I am a media studies scholar and cultural studies practitioner examining the impact over time of media technologies on our shared sense of everyday culture and life.
In less than a century, jazz has spread throughout the world as a symptom of modern hybrid cultur... more In less than a century, jazz has spread throughout the world as a symptom of modern hybrid culture, embraced in some places and resisted in others. In France, a discourse grew around this foreign form as writers of all kinds sought to make sense of jazz and its implications ...
Page 1. 187-How jazz got francisé : a case study in the ongoing construction of cultur... more Page 1. 187-How jazz got francisé : a case study in the ongoing construction of cultural identity MATTHEW F. JORDAN* Many thanks go to the Commonwealth Center for the Humanities at Society at the University of ...
This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records ... more This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records on musical culture and French cultural health. The new private experience of listening to mechanised music made possible by phonograph technology, and the different ways in which this recorded music was used, radically challenged the traditional conceptions of public musical cultural praxis. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, French critics were forced to come to terms with the many changes in how music was being produced, promoted and consumed. As a result, they developed new procedures for evaluating popular music and new theories about the function, importance and paradoxical nature of modern popular culture.
Ethnography: that science which has something magnificent about it, placing all civilizations on ... more Ethnography: that science which has something magnificent about it, placing all civilizations on the same foot and considering no parts of them a priori more valuable than the others. Michel Leiris The white imagination sure is something when it comes to blacks.
Le phonographe s'associe 6troitement ^ la persoimalite de qui le possede. 'Montremoi tes disques,... more Le phonographe s'associe 6troitement ^ la persoimalite de qui le possede. 'Montremoi tes disques, je te dirai qui tu es.'-Pierre MacOrlan ' For a characterization of the different periods of recorded music, see Lee B. Brown, 'Phonography, Rock Records and the Ontology of Recorded Music',
Mourning is regularly the reaction to the loss of a loved person, or to the loss of some abstract... more Mourning is regularly the reaction to the loss of a loved person, or to the loss of some abstraction which has taken the place of one, such as one's country, liberty, an ideal, and so on. In some people the same influences produce melancholia instead of mourning and we consequently suspect them of a pathological disposition. Freud
This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records ... more This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records on musical culture and French cultural health. The new private experience of listening to mechanised music made possible by phonograph technology, and the different ways in which this recorded music was used, radically challenged the traditional conceptions of public musical cultural praxis. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, French critics were forced to come to terms with the many changes in how music was being produced, promoted and consumed. As a result, they developed new procedures for evaluating popular music and new theories about the function, importance and paradoxical nature of modern popular culture.
This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand Central Terminal in 1949 after ma... more This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand Central Terminal in 1949 after management began using Muzak, punctuated by commercial advertisements, to manage and monetize the soundscape. The public protests against these broadcasts in the press were followed by public hearings which weighed the commuter’s right to be left alone with his or her own thoughts against the company’s right broadcast sell the public soundspace. The author argue that this case, which was tied to a similar case before the Supreme Court, set a legal precedent allowing public soundspaces to be monetized in the same way as physical or visual spaces were, and set the stage for the ubiquitous engineering of public soundspaces that is the norm today.
This article examines how Barack Obama has used popular music over the last several years as part... more This article examines how Barack Obama has used popular music over the last several years as part of a populist communication strategy. It argues that thinking about the aesthetics of popular music helps us understand how populist logic functions. Examining the music used during the campaign, the inaugural celebration, and the In Performance at the White House series, I show how the aesthetic problems of Obama's musical spectacles are symptomatic of a postpolitical populism that is potentially unstable. Using a number of theories of populism and popular music, in particular those of Ernesto Laclau, Slavoj Žižek, and Stuart Hall, I argue that while the Obama White House effectively utilized a heterogeneous populist aesthetic to structure identification with Obama as a leader to win the 2008 election, its postelection praxis has left it unable to articulate the agonistic pluralism necessary for sustaining an effective political movement, setting the stage for the recuperation of populist affect by the homogenous populism of the right.
