*Please note, as video and audio files in powerpoint need to linked to the file on your hard drive, the clips in the slides will not work. However, I have included all of the relevant clips below*
Slide 1 - Introductory Slide
The reason for calling the presentation 'A Distant History' is because I wanted to dispel the myths of what is considered 'Scottish' music in a traditional sense. I will look at if the things such as the instruments used, accents, and styles which make music recognisable as 'Scottish' are indeed just 'A Distant History' or if they still do have a big place in modern Scottish culture.
Slide 2 - A Progression
'Scottish' music is no longer seen as being 'stuck in the dark ages' so to speak. It has evolved. We can talk about Scottish music, while at the same time steer clear from the common stereotypes we can see in the picture on the left. We can also talk about modern styles of music, which draw upon worldwide style influences, yet, still consider them Scottish. An example of this in the right hand picture. (Which was voted Scottish music photo of the year for 2008).
Slide 3 - What We Will Look At
We will look at what myths are generally attached onto Scottish music and consider the point that where something is born, is not necessarily where its from. This is a paraphrase from a line in a song by Scottish artist Idlewild, surprisingly enough, entitled 'A Distant History'. This statement meaning that just because music is made by a Scottish artist, it should not automatically be considered Scottish, we must look at what Scottish culture is seen within the song, or if, like many films, it is actually a British or worldwide culture we are seeing, just displayed through the eyes and mouth of a Scottish born artist. Further on from this point, we will look at the question of if Scottish music can really be defined. How can we truly decipher what is Scottish and what is not. Lastly we will consider the fact that music could indeed be 'blind' or 'deaf' as such. More on this will be discussed later in the presentation.
Then we will look at three case studies to see the following themes in action, ones which will tie in with the overall themes of the module.
Scottish Celebration - Idlewild
Scottish Self-Loathing - Flood Of Red
Scottish (Non) Identity- Twin Atlantic
Slide 4 - Can We All Spot Scottishness In Music?
The following 3 audio clips are taken from similar artists, playing similar a style of music. Only 1 is by a Scottish artist. Can we tell which one? For this example, it is impossible to look to common indicators such as instruments, accents, style and lyrics to work out which one is Scottish. The style of music is one which is not instantly considered 'Scottish'.
1 -
2 -
3 -
The answer is number 2 for those interested.
Slide 5 - An Imitated Scottishness?
This slide is a video of Australian band AC/DC. This song features bagpipes. It was one of the first times where the reknowned Scottish instrument was used in rock music. The reason for the inclusion of bagpipes was due to the lead singer having played in a Scots pipe band...but in Australia. Is there anything which makes this Scottish, or is any link just clutching at straws? What do you think?
Slide 6 - An Imitated Scottishness? - Continued
This slide is a video of English band Muse. The riff in the video was played at every venue on the tour, which means it was played over 40 times and counting. However, when they played it in Glasgow, infront of a Scottish audience, bagpipes were included in the performance. Is this therefore a 'Scottish' peformance? Or is it merely entertaining a crowd? Once again, what are your opinions on this?
Slide 7 - Is Scottish Music More Than The Stereotype? “If you find Scottish music sold as ‘ethnic’ or ‘world’ music, its focus may turn out to be extremely narrow. In 2003, The Rough Guide To Scottish Music ignored classical, rock, pop and electronica in favour of 100 per cent folk music, reducing Scotland to the ‘ethic’ flavour of the national objective...” “For The Rough Guide, bagpipes, fiddles and drums are ‘Scottish music’, but tabla, bass guitars and laptops are not.”
“Fortunately, Scottish music itself provides the antidote to this nonsense, all you have to do is listen to it.”
(Gardner, Modern Scottish Culture, 2005:192)
As this quote from Gardner shows, Scottish artists let their music speak for itself. They assert their own identity to their music, and therefore, although not 'traditional', it still does have a place in the Scottish music bracket for some people, even though others would like to reject it for the stereotyped and traditionised version.
