Wiseman-Trowse, N. J. B. (2014) Repackaging national identity: Nick Drake's posthumous Englishness. Paper presented to: PopLife: The Value of Popular Music in the Twenty First Century, The University of Northampton, 06-07 June 2014. (Unpublished)
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Abstract:
While the cult singer-songwriter Nick Drake has, since his tragic death in 1974, become synonymous with a certain type of quintessentially English pastoral romanticism, his slim body of recordings presents a more complex picture. While American and European idioms can be found in his music, and an ambivalent relationship to modernity articulated through his lyrics and cultural positioning, the imagining of an English cultural identity via Drake has largely been achieved after his death.
This paper explores the way in which Nick Drake’s catalogue has been exploited posthumously, by his record company, his family’s estate, and by the media more broadly. Through the repackaging of Drake’s material, the development of an extended iconography and the presentation of songs released only after his death, Nick has come to stand for an imaginary conciliation between the counterculture and an English Establishment, a conciliation that, while imaginary and mythological, might be of value to his listeners today.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
PopLife, conference, Nick Drake, Englishness, popular music, packaging
Subjects:
Creators:
Wiseman-Trowse, N. J. B.
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:
Date:
7 June 2014
Date Type:
Presentation
Event Title:
PopLife: The Value of Popular Music in the Twenty First Century
Event Dates:
06-07 June 2014
Event Location:
The University of Northampton
Event Type:
Conference
Language:
English
Status:
Unpublished
Refereed:
Yes
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