Haddon, Mimi (2017) Dub is the new black: modes of identification and tendencies of appropriation in late 1970s post-punk. Popular Music, 36 (2). pp. 283-301. ISSN 0261-1430

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Abstract

This article examines the complex racial and national politics that surrounded British post-punk musicians’ incorporation of and identification with dub-reggae in the late 1970s. I analyse this historical moment from sociological, intra-musical and discursive perspectives, reading the musical incorporation of dub-reggae by The Police, Gang of Four and Joy Division against the backdrop of the era's music press discourse. I also unpack discursive representations of Jamaican musicians and ask: what role does subaltern performativity play in contributing to ‘imaginary’ critical conceptions of dub, particularly concerning the Jamaican melodica player Augustus Pablo? I conclude by suggesting that post-punk musicians’ incorporation of dub-reggae represents neither an unencumbered post-colonial socio-musical alliance nor a purely colonial one, but rather exceeds and therefore problematises these two positions.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	popular music, punk, post-punk, dub, post-colonialism, identification
Schools and Departments:	School of Media, Film and Music > Music
Subjects:	M Music. Literature on music. Musical instruction and study
Depositing User:	Mimi Haddon
Date Deposited:	05 May 2017 12:59
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 18:23
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/67704

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