Page 253 - Cultural Theory

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••• Eamonn Carrabine •••

much about how meanings are organized within genres. Will Straw (1991) has
argued that dance music cultures have always been less troubled by issues over per-
former identity than other music cultures, such as alternative rock (which enshrines
specific forms of connoisseurship of a relatively stable rock canon as vital to partici-
pating in the culture). This lack of interest among dance audiences for such rockist
values as authenticity, sincerity and integrity reflects a preference for other qualities
such as immediacy and sensuality, but also a pleasure in secrecy and obscurity, which
began with Northern Soul enthusiasts in the 1970s and continues in ‘post-house
dance music’ where the highest degree of credibility is attached to the ‘white label’
12-inch vinyl single – a record devoid of any details over who actually made it
(Hesmondhalgh, 1998: 238; see also Straw, 2002; Huq, 2002).
Nevertheless, Hesmondhalgh (1998) has identified a number of features of the
British dance music industry that caution against characterizing it as a radical chal-
lenge to dominant culture industry practices. First, the dance music industries rely
heavily on the success of crossover hits and compilation albums, which are usually
sold on the basis of a sub-genre or connected to a well-known DJ. For instance, Rupa
Huq (2002: 97) argues that magazines like ‘Muzik, Mixmag and Ministry, implicitly
aimed at men, contain lifestyle articles and personal profiles on ‘name’ DJs alongside
articles of a more technical nature for the aspiring bedroom DJ’. Second, the close ties
between the independents and their corporate partners through a range of distribu-
tion, licensing, financing and ownership deals during the 1990s suggest that the
majors have acted quickly and flexibly to incorporate the subcultural credibility of
independents into their operations. Third, the more established sections of dance
music industry are keen to see the development of a star system in order to deal with
the inherent risks in the business. For instance, over the last decade or so many dance
music acts have become ‘serious’ album artists and have taken on the industrial trap-
pings of rock acts, while the development of brand names for the packaging of com-
pilations has steadily diluted the politics of anonymity associated with dance culture.
Another significant approach is to examine the historical development of particu-
lar cultural forms and how they construct meanings. One influential account of this
kind of textual analysis is Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie’s article on ‘Rock and
Sexuality’, which was written in 1978 (reprinted in Frith and McRobbie, 1990). They
argue that rock music cannot be analysed as either simply a product of the culture
industry or as a form of consumption by different audience groups, such as the
young. Instead they propose that rock’s meanings, especially in the construction and
representation of sexuality, are more complex than these general accounts allow.
Their suggestion is that the male domination of the music industry leads to very par-
ticular representations of masculinity in contemporary pop music. They identify two
main types of pop music, which they label ‘cock rock’ and ‘teenybop’. Cock rock is
defined as music making which displays an explicit, raw and often aggressive expres-
sion of male sexuality, whereas teenybop is consumed mainly by girls, and the idol’s
image is based on vulnerability, self-pity and need.
Their argument is that these textual and performance types connect to different
audiences. Boys, as the main consumers of cock rock, are active. They attempt to
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