MEDS 217 - Studies in Popular Music

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

A topics course focusing on the study of popular music.

Topic for 2023/24b: History of Rock. (Same as AMST 217 and MUSI 217) This class examines the social history of rock from Elvis Presley to the present through examination of musical trends, socio-economic and demographic changes, social and political movements and issues in fandom, production and reception. Seminal artists and events are examined along with the development of genres, subcultures and accompanying trends like fashion, slang, literature, identity politics, as well as the influence of TV, film, radio, video, art, the internet and the music industry. Issues of race, class, gender, age, politics, censorship and hybridity will form the backbone of the course, as well as rock beyond the Anglophone world as a globalized art form. Justin Patch.

Recommended: One unit in either Music, Sociology, or Anthropology.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS