UNDERGROUND / OVERGROUND
The Changing Politics of
UK Music-Writing: 1968-85

Friday 15 May 2015, Room B33, Malet Street,
Birkbeck University of London

Extended excerpts will be broadcast by Resonance FM on 25 May (UK Bank Holiday Monday). And proceedings are to be turned into a book, to be published next year with lots of extra material!

[Here for details of venue, purpose of conference and how to register.]

9.30 –11.00: panel discussion
The trades meet the underground
Charles Shaar Murray, Richard Williams, Mark Williams

11.00–11.15: coffee break (15 minutes)

11.15–12.45: panel discussion
How well did the mainstream press deal with rock music
in the 60s? What alternatives did the undergrounds offer?
Tony Palmer, Jonathon Green, Mark Pringle
Chair: Esther Leslie

12.45–1.45: lunch (one hour)

1.45–3.15: panel discussion
Handling rhetorics of outsider style in a commercial
context — the implicit politics of critical stance
Barney Hoskyns, Paul Morley, Jonh Ingham
Chair: Toby Litt

3.15–3.30: coffee break (15 minutes)

3.30–5.00: panel discussion
The encroachment of professionalisation on a
generational playpen — What were the pressures in a
music paper’s editorial office, and what was the potential?
Beverley Glick (aka Betty Page), Cynthia Rose, Tony Stewart
Chair: Tom Ewing

Saturday 16 May 2015, same venue

9.45–11.00: conversation
Val Wilmer, David Toop
How to cover lesser known musicians and musics
in the mainstream music press, and topics arising

11.00–11.15: coffee break (15 minutes)

11.15–12.45: panel discussion
Was punk in the music press an affirmation
of underground values or a challenge to them?
Nigel Fountain, Liz Naylor, Edwin Pouncey
Chair: Adam Gearey

12.45–1.45: lunch (one hour)

1.45–3.15: panel discussion:
The changing make-up of bohemia — Who was reading?
What constituencies were best-served when?
Cynthia Rose, Paul Gilroy, Penny Reel
Chair: Simon Frith

3.15–3.30: coffee break (15 minutes)

3.30–5.00: panel discussion
Implications for the future, the legacy of an era
Kodwo Eshun, Laura Snapes, Simon Warner
Chair: Hazel Southwell