What's My Name?: Rock, Race, and Revolution in the 1960s

FAIN: FA-55167-10

Patrick L. Burke
Washington University (St. Louis, MO 63130-4862)

I request an NEH Fellowship to support the research and writing of my book What's My Name? Rock, Race, and Revolution in the 1960s. The book investigates associations between rock music and radical politics, which both played fundamental roles in US popular culture and social history during the late 1960s. While present-day cultural critics often conflate rock, revolutionary rhetoric, and African American cultural politics into a monolithic vision of "the Sixties," I argue that these facets of 1960s culture were related in intricate ways, sometimes working in tandem and sometimes contradicting one another. I propose a more precise approach that better describes both the relationship of rock to African American music and the broader connection between popular music and political movements. The book seeks to provide an account of US cultural history at a crucial historical moment and to expand our understanding of the complex relationship between musical and political expression.

Media Coverage

American Identities, episode 3: Rock and Revolution (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Patrick Burke, Claire Navarro
Publication: Hold That Thought
Date: 9/11/2013
Abstract: podcast interview about "Clamor of the Godz"

Associated Products

Clamor of the Godz: Radical Incompetence in 1960s Rock (Article)
Title: Clamor of the Godz: Radical Incompetence in 1960s Rock
Author: Patrick Burke
Abstract: American Music 29, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 35-63.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://muse.jhu.edu.libproxy.wustl.edu/journals/american_music/v029/29.1.burke.html
Primary URL Description: American Music online at Project MUSE
Access Model: subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: American Music 29, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 35-63.
Publisher: University of Illinois Press

The Fugs, The Lower East Side, and the Slum Aesthetic in 1960s Rock (Article)
Title: The Fugs, The Lower East Side, and the Slum Aesthetic in 1960s Rock
Author: Patrick Burke
Abstract: During the mid-to-late 1960s, impoverished urban districts throughout the United States witnessed an influx of white middle-class youth who attempted to remake society and themselves against a backdrop of inner-city grit and decay. This essay focuses on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to explore the significance of slumming in the creation and reception of 1960s rock. Lower East Side rock musicians drew little overt influence from their neighborhood’s longstanding ethnic communities, which included eastern Europeans, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans. Rather, these musicians were fascinated with the concept of the “slum” itself as a more abstract signifier of authenticity, adventure, and nonconformity. I propose that a “slum aesthetic” emphasizing dirt, obscenity, and willful amateurism, exemplified by local band the Fugs, was crucial to the Lower East Side rock scene. Examining this “slum aesthetic” helps paint a more nuanced picture of both the political significance of rock and the connections between popular music and urban life. As the Lower East Side’s musicians aspired to resist the repression and materialism of the U.S. mainstream, they represented their marginalized neighborhood in ways that combined thoughtful engagement with broad caricature, a contradiction that spurred both social tension and musical creativity.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http:// [forthcoming Fall 2014]
Access Model: subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of the Society for American Music
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Come In and Hear the Truth: Jazz and Race on 52nd Stree (Book)
Title: Come In and Hear the Truth: Jazz and Race on 52nd Stree
Author: Burke, Patrick L.
Year: 2008
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=9780226080710
Primary URL Description: WorldCat entry
Publisher: Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780226080710

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