The Consecration of musical incoherence

Authors

  • Will Straw Auteur-e

Keywords:

music compilation, temporality, circulation, mediality, music curating

Abstract

Meridian 1970 is a compilation gathering 20 musical pieces, that was released in 2005. These musical pieces' only shared trait is the fact that all these songs were originally produced in the year 1970. I argue that this lack of aesthetic unity is what makes this compilation—and all the others done in the same spirit—significant ; the temporalization becomes the basis of the intelligibility, and hence, the legitimation of these songs and this era. The consecration is performed through the celebration of incoherence, of disorder, even confusion.

Author Biography

  • Will Straw

    Will Straw is Professor of Communications in the Department of Art History and Communications at McGill University and currently serves as Departmental Chair. From 1997 to 2004, he was Director of the Graduate Program in Communications. Dr. Straw was awarded the David Thomson Award for Graduate Supervision and Teaching from McGill University in 2006. Will Straw has been music correspondent for Prime Time (CBC Radio), popular culture correspondent for the Women's Television Network, and a cultural commentator for Newswatch (CBC Television, Montreal). Dr. Straw is the author of Cyanide and Sin : Visualizing Crime in 1950s America and of over 100 articles in film, popular culture and cities.

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Published

2025-06-05