In the 20th century, jazz music spread throughout global culture like few other musical forms. Ov... more In the 20th century, jazz music spread throughout global culture like few other musical forms. Over the 40-year period in which jazz was assimilated into French culture, myths about the origin of jazz played an important role in the discourse surrounding the music. By examining both how these myths functioned in the discourse and examining how they changed over time depending on cultural circumstances, this article shows how writers increasingly used jazz etiologies and writing on the importance of New Orleans to the history of jazz to bridge the cultural gap and to make a French connection with jazz music, so that the enjoyment of it could be experienced as authentically French. From early abstract expressivist origins, to the latter strategic deployment of these myths as a feature of New Orleans revivalism, this discourse played an important role in the integration of jazz into French cultural identity.
Anyone curious about the state of American democracy should simply tune into the GOP debate serie... more Anyone curious about the state of American democracy should simply tune into the GOP debate series, whose next episode Anyone curious about the state of American democracy should simply tune into the GOP debate series, whose next episode airs Tuesday night on Fox Business Network. airs Tuesday night on Fox Business Network. If the previous debates are any indication, advertisers will be clamoring to buy up commercial spots, especially after the " buzz " If the previous debates are any indication, advertisers will be clamoring to buy up commercial spots, especially after the " buzz " generated last week: special conditions demanded by the candidates, Donald Trump's controversial — though dull generated last week: special conditions demanded by the candidates, Donald Trump's controversial — though dull
This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand
Central Terminal in 1949 after ma... more This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand Central Terminal in 1949 after management began using Muzak, punctuated by commercial advertisements, to manage and monetize the soundscape. The public protests against these broadcasts in the press were followed by public hearings which weighed the commuter’s right to be left alone with his or her own thoughts against the company’s right broadcast sell the public soundspace. The author argues that this case, which was tied to a similar case before the Supreme Court, set a legal precedent allowing public soundspaces to be monetized in the same way as physical or visual spaces were, and set the stage for the ubiquitous engineering of public soundspaces that is the norm today.
In less than a century, jazz has spread throughout the world as a symptom of modern hybrid cultur... more In less than a century, jazz has spread throughout the world as a symptom of modern hybrid culture, embraced in some places and resisted in others. In France, a discourse grew around this foreign form as writers of all kinds sought to make sense of jazz and its implications ...
Page 1. 187-How jazz got francisé : a case study in the ongoing construction of cultur... more Page 1. 187-How jazz got francisé : a case study in the ongoing construction of cultural identity MATTHEW F. JORDAN* Many thanks go to the Commonwealth Center for the Humanities at Society at the University of ...
This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records ... more This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records on musical culture and French cultural health. The new private experience of listening to mechanised music made possible by phonograph technology, and the different ways in which this recorded music was used, radically challenged the traditional conceptions of public musical cultural praxis. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, French critics were forced to come to terms with the many changes in how music was being produced, promoted and consumed. As a result, they developed new procedures for evaluating popular music and new theories about the function, importance and paradoxical nature of modern popular culture.
Ethnography: that science which has something magnificent about it, placing all civilizations on ... more Ethnography: that science which has something magnificent about it, placing all civilizations on the same foot and considering no parts of them a priori more valuable than the others. Michel Leiris The white imagination sure is something when it comes to blacks.
Le phonographe s'associe 6troitement ^ la persoimalite de qui le possede. 'Montremoi tes disques,... more Le phonographe s'associe 6troitement ^ la persoimalite de qui le possede. 'Montremoi tes disques, je te dirai qui tu es.'-Pierre MacOrlan ' For a characterization of the different periods of recorded music, see Lee B. Brown, 'Phonography, Rock Records and the Ontology of Recorded Music',
Mourning is regularly the reaction to the loss of a loved person, or to the loss of some abstract... more Mourning is regularly the reaction to the loss of a loved person, or to the loss of some abstraction which has taken the place of one, such as one's country, liberty, an ideal, and so on. In some people the same influences produce melancholia instead of mourning and we consequently suspect them of a pathological disposition. Freud
This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records ... more This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records on musical culture and French cultural health. The new private experience of listening to mechanised music made possible by phonograph technology, and the different ways in which this recorded music was used, radically challenged the traditional conceptions of public musical cultural praxis. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, French critics were forced to come to terms with the many changes in how music was being produced, promoted and consumed. As a result, they developed new procedures for evaluating popular music and new theories about the function, importance and paradoxical nature of modern popular culture.
