What is it about?
This article questions how the 'whiteness' of rock music - a cultural product which is generally made and enjoyed by whites - came into being and how it persists. By doing an analysis of rock music reviews, the article demonstrates how evaluations of rock albums made by non-white rock musicians are different from those made by their white counterparts. The analysis particularly focuses on coded language that is used to discuss race and ethnicity without explicitly naming it.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Although whiteness is increasingly addressed in Western societies, usually this still occurs from the perspective of the non-white 'other'. This article tries to address the topic by scrutinizing a 'white' cultural product - something that usually remains unquestioned and 'invisible'. In doing so, the article shows that race-ethnicity is extremely important in the reception of music and that music does not universally 'bring us together'.
Perspectives
This is the first article of my PhD dissertation project entitled 'Elvis has finally left the building? Whiteness, boundary work and the reception of rock music in comparative perspective'. This article addresses the critical reception of rock music, while the next papers will deal with the fan/consumer reception.
Julian Schaap
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Just Like Hendrix: Whiteness and the Online Critical and Consumer Reception of Rock Music in the United States, 2003–2013, Popular Communication, October 2015, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/15405702.2014.914519.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