Slide 8 - Styles Of Scottish Music
Radio 1 broadcasts 'Introducing Scotland' once a week, presented by Vic Galloway. The genres shown on their website show how wide ranging Scottish music can really be. We have: Dance, Electronica, Experimental, Hip Hop, RnB, Dancehall, Rock, Indie, Drum and Bass. This shows such a wide range in Scottish musical talent and how we can no longer rely on what is seen as traditional. I was going to show Inverness hip-hop artist 'Spit-Dis' but it really is so cringeworthy that i decided not to. Oh well, maybe the Scots cannot perform ALL styles of music.
Slide 9 - Is Music Blind?
Is Scottish music stereotyped in the same way as Scottish film? Is there the same barrier to overcome?
Scottish literature is sometimes looked down upon from our English counterparts, for examples, Burns poetry is not popular at all in England. Scottish films sometimes fail to crack the UK market. So why does music not suffer in the same ways?
Slide 10 - Is Music Blind? - Continued
The following clip is Scottish band Idlewild playing at the Reading Festival. The crowd is mainly English. The band are singing a song themed around Scotland. The Reading Festival crowd is also infamous for showing a very strong dislike to bands that 'do not fit in', be it through booing or throwing bottles. However, the crowd are loving this performance. Another Scottish artist which does very well at this festival is Ayrshire band Biffy Clyro. Therefore it could be concluded that music that is not 'traditionally' Scottish, but done by Scottish artists with Scottish themes and influence can be very popular on a much larger scale.
Slide 11 - Popularity Vs Proudness
82% of Scots are proud of traditional Scottish Music.
79% of Scots are proud of tartan.
(McCrone, Understanding Scotland, 2001:147)
Scottish people may be proud of traditional music, but it does not necessarily make it popular or the authentic voice of the people. As you can see, 79% of people are proud of tartan, but how often do we see people in the street wearing it? Not often. This can be applied to the music aswell. Just because people are proud of it does not mean they listen to it or there is a demand to see it in a live setting.
Slide 12 - The Voice Of The People
"...The idea of folk music has had an extremely powerful hold on the imagination, for unlike pop music, it is held up as the authentic voice of the people." (Barker, Faking It, 2007:65)
What actually is the 'authentic' voice of the people? The authentic voice is surely visable in any music that represents a form of culture or identity to do with Scotland, and it should not really be based on the theme or the music style.
Slide 13 - How Can We Relate Music To A Place? • Spatial distribution of musical form, activities and performers. - Any Scottish artist
• Musical home locales and their extension, including relocation - Local activities / moving
• The identification of the character and personality of places as gleaned from lyrics, melody, instrumentation, and the general ‘feel’ or sensory impact of the music. - A Scottish vibe, coming from lyrics / voice / instuments
• Pertinent themes in music, such as the image of the city. - City / Country image
(Shuker, Understanding Popular Music Culture, 2008:197)
CASE STUDIES
Slide 14 - Ballads Of The Book
Ballads of the Book was a project which involved a collaboration of Scottish artists. Poets and singers/bands joined together to create songs. A written word can gouge a much different meaning when sung as it will give it more emphasis. What represents Scottish culture better than two different arts coming together?
The artist involved in its creation explains more:
“It’s a pretty good idea on paper – great Scottish writers and poets providing lyrics for great Scottish singers and bands to turn into their own kind of song. The fact that it actually became a record is a testament to the enthusiasm, talent and originality of everyone involved.
These songs are all rooted in their own kind of Scottishness, and they sing out in their own way.”
(Roddy Woomble, Scottish Artist)
Slide 15 - An Example
This following audio clip is a song called In Remote Part / Scottish Fiction by Idlewild and Edwin Morgan. It shows how the music and poetry come together. It was also the song which started the idea for Ballads of the Book. Idlewild have claimed themselves that it is the song which gets the most acclaim worldwide, even though it was never released as a single. The album which the song comes from also included the insert on the artwork stating "Support Your Local Poet" showing the important of supporting the Scottish arts. *The lyrics are available in the powerpoint slides, if you start the track as soon as you click onto this slide, the lyrics will play in time to themusic*
Slide 16 - A Celebration of Scottishness - Idlewild / Scottish Fiction
Scotland is not like the fantasy as seen in 'Brigadoon'. It is also not as bad as some people make out either.