This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand Central Terminal in 1949 after ma... more This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand Central Terminal in 1949 after management began using Muzak, punctuated by commercial advertisements, to manage and monetize the soundscape. The public protests against these broadcasts in the press were followed by public hearings which weighed the commuter’s right to be left alone with his or her own thoughts against the company’s right broadcast sell the public soundspace. The author argue that this case, which was tied to a similar case before the Supreme Court, set a legal precedent allowing public soundspaces to be monetized in the same way as physical or visual spaces were, and set the stage for the ubiquitous engineering of public soundspaces that is the norm today.
This article examines how Barack Obama has used popular music over the last several years as part... more This article examines how Barack Obama has used popular music over the last several years as part of a populist communication strategy. It argues that thinking about the aesthetics of popular music helps us understand how populist logic functions. Examining the music used during the campaign, the inaugural celebration, and the In Performance at the White House series, I show how the aesthetic problems of Obama's musical spectacles are symptomatic of a postpolitical populism that is potentially unstable. Using a number of theories of populism and popular music, in particular those of Ernesto Laclau, Slavoj Žižek, and Stuart Hall, I argue that while the Obama White House effectively utilized a heterogeneous populist aesthetic to structure identification with Obama as a leader to win the 2008 election, its postelection praxis has left it unable to articulate the agonistic pluralism necessary for sustaining an effective political movement, setting the stage for the recuperation of populist affect by the homogenous populism of the right.
In the 20th century, jazz music spread throughout global culture like few other musical forms. Ov... more In the 20th century, jazz music spread throughout global culture like few other musical forms. Over the 40-year period in which jazz was assimilated into French culture, myths about the origin of jazz played an important role in the discourse surrounding the music. By examining both how these myths functioned in the discourse and examining how they changed over time depending on cultural circumstances, this article shows how writers increasingly used jazz etiologies and writing on the importance of New Orleans to the history of jazz to bridge the cultural gap and to make a French connection with jazz music, so that the enjoyment of it could be experienced as authentically French. From early abstract expressivist origins, to the latter strategic deployment of these myths as a feature of New Orleans revivalism, this discourse played an important role in the integration of jazz into French cultural identity.
Anyone curious about the state of American democracy should simply tune into the GOP debate serie... more Anyone curious about the state of American democracy should simply tune into the GOP debate series, whose next episode Anyone curious about the state of American democracy should simply tune into the GOP debate series, whose next episode airs Tuesday night on Fox Business Network. airs Tuesday night on Fox Business Network. If the previous debates are any indication, advertisers will be clamoring to buy up commercial spots, especially after the " buzz " If the previous debates are any indication, advertisers will be clamoring to buy up commercial spots, especially after the " buzz " generated last week: special conditions demanded by the candidates, Donald Trump's controversial — though dull generated last week: special conditions demanded by the candidates, Donald Trump's controversial — though dull
This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand
Central Terminal in 1949 after ma... more This article recounts the fight over public soundspace at Grand Central Terminal in 1949 after management began using Muzak, punctuated by commercial advertisements, to manage and monetize the soundscape. The public protests against these broadcasts in the press were followed by public hearings which weighed the commuter’s right to be left alone with his or her own thoughts against the company’s right broadcast sell the public soundspace. The author argues that this case, which was tied to a similar case before the Supreme Court, set a legal precedent allowing public soundspaces to be monetized in the same way as physical or visual spaces were, and set the stage for the ubiquitous engineering of public soundspaces that is the norm today.
