Popular Music
Internet Research
A word of caution: as you know, Internet sites are problematic. Most are simply advertisement venues, and those that are not, are often useless in an academic setting. Internet sites are not a substitute for researching via the Fintel Library "start your research" welcome pages, and locating critical essays and books in the Fintel catalog. However, fanzine and industry (even online reviews like the ones found on www.amazon.com) can offer insight into how audiences "receive" an artist’s work.
Below you will find an overview of what's on the web. However, I require that at least one item each in the following categories be found in your annotated bibliography and referenced in your writing:
1. Fintel Library catalog: book (monograph, edited collection of essays, etc.)
2. JStorr article
3. Under the "more resources" tab on the left of the Fintel pages, go to the Fine Arts & Art History link. From there, select RILM. This search engine covers everything published about music!
4. A newspaper or magazine review (see below for some suggestions)
5. A radio interview from www.npr.org - go to the main page and enter a search (Mariah Carey, her collaborators, hip hop, "tweens" music, etc.)
6. Locate an article or "stub" on Wikipedia's music portal, one that most of us would find interesting, perhaps even odd or surprising.
Worldwide Internet Music Resources is offered as a service of the William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana University. There are numerous popular music links, including a set devoted to music genres. For more direct connection to your project, visit the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. This site offers a wealth of information on the field and links to research sites, etc. At the NPR 100 you will find a list of American musical items voted by a cross-section of musicians, critics, historians, and listeners. As a perusal of NPR 100 will demonstrate, a small portion of popular music is actually classical (for instance, the 3 Tenors phenomenon). You might find something interesting or useful regarding the “popularization” of classical (“art”) music at classical.com. Of course, journalistic reviews and interviews are important sources. Be sure to visit Rolling Stone – the first and most important industry newspaper devoted to popular music – Billboard and Variety. Another important rag is The Village Voice.
Of course, there are many public relations sites. But when referring to publicity type ventures and venues, be sure to take what you read with a grain of (Marxist) salt. For instance, First Look is probably just an arm of the industry (like Entertainment Weekly), however there’s bound to be something interesting here, including artist links. And though I find Search Beat annoying with its pop-ups and overwrought commerciality, you might find something of use here. It has links to articles and reviews, and has a search engine for artists, etc. Radio and television often make some if not all of their material available on the web. For instance, click here for info on the Merchants of Cool PBS program. Music publishing on the Web hawks sheet music and appears geared towards musician. You might want to snoop around. You may even find the sheet music of your hit. Missing your lyrics, or want to compare lyrics? Try Get Lyrics.
And, don’t forget to look for academic sites. For example, sites tied to the academic study of Madonna. As you know, type the tag "site:edu" at the start of your search prompt in order to find materials hosted by colleges and universities. For instance, the Google prompt "site:edu sex" yields some interesting research.