I will look into the lyrics of the clip you have just heard.
"There's a red road rage,
But it's not road rage
It's asylum seekers engulfed by a grudge”
- Red road flats, where many asylum seekers stayed, met with profound racism. Is this a symbol for the whole country or just those flats?
“It isn't in the castle, it isn't in the mist”
- It is not in the “Tartanry” elements that make Scotland what it is, its in all of us,and our social constructs.
The ideas behind Scottish Friction, are indeed Fiction
Slide 17 - Scottish Self Loathing
Glasgow is arguably not the best city, with Sectarian violence and it also has been voted the murder capital of Europe. What is the solution some people have for when things get rough....LEAVE!
Slide 18 - Leaving Everything Behind.
This clip is from a band called Flood Of Red. Their whole album called Leaving Everything Behind is about upping and leaving Glasgow. See if you can look into some themes from this following album teaser filmed in Glasgow.
Slide 19 - Leaving Everything Behind (Continued)
The tags seen in the video, representing the symbol above are the identity and 'home ties' that follow us everywhere.
The whole album based on leaving Glasgow. The first half described why you might want to leave, and the second half actually describes leaving.
How do we know it is Glasgow referred to and not anywhere in the world?
“Sleep, sleep, slip away,
these Glasgow city streets
have never been so cold before”
(Little Lovers - Track 6)
Everything is upbeat, until ‘All Balance is Lost’ in the USA (Track 11)
Then comes the ‘Home, Run’. (Track 13)
Album ends on same song as beginning, but with extra verse.
“Mother and Father at ends of the town." This shows that our culture and heritage is sprawled all over the town we come from. It is not just a city, it really is our home.
Slide 20 - Leaving Everything Behind (Continued)
Ultimately, we can leave and hope to find something better elsewhere, but we will always value our background and our heritage. That is something we can never find elsewhere, and thus, we really would need to “Leave Everything Behind” if we left our home town and nation. Everywhere has troubles, is it better to have home troubles? At least we have our culture intact.
Slide 21 - Twin Atantic - Scottish Identity
The band come from Glasgow, and wrote all songs in Glasgow, however, what is your take on the following clips?
Are they keeping their Scottish identity? Or merely pushing it to the side to be more mainstream?
The songs were written in Glasgow, but recorded in California with an American producer. Have the songs lost their Scottish identity because of this?
Slide 22- Twin Atlantic - Lightspeed
As you can see in the video, it is clearly in America, and there are no links to Scotland whatsoever.
Slide 23 - Twin Altantic - What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?
Once again, the clips are from an American beach (which personally, I think beach scenes should be left to artists such as Britney Spears), although the gig clips were filmed at the Glasgow QMU.
Slide 24 - Twin Atlantic - You're Turning Into John Wayne (i.e. You Think You Are American)
The first line says it all "I've never been to America". I think those three video clips show they clearly have beem to America and they really are drawing on a lot of American cultures.
TWIN ATLANTIC | MySpace Music Videos Slide 25 - You're Turning Into John Wayne Explained
From this video, they without knowing it describe exactly what they have done - Jumped on the Amercan culture bangwagon!
Another line from the song is "i know i'm contradicting, everything i own is made in the USA". This shows that American culture does 'infect' other cultures. The American style video will help a song sell better, rather than if they had filmed the videos on the bank of the River Clyde or in a Scottish field for example.
It brings up the point however, that culture could just be one big mish mash! Song influences come from all over the world, so even if a song is fully Scottish...can it still be said to belong to another nation aswell?
Slide 26 - Forgetting Your Identity
Somtimes you just have to leave to make it, because the harsh reality of music is that it is a business aswell as an art. “The country’s most famous bands and exports have had to leave Scotland to find success.”
(Cloonan, Williamson and Frith, Mapping the Music Industry in Scotland, 2002:12)
Scotland does not have the population or economic sustenance for an artist to make it big by staying in Scotland.
However, just because an artist may have to move away to find sucess, it does not mean they have to forget where they came from...just look at 'Jenny From The Block'...yeah right!
