My favourite album: readers’ choice
From The Smiths to Kendrick Lamar, Conversation readers tell us their favourite albums.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Contemporary music
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My favourite album: Pulp’s Different Class
In Different Class, Pulp got fans singing and dancing to searing commentaries on class and privilege.
Countdown - just nostalgia, or still breaking new ground?
Audiences of a certain age still gush about Countdown, the ABC’s music show that ran between 1974 and 1987. The ritual of sitting down to watch the ABC at 6pm on a Sunday (and maybe again for the Saturday…
A Rock & Roll Writers Festival brings a much-needed spark to Australia’s literary scene
Brisbane's Rock and Roll Writers Festival rubbed musicians and writers up against each other in just the right way.
U2’s continuing quest for authenticity
When bands "return to their roots," is it a genuine search, or a way to court critics and sell records?
The messy history of music copyright suits
Like ambulance chasers, gimlet-eyed entertainment lawyers have been trained to detect the most trivial copyright infringements.
Hey, Sir Paul! Studying popular music doesn’t actually kill it
Sir Paul McCartney has been making some waves. On New Year’s Eve, Kanye West released a new single, Only One, a collaboration with The Beatles great on keys. On Twitter, Kanye’s fans reacted, wanting to…
Why do we like sad music?
A magnificently scornful piece in The Guardian this weekend flagged the trend for “sad bangers”, music in which, “Sensitive lads across the land have abandoned their cardies and acoustic guitars for varsity…
The secrets of self-taught, high-performing musicians
We rightly marvel at the skills of a talented musician, especially witnessing them perform live. But how does someone become so skilled? Obviously hours and hours of dedicated practice is a necessity…
In Pink Floyd’s river, time is endless
For a band that once sang “Every year is getting shorter / Never seem to find the time” – which followed an explosion of alarm clocks – Pink Floyd’s songs always seemed to take their time. During the band’s…
From Band Aid to Dapper Laughs, charity songs are all about hitting the right tone
The charity song is an odd thing. Generally composed with the simple intent of raising money for a cause, the musical quality of the thing somehow falls by the wayside. In the charts, it’s an anomaly…
Why Bendigo’s exploratory music festival is worth trumpeting
What, one might wonder, is the value of an international festival of exploratory music? And why is it in Bendigo, in north-west Victoria? In Australia, we have so many festivals featuring music, film…
Top contributors
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Post-Doctoral Fellow, Institute of Sport, Exercise & Active Living (ISEAL), Victoria University
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Head of School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University
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Lecturer in Humanities, University of Southern Queensland
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Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney
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Associate Professor of Popular Music, University of Sydney
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Visiting Associate Professor, National Taiwan Normal University
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Professor of Cultural Studies, Director, Graduate Program in Gender Studies and Feminist Research, McMaster University
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Assistant Professor of Music Performance and Theory, Ramapo College of New Jersey
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Principal Lecturer in Media and Communication Design, Northumbria University, Newcastle
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Professor of Music / Director of the Music Industry Program / Director VALE Music Group, Lebanon Valley College
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Senior Lecturer in Writing and Publishing, Griffith University
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