“Writing About Music is Like Dancing About Architecture”: Taking the pulse of Popular Music Journalism. Our Annual Music Journalism Panel.

Our annual music writing panel discussion is back with a vengeance - come join the debate! A MUST for anyone interested in music writing, or getting into writing about music...

As soon as young people began producing ‘pop’ music, other young people were critiquing and reporting it. The negative responses in the US mass media to the emergence of Elvis Presley (reinforced by the Melody Maker in the UK), for instance, were equalled by fans in their own responses. From the emergence of the countercultural music press in 1960s America with Rolling Stone and Creem to the power of the weekly “inkies” in the UK the following decade - the likes of NME, Melody Maker and Sounds - some of the key moments in popular music history have been matched and mirrored by media reaction and response. Whether abrasive moments such as the Sex Pistols appearance on the Bill Grundy TV show; the purity perceived in Joy Division by Paul Morley; or the ‘rock & roll future’ glimpsed by Jon Landau when reviewing Bruce Springsteen, writers have been ever present… just to the side of the stage.

But why do we do it? Is it about a need to share our love for our favourite bands and artists… or is just assisting consumer decisions about which albums to buy… which gigs to go to? Or is there much more to it than that? Is it the journalists who impose order on the musical maelstrom, joining up the dots and connecting bands into scenes and movements? Or is it, as photographer and academic Rachel McHaffie might assert, all to do with logging and recording experience as fixed memories?

Music photographer Rachel McHaffie will be with us for this panel, sharing some of her fabulous gig and club photography. Joining Rachel is the editor of local music title Silent Radio Andrew Neal, who is also available to talk after the panel, if you would like to start your own career in music writing. Current music writer Martin Guttridge-Hewitt will also offer advice about freelancing for a range of titles.

For the really dedicated, you can study Music Journalism at University, and each year students join the Music Journalism degree at the University of Chester to spend three years doing just that. That course is lead by Louder’s Dr Simon A. Morrison, in order to explore the ways and means to write and critique music. Simon will chair the panel and is also delighted that current students will join the event, including current third years on the panel.

Someone once rather cheekily said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture - abstract, hard to do. Well… if you are interested in music writing - or indeed might want advice by current practioners about how to do it… would like to study it… or indeed want to connect with people that might publish your work… join us on the Saturday lunchtime at Louder and let’s all dance about architecture …

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