Slide 27 - Forgetting Your Roots
One person who has never forgotten about his roots is this guy! He dyes them all the time! Bad joke i know.
"On becomming a megastar, he [Rod Stewart] relocated to Los Angeles and got more highlights in his hair." (Gardner, Modern Scottish Culture, 2005:201)
Now, a great point was raised while I was doing the presentation. I had only intended to put slide 27 in as a joke, to end the presentation on a light hearted note. However, I was informed that Rod Stewart was actually English. Awful at the time to hear you get a fact wrong, however, it has actually worked out really well to make a fantastic point.
As I have found out, not only from people i have asked, or from Michael Gardner's book Modern Scottish Culture, Rod Stewart is mainly seen as being Scottish. The following websites back this up.
Rod Stewart is not Scottish, yet on so many occassions he is thought of, or refered to as Scottish. I think this shows how difficult it is to pin down an identity for someone, not only through their music, but in life in general. Rod is a big fan of Scottish cultures, but that does not make him Scottish by any means. However, does it mean Scottish cultures are coming across in his music?
Slide 28 - Summing Up Slide
Like the mannequins in this photo, stereotypes, identity, culture and background are always lurking over Scottish music's shoulder, 'forcing' the artist to show Scottishness through their music, even if they do not mean to, or know they are doing it.
The band in the image are The Xcerts, who had to move from Aberdeen to Brighton to make it. However, they still declare their music to sound like "A Pissed Off Scotland" even though the songs are no longer written in Scotland, and thus they have no new Scottish cultural references to draw upon. Their song 'Aberdeen 1987' is a very good song about growing up in Scotland, and the difficulty of having to leave. (Similar to what we looked at with Flood Of Red).
Music by any Scottish artist is authentically Scottish, not just traditional music. This is the case, even if it appears they are not portraying a direct Scottish identity in their image. It can also be concluded that some examples of music by non Scottish artists could be considered authentically Scottish, if they are drawing upon Scottish cultures in their music.
Music In Scotland - 'A Distant History'?
Ross McKillop*Please note, as video and audio files in powerpoint need to linked to the file on your hard drive, the clips in the slides will not work. However, I have included all of the relevant clips below*
Slide 1 - Introductory Slide
The reason for calling the presentation 'A Distant History' is because I wanted to dispel the myths of what is considered 'Scottish' music in a traditional sense. I will look at if the things such as the instruments used, accents, and styles which make music recognisable as 'Scottish' are indeed just 'A Distant History' or if they still do have a big place in modern Scottish culture.
Slide 2 - A Progression
'Scottish' music is no longer seen as being 'stuck in the dark ages' so to speak. It has evolved. We can talk about Scottish music, while at the same time steer clear from the common stereotypes we can see in the picture on the left. We can also talk about modern styles of music, which draw upon worldwide style influences, yet, still consider them Scottish. An example of this in the right hand picture. (Which was voted Scottish music photo of the year for 2008).
Slide 3 - What We Will Look At
We will look at what myths are generally attached onto Scottish music and consider the point that where something is born, is not necessarily where its from. This is a paraphrase from a line in a song by Scottish artist Idlewild, surprisingly enough, entitled 'A Distant History'. This statement meaning that just because music is made by a Scottish artist, it should not automatically be considered Scottish, we must look at what Scottish culture is seen within the song, or if, like many films, it is actually a British or worldwide culture we are seeing, just displayed through the eyes and mouth of a Scottish born artist. Further on from this point, we will look at the question of if Scottish music can really be defined. How can we truly decipher what is Scottish and what is not. Lastly we will consider the fact that music could indeed be 'blind' or 'deaf' as such. More on this will be discussed later in the presentation.
Then we will look at three case studies to see the following themes in action, ones which will tie in with the overall themes of the module.
Scottish Celebration - Idlewild
Scottish Self-Loathing - Flood Of Red
Scottish (Non) Identity- Twin Atlantic
Slide 4 - Can We All Spot Scottishness In Music?
The following 3 audio clips are taken from similar artists, playing similar a style of music. Only 1 is by a Scottish artist. Can we tell which one? For this example, it is impossible to look to common indicators such as instruments, accents, style and lyrics to work out which one is Scottish. The style of music is one which is not instantly considered 'Scottish'.
