The Memes of Production: A cultural studies weblog

Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues Tradition

2009-07-06T23:08:03Z

This is part two of my investigation into the construction of authenticity in the Blues. Part one is here.

There are few musicians who enjoy the sorts of legends that surround Delta bluesman Robert Johnson. For most of his short life he was an itinerant artist, travelling to wherever he could find an audience, accompanied by a battered acoustic guitar and little else. The popular legend, apparently based on a misreading of his song “Cross Road Blues”, and the incredulity of bluesmen Son House and Willie Brown that the “little boy” who used to annoy them at performances had become such a virtuoso (DiGiacomo), suggests that Johnson sold his soul to the devil in return for his freakish talent, and that he died after drinking a bottle of whiskey poisoned by a jealous husband. The truth—as much as it is known—is a fascinating story of a little known plantation worker who was largely ignored in his lifetime, but whose brief music career and limited output continues to influence generations of musicians:

Dead at 27, twenty-nine songs, and just two known photographs , we’ll never have more that just a few scattered memories and details about the life of Robert Johnson. In the 65 years since he died, his shadow’s only grown longer, as musicians continue to sing his words and play his music. (Scorsese)

Johnson developed a style of guitar playing that has influenced artists such as Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin. In 1986 he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and made the 2003 Rolling Stone list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” (at number five). How the poor, apparently uneducated Johnson, with a career lasting probably no more than eight years, came to be one of the most revered artists in the blues tradition, and—arguably—the father of rock music, is actually a story about the construction of authenticity.

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Happy Birthday Walkman

2009-07-01T00:22:19Z

The Sony Walkman was released 30 years ago today, apparantly. It not only changed the way we listen to music, it played a key role in the development of that new-fangled cultural studies thingy: Doing Cultural Studies is dated, but still essential reading. Compared to the 120GB iPod with its capacity of 30,000 songs, the Walkman now looks as quaint as its gender-specific name, but in its day it was an engineering miracle.

In the spirit of nostalgia for the incredibly short-lived batteries, the tape that “wowed” every time you took a step (“Standperfectlystillman” might have been a more accurate name), and a portable listening device that held 12 songs, I provide this review courtesy of the BBC by 13 year-old, Scott Campbell, who swapped his iPod for an antique Walkman for a week. Favourite sections include:

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.

So happy birthday, Walkman. In celebration I urge everyone to listen to the song that was inspired by the device. Of course, if you have any taste, you’ll listen to the B(if)tek cover instead.

Google and Digitisation (again)

2009-06-30T02:20:37Z

An interesting article by Lynne Spender in Meanjin about Google’s ambitions to digitise the world’s books (probably behind the paywall):

Perhaps I am optimistic by nature, but when Google first announced that it was planning to digitise the world’s books and create the greatest library ever, I was enthusiastic. I thought it was an example of digital technology doing for our generation—and those that follow—what print technology did for the generations of readers and writers after its introduction in the fifteenth century. Just as Gutenberg’s printing press brought increased and independent access to knowledge and information 600 years ago, it seemed possible that the Google Library Project’s searchable database of the world’s books would allow access to our entire cultural heritage in digital format. It would be a new res publica litterarum for a new age of digital enlightenment.

Spender’s article focused mainly on the IP and copyright issues of digitising books, but my interest is in the fundamental issue of a for-profit company owning potentially the only digital copies of the Western literary heritage. I’ve written about this before.

To this point Google seems to have acted honourably (the “Paper of Record” issue notwithstanding), but I still fear that one day all this treasure will find itself behind a paywall. Organisations such as Project Gutenberg cannot compete with the finances of Google and will be left behind.

As an update to my earlier post, it seems that Google has finally sorted out the technical problems and most of the material that was available through “Paper of Record” is now available through the Google News Archive Search. There is an interesting overview here from Inside Higher Ed. However, there remain complaints that the search interface is not nearly as user-friendly as the original.

1,000 comments

2009-06-12T10:43:00Z

OK people, we are rapidly closing on our 1,000th comment. Who will hit the jackpot? The 1,000th comment will earn an honoured place in the history of Memes and its author will enter the annals as one of the most significant contributors in a prestigious and honoured medium. There may even be a cash prize*.

Quickly, to your keyboards!

*There definitely won’t be a cash prize.

Twitter users that never tweet

2009-06-11T03:34:34Z

A new study reported by Ars Technica reveals that more than half of the people with Twitter accounts have never sent a tweet and have no followers:

A new report about how the majority of the population uses Twitter reveals that most people, well… don’t really use it. The microblogging service has grown exponentially over the last year, but a little more than half of its users have never sent a single tweet, according to the latest report from HubSpot. The report reminds us that, like many Web services, much of the content is produced by a small number of users while everyone else likes to look in and watch.

In breaking news, I can also reveal that many people who buy books never get around to reading them; that video-tapes and DVR harddrives are full of shows that never get watched; and that a significant number of wardrobes in this country contain unused exercise equipment bought from late-night infomercial programmes.

sigh…