Uploaded July 2019 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
One-Way Traffic? Utopian and Transformative Experience in Progressive Rock
Kimberley Jane Anderson - PhD Candidate, University of St Andrews Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts
kja2@st-andrews.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
Somewhat uniquely among rock’s subgenres, arguments are ample for progressive rock’s religious or spiritual dimensions, with a case made even for a rootedness in the Anglican tradition for much of the genre. Despite this evident connection, though, it has not been explored in sufficient depth whether engagement with progressive rock might also have results which are spiritually significant. Perhaps progressive rock is not one of the most obvious subgenres for sociologists to investigate, due to the isolated, cerebral way in which it is often consumed, its connection with the ‘middle class’, and its unappealing aesthetic elitism (which may indeed support the notion that meaning is fixed, authoritative, and somewhat conservative). Nevertheless, as this paper will argue, sustained engagement with the fictive (utopian) situation offered in some progressive rock has potential to awaken listeners to imagine an alternative to the ‘secularisation’ and ‘disenchantment’ which has been said to pervade contemporary life.
In order to assess listener experience most faithfully, after a brief theoretical section drawing on the ideas of Paul Ricoeur, Theodor Adorno and the theologian David Brown, the paper will outline the preliminary findings from a survey to be conducted in April 2018 which invites progressive rock fans to reflect on the nature of their interaction with the music and its related community, what sort of journey these musical encounters might take them on, and how such experiences might have affected their views on God, spirituality, and/or the meaning of life.
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
One-Way Traffic? Utopian and Transformative Experience in Progressive Rock
Kimberley Jane Anderson - PhD Candidate, University of St Andrews Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts
kja2@st-andrews.ac.uk
/// ABSTRACT
Somewhat uniquely among rock’s subgenres, arguments are ample for progressive rock’s religious or spiritual dimensions, with a case made even for a rootedness in the Anglican tradition for much of the genre. Despite this evident connection, though, it has not been explored in sufficient depth whether engagement with progressive rock might also have results which are spiritually significant. Perhaps progressive rock is not one of the most obvious subgenres for sociologists to investigate, due to the isolated, cerebral way in which it is often consumed, its connection with the ‘middle class’, and its unappealing aesthetic elitism (which may indeed support the notion that meaning is fixed, authoritative, and somewhat conservative). Nevertheless, as this paper will argue, sustained engagement with the fictive (utopian) situation offered in some progressive rock has potential to awaken listeners to imagine an alternative to the ‘secularisation’ and ‘disenchantment’ which has been said to pervade contemporary life.
In order to assess listener experience most faithfully, after a brief theoretical section drawing on the ideas of Paul Ricoeur, Theodor Adorno and the theologian David Brown, the paper will outline the preliminary findings from a survey to be conducted in April 2018 which invites progressive rock fans to reflect on the nature of their interaction with the music and its related community, what sort of journey these musical encounters might take them on, and how such experiences might have affected their views on God, spirituality, and/or the meaning of life.