1 -
2 -
3 -
The answer is number 2 for those interested.
Slide 5 - An Imitated Scottishness?
This slide is a video of Australian band AC/DC. This song features bagpipes. It was one of the first times where the reknowned Scottish instrument was used in rock music. The reason for the inclusion of bagpipes was due to the lead singer having played in a Scots pipe band...but in Australia. Is there anything which makes this Scottish, or is any link just clutching at straws? What do you think?
Slide 6 - An Imitated Scottishness? - Continued
This slide is a video of English band Muse. The riff in the video was played at every venue on the tour, which means it was played over 40 times and counting. However, when they played it in Glasgow, infront of a Scottish audience, bagpipes were included in the performance. Is this therefore a 'Scottish' peformance? Or is it merely entertaining a crowd? Once again, what are your opinions on this?
Slide 7 - Is Scottish Music More Than The Stereotype?
“If you find Scottish music sold as ‘ethnic’ or ‘world’ music, its focus may turn out to be extremely narrow. In 2003, The Rough Guide To Scottish Music ignored classical, rock, pop and electronica in favour of 100 per cent folk music, reducing Scotland to the ‘ethic’ flavour of the national objective...”
“For The Rough Guide, bagpipes, fiddles and drums are ‘Scottish music’, but tabla, bass guitars and laptops are not.”
“Fortunately, Scottish music itself provides the antidote to this nonsense, all you have to do is listen to it.”
(Gardner, Modern Scottish Culture, 2005:192)
As this quote from Gardner shows, Scottish artists let their music speak for itself. They assert their own identity to their music, and therefore, although not 'traditional', it still does have a place in the Scottish music bracket for some people, even though others would like to reject it for the stereotyped and traditionised version.
Slide 8 - Styles Of Scottish Music
Radio 1 broadcasts 'Introducing Scotland' once a week, presented by Vic Galloway. The genres shown on their website show how wide ranging Scottish music can really be. We have: Dance, Electronica, Experimental, Hip Hop, RnB, Dancehall, Rock, Indie, Drum and Bass. This shows such a wide range in Scottish musical talent and how we can no longer rely on what is seen as traditional. I was going to show Inverness hip-hop artist 'Spit-Dis' but it really is so cringeworthy that i decided not to. Oh well, maybe the Scots cannot perform ALL styles of music.
Slide 9 - Is Music Blind?
Is Scottish music stereotyped in the same way as Scottish film? Is there the same barrier to overcome?
Scottish literature is sometimes looked down upon from our English counterparts, for examples, Burns poetry is not popular at all in England. Scottish films sometimes fail to crack the UK market. So why does music not suffer in the same ways?
Slide 10 - Is Music Blind? - Continued
The following clip is Scottish band Idlewild playing at the Reading Festival. The crowd is mainly English. The band are singing a song themed around Scotland. The Reading Festival crowd is also infamous for showing a very strong dislike to bands that 'do not fit in', be it through booing or throwing bottles. However, the crowd are loving this performance. Another Scottish artist which does very well at this festival is Ayrshire band Biffy Clyro. Therefore it could be concluded that music that is not 'traditionally' Scottish, but done by Scottish artists with Scottish themes and influence can be very popular on a much larger scale.
Slide 11 - Popularity Vs Proudness
82% of Scots are proud of traditional Scottish Music.
79% of Scots are proud of tartan.
(McCrone, Understanding Scotland, 2001:147)
Scottish people may be proud of traditional music, but it does not necessarily make it popular or the authentic voice of the people. As you can see, 79% of people are proud of tartan, but how often do we see people in the street wearing it? Not often. This can be applied to the music aswell. Just because people are proud of it does not mean they listen to it or there is a demand to see it in a live setting.
Slide 12 - The Voice Of The People
"...The idea of folk music has had an extremely powerful hold on the imagination, for unlike pop music, it is held up as the authentic voice of the people." (Barker, Faking It, 2007:65)
What actually is the 'authentic' voice of the people? The authentic voice is surely visable in any music that represents a form of culture or identity to do with Scotland, and it should not really be based on the theme or the music style.
