Day 3 (July 8, 2001)
The Invisible Mainstream:
Conservative, Ubiquitous and 'Popular' Musics

Convener:
Keith Harris

Ironically, popular music studies has often been uncomfortable with more “popular” musics. Moreover, it has often been uncomfortable with those musics that do not challenge or that actively uphold the status quo. This stream welcomes papers on the following topics:

• Critically derided musics: boy bands, heavy metal, country and western, stadium rock
• 'Conservative' musics: national anthems, re-invented 'folk' musics, marching songs
• Ubiquitous musics: television and film music, musak, music in public spaces, music as background, soundscapes
• Listening and production practices of such musics, responses to critical condemnation
• The construction and practice of 'stardom'
• The concept of the 'mainstream'