Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 7 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
George Michael - Identity, Sexuality, Politics - Life and Death
Mike Hajimichael - Associate Professor, Department of Communications, The University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Email hajimichael.m@unic.ac.cy
/// ABSTRACT
George Michael is a complex popular music icon particularly relating to issue of identity/ethnicities sexuality, music and its contexts, songs and rhetoric, political expression, and media representations of his death. His identity can be explored from different viewpoints as articulated by the media and the pop star himself. For example his relationship with identity place and context is captured succinctly in the song ‘Round Here’ where he casts himself as the son of his father ‘who got here on the gravy train’ and ‘my mamma had a real bad start to the game’. His identity/background has at different points in time been clear (Mega TV Interview, 2008), ‘I am very proud to be Greek’ (The Cyprus Weekly, 1984) and at others, ambiguous, ‘I’ve got little association with Greeks at all other than the fact that I’m hairy’ (‘The Face’ 1985). However contradictory, candid and honest he was on identity the ways in which fans associated with him on issues of his mixed ethnic background is an interesting topic which will be explored at length. Additionally within the context of his death, ‘fandom versus media coverage’ – which was at times ‘fake’, hostile, mis-informative and exaggerated – will be contrasted with fan-based online social media advocacy to have a street named after him in Cyprus and a statue placed in his honour in Highgate. These efforts to have his legacy respected, will live on, just like his songs, and his enigmatic multi-hybrid identity.
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
George Michael - Identity, Sexuality, Politics - Life and Death
Mike Hajimichael - Associate Professor, Department of Communications, The University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Email hajimichael.m@unic.ac.cy
/// ABSTRACT
George Michael is a complex popular music icon particularly relating to issue of identity/ethnicities sexuality, music and its contexts, songs and rhetoric, political expression, and media representations of his death. His identity can be explored from different viewpoints as articulated by the media and the pop star himself. For example his relationship with identity place and context is captured succinctly in the song ‘Round Here’ where he casts himself as the son of his father ‘who got here on the gravy train’ and ‘my mamma had a real bad start to the game’. His identity/background has at different points in time been clear (Mega TV Interview, 2008), ‘I am very proud to be Greek’ (The Cyprus Weekly, 1984) and at others, ambiguous, ‘I’ve got little association with Greeks at all other than the fact that I’m hairy’ (‘The Face’ 1985). However contradictory, candid and honest he was on identity the ways in which fans associated with him on issues of his mixed ethnic background is an interesting topic which will be explored at length. Additionally within the context of his death, ‘fandom versus media coverage’ – which was at times ‘fake’, hostile, mis-informative and exaggerated – will be contrasted with fan-based online social media advocacy to have a street named after him in Cyprus and a statue placed in his honour in Highgate. These efforts to have his legacy respected, will live on, just like his songs, and his enigmatic multi-hybrid identity.
