“Girl, So Confusing,” femme cool, and resolution over resilience
In summer 2024, the figure of the “rock star”–someone who parties hard, does equally hard drugs, flouts rules of propriety, and lives a big, very spectacularly messy life–returned to the forefront of Anglophone pop culture, this time branded lime green…
On the “alt-” in alt-right and the “post-” in post-punk – more similar than you may think!
When philosopher Kwame Appiah asked “is the post- in postmodernism the post- in postcolonial?”, he was referring to their shared de-centering of (mainly) Eurocentric master narratives about universality, objectivity, and other Enlightenment values. When I riffed on his 1991 article…
What I wrote/did in 2024
It’s time again for the “everything I wrote/major accomplishments for the year” posts, and here’s mine! 2024 is the 15th year of Its Her Factory’s existence: I started over on Blogger, migrated to my own domain, and now I also…
Is the “alt-” in alt rock the “alt-” in alt-right?
After my “Alt Rock to Alt Right” panel at the 2024 American Musicological Society, my friend Brian Wright (buy his book!) half-jokingly asked me whether the ‘alt’ in alt-rock is the ‘alt’ in alt-right. (The joke is that I published…
Ann Deal, “the breeder of The Breeders”
Kim Deal has been talking a lot about her mom, Ann, in her promo for her just-released solo album. For example, “Are You Mine” is inspired by an encounter Kim had with her Alzheimers-stricken mom where she asked Kim, “Are…
Two upcoming livestreamed talks by me
I’m giving a number of talks this November, and two of them are going to be streamed over the internet. The first one is this coming Friday November 8. It’s part of the Biopower at 50 conference at Rowan University…
“No, you can’t take that away from me!”: Wounded Entitlement, 90s alt rock, and financialized media industries
This is my paper for the 2024 American Musicological Society. I’m on the Alt Rock to Alt Right panel with the eminent Theo Cateforis & Alex Reed. Some Sunday in 1992 or 1993 high school freshman Robin confused the heck…
What Is The Modern Rock 500?
This is the text of my talk September 19th at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Free tickets are available here. Hope to see some of you there! For those who can’t make it, a recording will be posted…
Introduction to Good Vibes Only
I have finally finished the full first draft of my fifth book, Good Vibes Only: Phenomenology, Algorithms, & the Politics of Legitimation (under contract w Duke). That means I’m deep in revisions for at least the remainder of 2024, possibly…
I’m giving a talk at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 9/19/24 on “What Is The Modern Rock 500?”
The American Musicological Society sponsors an annual series of talks at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and this September 19 at 7pm I’ll be speaking on “What Is The Modern Rock 500?”. It is of course about WOXY…
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