Slide 13 - How Can We Relate Music To A Place?
• Spatial distribution of musical form, activities and performers. - Any Scottish artist
• Musical home locales and their extension, including relocation - Local activities / moving
• The identification of the character and personality of places as gleaned from lyrics, melody, instrumentation, and the general ‘feel’ or sensory impact of the music. - A Scottish vibe, coming from lyrics / voice / instuments
• Pertinent themes in music, such as the image of the city. - City / Country image
(Shuker, Understanding Popular Music Culture, 2008:197)
CASE STUDIES
Slide 14 - Ballads Of The Book
Ballads of the Book was a project which involved a collaboration of Scottish artists. Poets and singers/bands joined together to create songs. A written word can gouge a much different meaning when sung as it will give it more emphasis. What represents Scottish culture better than two different arts coming together?
The artist involved in its creation explains more:
“It’s a pretty good idea on paper – great Scottish writers and poets providing lyrics for great Scottish singers and bands to turn into their own kind of song. The fact that it actually became a record is a testament to the enthusiasm, talent and originality of everyone involved.
These songs are all rooted in their own kind of Scottishness, and they sing out in their own way.”
(Roddy Woomble, Scottish Artist)
Slide 15 - An Example
This following audio clip is a song called In Remote Part / Scottish Fiction by Idlewild and Edwin Morgan. It shows how the music and poetry come together. It was also the song which started the idea for Ballads of the Book. Idlewild have claimed themselves that it is the song which gets the most acclaim worldwide, even though it was never released as a single. The album which the song comes from also included the insert on the artwork stating "Support Your Local Poet" showing the important of supporting the Scottish arts. *The lyrics are available in the powerpoint slides, if you start the track as soon as you click onto this slide, the lyrics will play in time to the music*
Slide 16 - A Celebration of Scottishness - Idlewild / Scottish Fiction
Scotland is not like the fantasy as seen in 'Brigadoon'. It is also not as bad as some people make out either.
I will look into the lyrics of the clip you have just heard.
"There's a red road rage,
But it's not road rage
It's asylum seekers engulfed by a grudge”
- Red road flats, where many asylum seekers stayed, met with profound racism. Is this a symbol for the whole country or just those flats?
“It isn't in the castle, it isn't in the mist”
- It is not in the “Tartanry” elements that make Scotland what it is, its in all of us,and our social constructs.
The ideas behind Scottish Friction, are indeed Fiction
Slide 17 - Scottish Self Loathing
Glasgow is arguably not the best city, with Sectarian violence and it also has been voted the murder capital of Europe. What is the solution some people have for when things get rough....LEAVE!
Slide 18 - Leaving Everything Behind.
This clip is from a band called Flood Of Red. Their whole album called Leaving Everything Behind is about upping and leaving Glasgow. See if you can look into some themes from this following album teaser filmed in Glasgow.
Slide 19 - Leaving Everything Behind (Continued)
The tags seen in the video, representing the symbol above are the identity and 'home ties' that follow us everywhere.
The whole album based on leaving Glasgow. The first half described why you might want to leave, and the second half actually describes leaving.
How do we know it is Glasgow referred to and not anywhere in the world?
“Sleep, sleep, slip away,
these Glasgow city streets
have never been so cold before”
(Little Lovers - Track 6)
Everything is upbeat, until ‘All Balance is Lost’ in the USA (Track 11)
Then comes the ‘Home, Run’. (Track 13)
Album ends on same song as beginning, but with extra verse.
“Mother and Father at ends of the town." This shows that our culture and heritage is sprawled all over the town we come from. It is not just a city, it really is our home.
Slide 20 - Leaving Everything Behind (Continued)
Ultimately, we can leave and hope to find something better elsewhere, but we will always value our background and our heritage. That is something we can never find elsewhere, and thus, we really would need to “Leave Everything Behind” if we left our home town and nation. Everywhere has troubles, is it better to have home troubles? At least we have our culture intact.
