Popular Culture Review Vol. 11, No. 1, February 2000 | Page 90

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Popular Culture Review

analysis of Heavy Metal, Robert Walser interprets the virtuosic display of electric
guitar playing as an appropriation of the virtuosic performance practice of concert
music and an articulation of a specifically male competitive individualism (Walser,
1993, 57-101). In hip-hop, virtuosic scratching plays a similar role. For example,
in “Synthetic Fury” the use of scratching literally demonstrates mastery over
materials by functioning as a bridge between disparate samples (e.g. 1:32-2:08),
and functions as virtuosic display by taking on the role of improvisatory cadenzas
(6:05 - 6:18). Similarly, the sheer diversity of samples and the speed with which
they are presented demonstrate a mastery over material and technology. Thus, the
techniques of scratching and mixing are one way in which this music retains the
performative aspect hitherto present in live performance, and, as a consequence,
the apparently de-stabilising potential of sampling technology is easily subsumed
within prevailing ideologies of authorship and creativity.
Hence, while on the one hand sampling techniques undermine notions of
authorial authenticity, other elements, such as the signification of the mastery of
technology through inclusion of machine sounds, and the representation of
virtuosity, reinforce traditional notions of authorial identity as masculine. The
prominence of technology in the production and reception of this music, and the
aural presence of technology as musical material (in the form of samples), are
means by which this music participates in the production and reproduction of
masculinity.
University of Sheffield

Nicola Dibben

Notes
1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Interdisciplinary Dance Culture
conference, Dept, of Music, University of Leeds, June, 1998.
2. A detailed discussion of patriarchy is beyond the scope of this paper. See Green
(1997) for a more detailed account.
3. Numbers in this form refer to the track timings in minutes and seconds.
4. In those cases where female rappers have emerged (e.g. Salt V Pepa, Queen Latifah),
their use of rap can be read as an appropriation of its signification of power and
resistance, in this case directed towards combating sexism.
5. See, for example, Tagg’s notion of “genre synecdoche” whereby reference to the
stylistic attributes of another “foreign” style bring it with the the social and cultural
contexts (and hence the meanings) that style is associated with (Tagg, 1992).

Works Cited
Bradby, Barbara. “Sampling sexuality: gender, technology and the body in dance in music.”
Popular Music 12, 2 (1993): 155-176.
Cohen, Sara. Rock Culture