual terms, it is the active nature of this sexuality that leads me to describe women not as "passive" sexual objects, but rather as "active" sexual objects. Women's experiences in the rock scene are inextricably linked to heterosexual relations with male musicians. While rock women focus on the same goals of marriage and motherhood as mainstream women, their relationships are characterized by complications imposed by the rock lifestyle. According female participants, the overt sexuality of the scene, lack of financial stability , and the consuming nature of the music business combine to challenge the maintenance of a healthy relationship with a musician. However, while women's willingness to deal with such obstacles is puzzling, it can be seen as determination to transcend traditional limitations on masculine and feminine roles. The rock scene, despite its disproportionate consequences for women, offers both women and men alternatives to mainstream constructions of masculinity and femininity. The scene is identified by both female and male participants as offering excitement, spontaneity and passion absent in mainstream society.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Humanities, Department of Contemporary Music Studies, 2006. / Bibliography: p. 377-385. / Introduction -- Literature review, discussion of methodologies and research orientation -- "20% of nothing": Australian rock music management -- Australian country music management -- Australian pop music management: the third party -- Conclusion: managerial creativity. / Artist managers 'create' careers for musicians, yet little has been written about their creativity in the academic domain. Thus this thesis develops the notion of managerial creativity. Artist managers build and maintain 'brands', and this is a creative industry function. The thesis begins with a description of what artist management is, then it reviews the way in which various Australian musicians' and artist managers' careers are created and maintained. A musical idea or product arises from the synergy of many sources and not only from the mind of a single person (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). Therefore it is easier to enhance creativity by changing conditions in the environment the artist is located in than by trying to make artists think more creatively. Managerial creativity involves the creation and maintenance of the system, context or environment from which artistic creativity emerges and is therefore the facet of the music industry that can most effectively enhance musical creativity. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / ix, 390 p., ill

This study attempts to address a gap in existing subcultural research. While there has been extensive work done on the experiences of men in subcultural groupings, the examination of women's experiences is sadly lacking. Using a combination of participant observation and ethnographic interviewing, this study looks at the role women play in the local rock music scene. Some interesting themes emerge that challenge existing notions that women are either marginal or absent from subcultural activity. Women in the scene occupy a richly contradictory social position. While they exercise an impressive degree of sexual and financial autonomy, as illustrated by their initiation of relationships and breadwinner roles in partnerships with male musicians, they also adopt many goals and behaviors typically associated with mainstream constructions of proper femininty. Women in the rock scene are seldom performers, instead they are concentrated i n the role of the "nurturent caretaker" (Cole 1993: 89/90) allowing the male musicians to retain recognition, prestige and power in the scene. This construction of the male role as central reflects the acceptance of patriarchal ideology in the scene and obscures the contribution of women to the material maintenance of the subculture. Women's roles in the scene can be characterized as a simultaneous acceptance and rejection of mainstream prescriptions for feminine behavior. While women in the rock scene are undeniably the focus of much sexual objectification and exploitation, they cannot be viewed as either passive or dependent. Women are described by scene members as sexually powerful decision makers, and although women's power is cast in disappointingly sexual terms, it is the active nature of this sexuality that leads me to describe women not as "passive" sexual objects, but rather as "active" sexual objects. Women's experiences in the rock scene are inextricably linked to heterosexual relations with male musicians. While rock women focus on the same goals of marriage and motherhood as mainstream women, their relationships are characterized by complications imposed by the rock lifestyle. According female participants, the overt sexuality of the scene, lack of financial stability , and the consuming nature of the music business combine to challenge the maintenance of a healthy relationship with a musician. However, while women's willingness to deal with such obstacles is puzzling, it can be seen as determination to transcend traditional limitations on masculine and feminine roles. The rock scene, despite its disproportionate consequences for women, offers both women and men alternatives to mainstream constructions of masculinity and femininity. The scene is identified by both female and male participants as offering excitement, spontaneity and passion absent in mainstream society. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

In the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) do-it-yourself (DIY) punk scene, participants attempt to adhere to notions of authenticity that dictate whether a band, record label, performance venue, or individual are in compliance with punk philosophy. These guiding principles champion individual expression, contributions to one's community (scene), independence from the mainstream music industry and consumerism, and the celebration of amateurism and the idea that everyone should "do it yourself." While each city or scene has its own punk culture, participants draw on their perceptions of the historic legacy of punk and on experiences with contemporaries from around the world. For this thesis, I emphasize the significance of performance spaces and the sonic aesthetic of the music in enacting and reinforcing notions of punk authenticity. The live performance of music is perceived as the most authentic setting for punk music, and bands go to great lengths to recreate this soundscape in the recording studio. Bands achieve this sense of liveness by recording as a group, rather than individually for a polished studio sound mix, or by inviting friends and fans into the studio to help record a live show experience. House venues have been key to the development of the DFW scene with an emphasis on individual participation through hosting concerts in their homes. This creates a stronger sense of community in DIY punk performance. Through participation observation, interviews, analysis of source materials, as well as research in previous Punk scholarship, questions of authenticity, consumerism, and technology and sound studies, this thesis updates work on the experience of sound, listening, and the importance of space in DIY punk communities today.

This thesis introduces the reader to rock music in Durban from 1963 to 1985, tracing the development of rock in Durban from rock'n'roll to hard core punk. Although the thesis is historically orientated, it also endeavours to show the relationship of rock music in Durban to three central themes, viz: the relationship of rock in Durban to the socio-political realities of apartheid in South Africa; the role of women in local rock, and the identity crisis experienced by white, English-speaking South Africans. Each of these themes is explored in a separate chapter, with Chapter Two providing the bulk of historical data on which the remaining chapters are based. Besides the important goal of documenting a forgotten and ignored rock history, one central concern pervades this work. In every chapter, the conclusions reached all point to the identity crisis experienced both by South African rock audiences and the rock musicians themselves. The constant hankering after international (and specifically British) rock music trends both by audiences and fans is symptomatic of a culture in crisis, and it is the search for the reasons for this identity crisis that dominate this work. The global/local debate and its relationship to rock in South Africa has been a useful theoretical tool in the unravelling of the identity crisis mentioned above. Chapter Four focusses on the role of women in the Durban rock scene and documents the difficulties experienced by women who were rock musicians in Durban. This is a small contribution to the increasing field of womens' studies, and I have attempted to relate the role of women in rock in Durban to other studies in this field. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

The mediation of popular musicians in the twentieth century results in the construction of cultural formations-mass mediated pop musician icons-that are, to various degrees, weighted down by the ideologies and concerns of those who receive them as mediated texts. In passing judgment on these cultural icons, the public engages in a massive act of reading, and in the process the icons become sites of personal and cultural signification. This study examines the nature of signification in and through mass mediated popular music icons by exploring the processes by which popular music icons are produced, circulated, and read as texts; and it examines, when appropriate, the significant content of these icons.