The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches

461 Pages·2019·4.728 MB·English

by  Ciro Scotto, Kenneth M. Smith, John Brackett

THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO
POPULAR MUSIC ANALYSIS
The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches widens the scope of
analytical approaches for popular music. This study endeavors to create a new analytical paradigm
for examining popular music by taking the perspective of developments in contemporary art
music.
“Expanded approaches” for popular music analysis is broadly defined as exploring the pitch-
class structures, form, timbre, rhythm, or aesthetics of various forms of popular music in a con-
ceptual space not limited to the domain of common practice tonality but broadened to include
any applicable compositional, analytical, or theoretical concept that illuminates the music. The
essays in this collection investigate a variety of analytical, theoretical, historical, and aesthetic com-
monalities popular music shares with 20th and 21st century art music. From rock and pop to hip
hop and rap, dance and electronica, from the 1930s to present day, this companion explores these
connections in five parts:
• Establishing and Expanding Analytical Frameworks
• Technology and Timbre
• Rhythm, Pitch, and Harmony
• Form and Structure
• Critical Frameworks: Analytical, Formal, Structural, and Political
With contributions by established scholars and promising emerging scholars in music theory and
historical musicology from North America, Europe, and Australia, The Routledge Companion to
Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches offers nuanced and detailed perspectives that address
the relationships between concert and popular music.
Ciro Scotto is Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Theory Department at Ohio University, US.
Kenneth Smith is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Liverpool, UK.
John Brackett is Music Instructor at Vance-Granville Community College, US.
THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO MUSIC,
MIND, AND WELL-BEING
Edited by Penelope Gouk, James Kennaway, Jacomien Prins,
and Wiebke Thormählen
Routledge Music Companions offer thorough, high-quality surveys and assessments of major
topics in the study of music. All entries in each companion are specially commissioned
and written by leading scholars in the field. Clear, accessible, and cutting-edge, these com-
panions are the ideal resource for advanced undergraduates, postgraduate students, and
researchers alike.
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THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION
TO POPULAR MUSIC ANALYSIS
Expanding Approaches
Edited by
Ciro Scotto, Kenneth Smith, and John Brackett
First published 2019
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Ciro Scotto, Kenneth Smith, and John Brackett to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Scotto, Ciro. | Smith, Kenneth M. | Brackett, John Lowell.
Title: The Routledge companion to popular music analysis:
expanding approaches / edited by Ciro Scotto, Kenneth Smith,
John Brackett.
Description: New York: Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018022353 (print) | LCCN 2018025025 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781315544700 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138683112 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Popular music–Analysis, appreciation. | Popular
music–History and criticism. | Musical analysis.
Classification: LCC MT146 (ebook) | LCC MT146 .R72 2018 (print) |
DDC 781.64/117–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018022353
ISBN: 978-1-138-68311-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-54470-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
CONTENTS
List of Figures viii
List of Tables xiv
Preface xvi
PART 1
Establishing and Expanding Analytical Frameworks 1
1 Some Practical Issues in the Aesthetic Analysis of Popular Music 3
Christopher Doll
2 Style as Analysis 15
Phil Ford
3 Thank You for the Music 29
Giles Hooper
4 Listening to the Sound Music Makes 45
Allan F. Moore
5 Analyse This: Types and Tactics of Self-Referential Songs 58
Bethany Lowe with Freya Jarman
6 A-ha’s “Take on Me”: Melody, Vocal Compulsion, and Rotoscoping 77
Stan Hawkins and Jon Mikkel Broch Ålvik
7 Interpreting Transmedia and Multimodal Narratives: Steven Wilson’s
“The Raven That Refused to Sing” 95
Lori Burns
v
Contents
PART 2
Technology and Timbre 115
8 Analysing the Product of Recorded Musical Activity 117
Simon Zagorski-Thomas
9 The Production of Timbre: Analyzing the Sonic Signatures of
Tool’s Æ nima (1996) 133
Kevin Osborn and Brad Osborn
10 “What Music Isn’t Ambient in the 21st Century?”: A Design-Oriented
Approach to Analyzing and Interpreting Ambient Music Recordings 144
Victor Szabo
11 Electronically Modified Voices as Expressing the (Post)Human
Condition in Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (2013) 159
Jane Piper Clendinning
PART 3
Rhythm, Pitch, and Harmony 177
12 Pulse as Dynamic Attending: Analysing Beat Bin Metre
