Thank you for adding to this. I probably need to go away and give it more time and thought! I'd say in addition that academic writing on music doesn't automatically lift it from bad to good. Academics often have a poor style of writing and nine times out of ten it is dry and necessarily 'unpoetic' or creative. Also, the academic or discursive context can often seem unsuitable, uninteresting or just too complex. I enjoy Simon Friths's academic writing.
Also I maybe should have mentioned Paul Morley who I am increasingly coming to appreciate. Like Savage and Reynolds, he comes across as an anti-academic academic, perhaps famcying himself as a pop culture Joyce or Beckett? The plethora of books on Joy Division / Curtis would make a good caucus - Morley's book stands out as he often grapples with the futility and impossibility of writing about music.
Thank you for adding to this. I probably need to go away and give it more time and thought! I'd say in addition that academic writing on music doesn't automatically lift it from bad to good. Academics often have a poor style of writing and nine times out of ten it is dry and necessarily 'unpoetic' or creative. Also, the academic or discursive context can often seem unsuitable, uninteresting or just too complex. I enjoy Simon Friths's academic writing.
Also I maybe should have mentioned Paul Morley who I am increasingly coming to appreciate. Like Savage and Reynolds, he comes across as an anti-academic academic, perhaps famcying himself as a pop culture Joyce or Beckett? The plethora of books on Joy Division / Curtis would make a good caucus - Morley's book stands out as he often grapples with the futility and impossibility of writing about music.