Blogging at the intersection of urban studies and popular music

Monthly archive July, 2014
the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #10-1

the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #10-1

The top ten!  These are the greatest second chapters, left turns and career reinventions in pop music history.  Don’t forget to review how we came to this point… PREVIOUS: 50-41 40-31 30-21 20-11 10 T. Rex Glitter rock, the visual appearance of a gay aesthetic in pop music, and the first real ‘sound of the...
the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #20-11

the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #20-11

PREVIOUS: 50-41 40-31 30-21 20. Black Eyed Peas Hate to say it, but “I gotta feeling” (oof, sorry) that the Black Eyed Peas have shaped the sound and BPM of American pop music more than anyone else in the last five years. Such influence would have been unfathomable back in 1998, when their debut album...
update on the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory project

update on the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory project

Answering an invitation sent to me by postcard, I attended the first public “brief-ing” [get it?] on the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory project by its developer, the nonprofit Hudson River Housing. This historic building is located on N. Cherry Street just north of Main Street in the City of Poughkeepsie. Ed Murphy, executive director of Hudson...
the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #30-21

the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #30-21

Part three of my response to the question, which performers made the most unexpected left turns with their careers? For the ground rules of eligibility, see the first post; for the big picture of why this is relevant to musical urbanism, click here.  PREVIOUS: 50-41 40-31 30. U2 Regardless how you feel about the band’s...
the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #40-31

the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #40-31

Part two of my response to the question, which performers made the most unexpected left turns with their careers? For the ground rules of eligibility, click here; for the big picture of what this all means, click here. PREVIOUS: 50-41 40. Grace Jones A Jamaican-born model, Jones seemed born with a knack for commanding people’s...
the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #50-41

the greatest reinventions in pop-music careers, #50-41

Today I take up a question of pop-culture history: which performers made the most unexpected left turns with their careers?  I farmed this question out awhile back to readers of this blog, and today I start filing the results based on my own subjective assessment.  Debate and criticisms are welcome in the comment section (or,...
EDM as tourism: the rebranding of UK rave

EDM as tourism: the rebranding of UK rave

Last month, I answered some questions for a UK media/marketing firm researching how UK rave circa 1989 evolved into the US youth phenomenon of electronic dance music (EDM) — a question I’ve asked before on this blog.  The piece is lengthy and lies behind a paywall, but author Emmajo Read did a great job. By...

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