If the films of Norman Jewison, who died on Jan. 22, 2024, had a unifying theme, it was how his c... more If the films of Norman Jewison, who died on Jan. 22, 2024, had a unifying theme, it was how his characters searched for meaning and questioned the rules of their worlds. No matter the genre of the scores of films he directed-from "In the Heat of the Night" to "Fiddler on
Social Science Research Institute, Penn State, 2022
America occupies an exceptional place in the world among democratic countries with highly develop... more America occupies an exceptional place in the world among democratic countries with highly developed economies. And it's not an exceptionalism we should be proud of. Gun violence kills more human beings per capita in the US than anywhere else, 20 times more than our closest rival. And as for mass shootings, we're number 1. It's not even close. American civilians own more guns than the next 25 countries combined. The sum of this ghastly arithmeticwhen a population with as many angry or unstable people as other peer countries has unfettered access to technology designed to kill-is entirely predictable. Every day, American lives are snuffed out because consumer technology made for killing is used as it was designed. Most of us are unaware of the daily toll because it happens so often that it's no longer news and we've become numb to it. Did you know that there have been over 240 mass shootings in 2022 ? Did you
If we as a society really want to keep things like this from happening again, we should stop hors... more If we as a society really want to keep things like this from happening again, we should stop horsing around with the fantasy of a society led by a responsible elite while we the people cheer or jeer from the sidelines.
The new film "A Quiet Place" is an edge-of-your-seat tale about a family struggling to avoid bein... more The new film "A Quiet Place" is an edge-of-your-seat tale about a family struggling to avoid being heard by monsters with hypersensitive ears. Conditioned by fear, they know the slightest noise will provoke a violent response-and almost certain death. Audiences have come out in droves to dip their toes into its quiet terror, and they're loving it: It's raked in over US$100 million at the box office and has a 95 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
That the establishment would fight back against an insurgent populist is no surprise. Indeed, man... more That the establishment would fight back against an insurgent populist is no surprise. Indeed, many progressives are reading this as a good thing, a sign that their candidate is authentic. Crowds at Sanders' events continue to grow and Monday in Iowa, despite an unprecedented cold shoulder from the party leadership, he beat expectations.
When you get a chance to watchthis holiday season, remember that the Potters and their parasitic ... more When you get a chance to watchthis holiday season, remember that the Potters and their parasitic ilk, are still out there waiting for people to lose their faith in community so they can buy what's left of it.
As the public support for university education in America dwindled over the last 30 years, the po... more As the public support for university education in America dwindled over the last 30 years, the power and influence of big money sports over all aspects of university life grew wildly out of control.
Since Jerry Springer's death on April 27, 2023, writers have been working through the cultural si... more Since Jerry Springer's death on April 27, 2023, writers have been working through the cultural significance of his eponymous daytime talk show. For 27 years, Springer's circus of sensationalism was a remarkably durable and bankable commodity.
History of the notion of objectivity and of neutralizing accountability journalism by accusing cr... more History of the notion of objectivity and of neutralizing accountability journalism by accusing critics of bias
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Central Terminal in 1949 after management began using Muzak,
punctuated by commercial advertisements, to manage and monetize the soundscape. The public protests against these broadcasts in the press were followed by public hearings which weighed the commuter’s right to be left alone with his or her own thoughts against the company’s right broadcast sell the public soundspace.
The author argues that this case, which was tied to a similar case
before the Supreme Court, set a legal precedent allowing public
soundspaces to be monetized in the same way as physical or visual spaces were, and set the stage for the ubiquitous engineering of public soundspaces that is the norm today.
Central Terminal in 1949 after management began using Muzak,
punctuated by commercial advertisements, to manage and monetize the soundscape. The public protests against these broadcasts in the press were followed by public hearings which weighed the commuter’s right to be left alone with his or her own thoughts against the company’s right broadcast sell the public soundspace.
The author argues that this case, which was tied to a similar case
before the Supreme Court, set a legal precedent allowing public
soundspaces to be monetized in the same way as physical or visual spaces were, and set the stage for the ubiquitous engineering of public soundspaces that is the norm today.