Slide 21 - Twin Atantic - Scottish Identity
The band come from Glasgow, and wrote all songs in Glasgow, however, what is your take on the following clips?
Are they keeping their Scottish identity? Or merely pushing it to the side to be more mainstream?
The songs were written in Glasgow, but recorded in California with an American producer. Have the songs lost their Scottish identity because of this?
Slide 22- Twin Atlantic - Lightspeed
As you can see in the video, it is clearly in America, and there are no links to Scotland whatsoever.
Slide 23 - Twin Altantic - What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?
Once again, the clips are from an American beach (which personally, I think beach scenes should be left to artists such as Britney Spears), although the gig clips were filmed at the Glasgow QMU.
Slide 24 - Twin Atlantic - You're Turning Into John Wayne (i.e. You Think You Are American)
The first line says it all "I've never been to America". I think those three video clips show they clearly have beem to America and they really are drawing on a lot of American cultures.
Twin Atlantic "You're Turning into John Wayne"
TWIN ATLANTIC | MySpace Music Videos
Slide 25 - You're Turning Into John Wayne Explained
From this video, they without knowing it describe exactly what they have done - Jumped on the Amercan culture bangwagon!
Another line from the song is "i know i'm contradicting, everything i own is made in the USA". This shows that American culture does 'infect' other cultures. The American style video will help a song sell better, rather than if they had filmed the videos on the bank of the River Clyde or in a Scottish field for example.
It brings up the point however, that culture could just be one big mish mash! Song influences come from all over the world, so even if a song is fully Scottish...can it still be said to belong to another nation aswell?
Slide 26 - Forgetting Your Identity
Somtimes you just have to leave to make it, because the harsh reality of music is that it is a business aswell as an art.
“The country’s most famous bands and exports have had to leave Scotland to find success.”
(Cloonan, Williamson and Frith, Mapping the Music Industry in Scotland, 2002:12)
Scotland does not have the population or economic sustenance for an artist to make it big by staying in Scotland.
However, just because an artist may have to move away to find sucess, it does not mean they have to forget where they came from...just look at 'Jenny From The Block'...yeah right!
Slide 27 - Forgetting Your Roots
One person who has never forgotten about his roots is this guy! He dyes them all the time! Bad joke i know.
"On becomming a megastar, he [Rod Stewart] relocated to Los Angeles and got more highlights in his hair." (Gardner, Modern Scottish Culture, 2005:201)
Now, a great point was raised while I was doing the presentation. I had only intended to put slide 27 in as a joke, to end the presentation on a light hearted note. However, I was informed that Rod Stewart was actually English. Awful at the time to hear you get a fact wrong, however, it has actually worked out really well to make a fantastic point.
As I have found out, not only from people i have asked, or from Michael Gardner's book Modern Scottish Culture, Rod Stewart is mainly seen as being Scottish. The following websites back this up.
"Scottish Rocker"
"He is Scottish after all"
"Rod Stewart's Scottish"
Rod Stewart is not Scottish, yet on so many occassions he is thought of, or refered to as Scottish. I think this shows how difficult it is to pin down an identity for someone, not only through their music, but in life in general. Rod is a big fan of Scottish cultures, but that does not make him Scottish by any means. However, does it mean Scottish cultures are coming across in his music?
Slide 28 - Summing Up Slide
Like the mannequins in this photo, stereotypes, identity, culture and background are always lurking over Scottish music's shoulder, 'forcing' the artist to show Scottishness through their music, even if they do not mean to, or know they are doing it.
The band in the image are The Xcerts, who had to move from Aberdeen to Brighton to make it. However, they still declare their music to sound like "A Pissed Off Scotland" even though the songs are no longer written in Scotland, and thus they have no new Scottish cultural references to draw upon. Their song 'Aberdeen 1987' is a very good song about growing up in Scotland, and the difficulty of having to leave. (Similar to what we looked at with Flood Of Red).
Music by any Scottish artist is authentically Scottish, not just traditional music. This is the case, even if it appears they are not portraying a direct Scottish identity in their image. It can also be concluded that some examples of music by non Scottish artists could be considered authentically Scottish, if they are drawing upon Scottish cultures in their music.