Home"OK Computer", twenty years on: Radiohead’s musical, cultural, and political legacies
"OK Computer", twenty years on: Radiohead’s musical, cultural, and political legacies
« OK Computer », vingt ans après : l’héritage musical, culturel et politique de Radiohead
Published on lundi, novembre 07, 2016
Summary
As a band who has garnered critical and commercial success without forsaking their taste for musical experimentation and subversive, yet poetic, lyrics, Radiohead offer multiple facets to their listeners and to popular music scholars alike. Nevertheless, only a handful of academic studies have, to this day, been devoted their work, including The Music and Art of Radiohead (Tate, 2005).
Announcement
Argument
OK Computer, Radiohead’s third album, has captivated many rock music fans worldwide and contributed to enhance the band’s prestigious status within the British rock scene. Upon release in May 1997, the album reached the top spot in the UK album charts, and remained ranked in the Top 40 for two years, with sales in excess of three million units. The album was met with critical acclaim from the New Musical Express, which awarded it a perfect 10/10 rating, and continues to this day to feature in the music press’s lists of the best rock albums of all times.
A complex, at times experimental, album, OK Computer provides a sharp contrast with the dominating trends in mid-to-late 1990s British rock, especially Britpop. Furthermore, a careful look at many of its arcane lyrics highlights Radiohead’s taste for social commentary and outlines the band’s political thought. While very different in tone and arrangement, songs like “Electioneering”, “Paranoid Android” and “Fitter Happier” contribute to building a coherent vision of British society whose members are described as apathetic, manipulated and driven by consumerism. This pessimistic view of society appears strikingly at odds with the Cool Britannia phenomenon on which New Labour had partly relied to win the General Election only a few days before the album’s release.
As a band who has garnered critical and commercial success without forsaking their taste for musical experimentation and subversive, yet poetic, lyrics, Radiohead offer multiple facets to their listeners and to popular music scholars alike. Nevertheless, only a handful of academic studies have, to this day, been devoted their work, including The Music and Art of Radiohead (Tate, 2005). Following the multidisciplinary approach in fashion in popular music studies (Frith, 1983; Middleton, 1990); Radiohead’s work can be considered through a variety of methodological filters: musicology, sociology, art history, political science, literature, cultural studies or even economics.
This symposium seeks to bring together contributions from scholars who wish to confront Radiohead’s work with their own disciplinary methodologies, including (but not limited to) an assessment of OK Computer’s impact twenty years after its release. Potential topics may include:
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What impact has OK Computer had on the evolution of British rock music as a genre?
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What is Radiohead’s place in late-1990s British popular music and culture?
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Can Radiohead’s lyrics be considered to hold specific literary, sociological or even political values?
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To what extent do visual elements (video clips, album sleeves, etc.) illustrate and broaden the band’s message?
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To what extent is Radiohead’s music the reflection of its particular socio-political context?
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Following OK Computer’s release, how did the band both adapt to and help overhaul several mechanisms within the music industry, including music production, broadcasting, promotion and consumption?
Submission guidelines
by 31 December 2016.
The Symposium will take place at Université Rennes 2 (France), on May 18th, 2017.
Some papers from the symposium will be selected for publication in a journal.
Scientific committee
- Guillaume Clément, Maître de conférences en anglais, Université de Rennes 1
- David Haigron, Maître de conférences en anglais, Université de Rennes 2
Selected bibliography
- Dauncey, Hugh & Le Guern, Philippe (dir.). Stéréo: Sociologie comparée des musiques populaires France / Grande-Bretagne. Puceul, Mélanie Séteun, 2008
- Fonarow, Wendy. Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music. Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University Press, 2006
- Frith, Simon. Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock’n’roll. London, Constable, 1983
- Griffiths, Dai. OK Computer (33 ⅓ series). London, Bloomsbury, 2004
- Harris, John. The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock. London, Fourth Estate, 2003
- Middleton, Richard. Studying Popular Music. Buckingham, Open University Press, 1990
- Moore, Allan F. Rock: The Primary Text: Developing a Musicology of Rock. Aldershot, Ashgate, 2001
- Tate, Joseph (ed.). The Music and Art of Radiohead. Aldershot, Ashgate, 2005.
Subjects
Places
- Université Rennes 2
Rennes, France (35)
Date(s)
- samedi, décembre 31, 2016
Keywords
- Radiohead, rock, culture populaire, musique populaire, consommation, politique
Contact(s)
- Guillaume Clément
courriel : prof [dot] guillaume [dot] clement [at] gmail [dot] com
Information source
- Guillaume Clément
courriel : prof [dot] guillaume [dot] clement [at] gmail [dot] com
To cite this announcement
« "OK Computer", twenty years on: Radiohead’s musical, cultural, and political legacies », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on lundi, novembre 07, 2016, https://calenda-formation.labocleo.org/381614
