Along with the USA, Britain has made a huge contribution to the wealth of popular music produced since the beginning of the sixties. Music plays a pivotal role in many people’s lives and in this course we will be exploring this fact and attempting to find out to what extent rock music has influenced British culture and become, perhaps, part of the British identity. The course will cover the following areas and questions:
*Origins of British rock
*A brief history of the main trends over the last 50 years
*Has music been an instrument of social influence and change in Britain?
*Beatlemania - the start of pop music as a business?
*To what extent is music the writing of British history?
*London/Liverpool/Manchester/Birmingham - is there a “Capital of British rock?”
*British phenomena: the British blues boom/progressive rock/punk/Britpop/Indie rock
Assessment will be in the form of regular and active participation. In the concluding weeks of the course students will be required to lead discussion groups on British cultural trends in music more pertaining to their generation (i.e. post 2000). Participants will also be required to write a brief summary of the course with a feedback section. |
