Untitled - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

consumption-oriented activities. The grounded aesthetics ofmusical production and
appreciation operate along a continuum. from listening and buying CDs. home taping.
and practicing dance moves to do-il-yourselfrecording and mixing. and. finally, music­
making and performance. The validity ofCommon Culture's argument. however,
ultimately depends on whether it can demonstrate an active. engaged process ofmeaning
construction at the level ofconsumption. The entire thrust ofthe Birmingham School's
cullural analysis is resistance to the nolion that meaning and aesthetic impact are wholly
internal to the text. or that consumption passively renects the relations and motives
underlying production. And here the book doesn't quite do the job. Take for example
Jones's discussion ofhome taping. in his view -an imponant material dimension of
symbolic work and creativity" (Willis et aJ.. 1990: 62). Home-taping of music allo .....s the
young collector to avoid the expense ofpurchasing full-priced CDs and to create
personalized soundtracks.juxtaposing different songs. rhythms. and melodies. Yet
without kno\Ooing what she might be taping. or where and who it came from. do we really
have enough infonnation 10 declare this activity creative? Earlier in the book the authors
warn that cenain cultural goods encourage reification. !hat is. lhey fail to provide the
consumer ",ith sufficient conceptual space to negotiate their symbolic meanings. but this
caution now seems to have been cast aside. Or take Jones's treaunent ofthe
interpretation of songs: he argues that pop songs provide the young listener with a stock
ofpublic discourses which both speak to her experience and enable her to interpret that
experience. [n this wayan-affective grounded aesthetic" (Willis et al.. 1990: 69)
develops. through which feelings can be expressed and identities defined. However, this
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