Pop Music - Technology and Creativity : Trevor Horn and the Digital Revolution

List of Tables viii General Editor's Preface ix Acknowledgements x Introduction xi Part One: Pop Music 1(38) 1 Characteristics of Pop Music 3(15) Pop and rock 3(2) Pop as a format: the single 5(1) Short and sweet 6(1) The art of the familiar 7(2) Simplicity and repetition 9(1) Round and round, like a record 10(1) Machine aesthetics 11(1) Pop and television 12(1) Pop and commerce 13(1) Pop and fashion 14(1) Let's dance 14(1) Image 15(1) Mixed media 16(2) 2 The Production of Pop Music 18(21) An aural art 19(1) The recording studio as resource 20(1) From analogue to digital 20(2) Using technology 22(1) Multitrack recording 22(1) Signal processing 23(1) MIDI sequencing 24(4) Sound synthesis and sampling 28(3) Recording the voice 31(1) The fade-out 32(1) The record producer 33(6) Part Two: Technology and Creativity 39(100) 3 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles 41(9) The ghost in the machine 41(2) Music 43(1) Lyrics 44(1) Production and arrangement 45(2) Disco killed the radio star 47(3) 4 'Buffalo Gals' by Malcolm McLaren 50(12) A charismatic manager 50(2) From manager to artist 52(1) Applied cultural theory 52(1) The anthropological connection 53(1) Stylistic collage 54(1) 'Buffalo Gals' 55(2) Structure 57(1) Timbre 58(1) Half heard words 59(3) 5 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' by Yes 62(13) Yes: from progressive rock to chart pop 62(2) 90125 64(1) A new image 64(1) Live/recorded 65(1) Chart pop music 66(1) 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' 66(1) Form: repetition and suspension 67(2) Timbre and gesture 69(1) The artificial guitar 70(1) The multitracked vocal 71(1) Machine drums 72(3) 6 'Relax' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood 75(16) Zang Tuum Tumb 75(1) Another band from Liverpool 76(2) The image 78(1) Too much, too young? 79(1) The making of 'Relax' 80(1) 'Remix, Re Use It' 81(1) Banned 82(1) The sound of 'Relax' 83(1) A novel approach to musical form 84(2) What's the hook? 86(1) Repetition in 'Relax' 87(4) 7 Who's Afraid of The Art of Noise? 91(15) What's in a name? 92(1) Who's afraid of The Art of Noise? 93(1) Cover imagery 94(1) Sampling 95(1) Recording records 96(1) Listening to samples 97(1) Sampling and The Art of Noise 98(3) Studio made 101(1) Timbre 101(1) Space 102(4) 8 'Jewel', 'Duel' and 'Jewelled' by Propaganda 106(17) Recordings revisited 106(2) Propaganda 108(2) A Secret Wish: pretentious packaging 110(2) From engineer to producer 112(1) The music of A Secret Wish 113(3) 'Jewel'/'Duel'/'Jewelled' 116(1) 'Jewel'/'Duel'/'Jewelled' - the structure 116(2) 'Jewel'/'Duel'/'Jewelled' - the sound 118(2) Technology and Propaganda 120(3) 9 Slave to the Rhythm by Grace Jones 123(16) Slave to the fashion 123(1) Slave to the image 124(2) Slave to the cliché 126(1) Slave to the Rhythm 127(1) 'Re-written by machine' 128(1) Concerto for Synclavier 129(2) Slave to the sampler 131(1) Space 132(1) Spatial orchestration 133(1) Words 134(1) Slave to the remix 135(4) Conclusion 139(4) Appendix 1: Interview with Trevor Horn 143(14) Appendix 2: Trevor Horn Discography 157(3) Discography 160(2) Bibliography 162(5) Index 167