MUSC 2019 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Johnny Marr, Laura Mulvey, Eye Liner
Lecture 18 - New Wave (end), MTV
April 17, 2018
4:45 PM
New Wave - subgenre
• AKA. 2nd New Wave, the 2nd British Invasion
New Romantics
• Pop culture movement from Britain
• Allowed alternative masculinities
o Synthesizers - could be a nerd and a rock star
o Stereotypical rock star:
• Guitarist shows off sexual prowess
• Stereotypically good looking lead singer
o Different masculinities had males wearing eye liner, nerdy glasses
• Synthesizers could be someone nerdy who has a questionable sexuality but still be able to make a
living there
The Smiths
• From Manchester
o Grim working-class city
• Turned to music in the bland city
• Morrisey
o Writes dark, depressive lyrics
o Misery persona instead of "power" persona from rock stars
• Johnny Marr (guitarist)
o Convinces the band to bring the guitar back
o Made music with no synthesizer, with all sounds being produced by the guitar
• Went against the New Wave ideals
o Still made music to get away from grim life
o Lush sounds
• Song: "How Soon is Now?"
o About someone with crippling shyness, an opposite of the brashness of rock stars, but with
lush, beautiful sounds
MTV
• 1981, enabled by deregulation of TV stations
• Massive global brand
• Major stars become global stars
• Music videos become almost it is own art form
• Extreme market research was done to figure out what audience to attract - white males, 14-25 yrs
old
o Most videos that were released early on aimed to attract that demographic
• Laura Mulvey
o Film theorist who coined the term "male gaze"
o Gaze theory: camera angels tend to shoot men from angles that empowered them, and for
women to be objectified
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