in Neo Soul Grooves 179
Anne Danielsen
13 Rhythmic Functions in Pop-Rock Music 190
Nicole Biamonte
14 The Aesthetics of Drone 207
Jonathan W. Bernard
15 A Tonal Axis to Grind: The Central Dyad in Sonic
Youth’s Divergent Textures 221
David Heetderks
16 Chromatic Linear Progressions in Popular Music 235
Neil Newton
17 System 7 249
Ciro Scotto
18 Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s ‘Toccata’ and the
Cyborg Essence of Alberto Ginastera 265
Kevin Holm-Hudson
vi
Contents
PART 4
Form and Structure 275
19 Yes, the Psychedelic-Symphonic Cover, and “Every Little Thing” 277
John Covach
20 ‘Silence in the Studio!’: Collage as Retransition in Pink Floyd’s
‘Atom Heart Mother Suite’ 291
Shaugn O’Donnell
21 “Weed Crumbles into Glitter”: Representing a
Marijuana High in Frank Ocean’s Blonde 300
John Brackett
22 Form and Time in Trout Mask Replica 315
Peter Silberman
PART 5
Critical Frameworks: Analytical, Formal, Structural, and Political 333
23 New Music in a Borderless World 335
Marianna Ritchey
24 Here Lies Love and the Politics of Disco-Opera 347
Áine Mangaoang
25 The Love Detective: Cybernetic Cycles and the Mysteries
of Desire in Arab Strap 364
Stephen Overy and Kenneth Smith
26 Unending Eruptions: White-Collar Metal Appropriations of Classical
Complexity, Experimentation, Elitism, and Cultural Legitimization 378
Eric Smialek and Méi-Ra St-Laurent
27 Hearing Postmemory: Anne Frank in Neutral Milk Hotel’s
In the Aeroplane over the Sea 400
Michael Spitzer
28 “Poet-Composers”: Art and Legitimacy in the
Singer-Songwriter Movement 416
Christa Anne Bentley
Notes on Contributors 427
Index 434
vii
FIGURES
1.1 Reduction of Brown’s Transcription of the “A Hard Day’s Night” Chord 5
1.2a Vocal Pitch in “Here Comes the Sun” Version 1 6
1.2b Version 2 6
1.3a Snare Drum Patterns in “Sikamikanico” Transcribed in One Tempo, Intro 7
1.3b From Verse 7
1.3c From Transition 7
1.3d Pre-Chorus 7
1.3e Chorus 8
1.3f From Bridge 8
1.3g Outro 8
1.4 Displacement and Alignment in “Autumn,” mm. 12–19 9
1.5 Pentatonicism in “Submission” 10
2.1 Schenker’s graph for Beethoven, Op. 57, 1st movement. 20
3.1 Transcription of opening guitar riff of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” 35
5.1 “Hallelujah” 61
5.2 “The Lost Chord” 63
5.3 “Interval Song” 63
5.4 “ABC” 65
5.5 “I Know a Song That’ll Get on Your Nerves” 71
6.1 Fanfare from “Take on Me” 79
6.2 Melody, Lyrics, and Chords in “Take on Me” 81
6.3 A-ha: “Lesson One” (chorus) 86
6.4 A-ha: “Take on Me” (chorus) 86
6.5 Escaping through the Ripped Wall 87
6.6 Forlorn Yet Victorious 88
7.1 “The Raven,” wave and spectrographic data; formal design 102
7.2a Opening string chord 103
7. 2b 7/4 piano ostinato 103
viii
Figures
7. 2c Vocoder melody, interlude 1 103
7.2d Interlude 2 (2:18), violin melody 103
7.2e Close of interlude 2, before verse 3: guitar/piano
elaboration of ostinato 104
7.2f Pre-chorus melody in guitar, piano, and violin 104
7.2g Chorus vocal melody 104
7.2h Reprise of piano ostinato figure to close pre-chorus
and chorus sections 104
7.2i Final string trichord 104
8.1 Rhythmic Patterns in the Accompaniment 125
8.2 Tonality/Harmonic Patterns 126
8.3 Graphic Representation of Chorus Vocals Taken from
Melodyne Software 127
8.4 Indé pendance Cha Cha Structure—Eleven 32-Beat Sections 128
10.1 “Unfamiliar Wind” wind loops 149
11.1 Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions 164
12.1 Waveform and spectrogram (0-8000 Hz) of one bar of the groove
in “1000 Deaths” 183
12.2 Waveform and spectrogram (0-8000 Hz) of one bar of the groove in
“1000 Deaths” 184
12.3 Widened metric expectation (beat bin meter) in “1000 Deaths” 185
13.1 Sample backbeat patterns 192
13.2 Rolling Stones, “It’s Only Rock and Roll”, last phrase of chorus 1 193
13.3 Led Zeppelin, “Houses of the Holy”, first half of verse 1 194
13.4 Rolling Stones, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, first phrase of verse 1 195
13.5 Aerosmith, “Dream On”, first phrase of chorus 2 196
13.6 Yes, “Roundabout”, melody of verse 1 196
13.7 Bon Jovi, “Runaway”, introduction 197
13.8 AC/DC, “Hell’s Bells”, introduction 198
13.9a Jimi Hendrix, “Spanish Castle Magic”, beginning of verse 199
13.9b Jimi Hendrix, “Spanish Castle Magic”, beginning of chorus 199
14.1 Phill Niblock partial score instructions 211
14.2 “Dronitude” from the sleeve of one of Phill Niblock’s records 211
14.3 Charlemagne Palestine, Strumming Music for Bö sendorfer Piano, pitch
development in the first two large sections 212
15.1 “Shadow of a Doubt” by Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo,
and Steve Shelley, introduction and verse 223
15.2 “Androgynous Mind” by Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo,
and Steve Shelley 224
15.3 “Green Light” by Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and
Steve Shelley, introduction 226
15.4 “Green Light”, start of instrumental bridge 227
15.5 “Green Light”, partial restatement of verse and coda 228
15.6 “Pacific Coast Highway” by Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee
Ranaldo, and Steve Shelley 229
ix