Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show, and much more, head to Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this episode Tim and Jeremy begin a series of shows for patrons that flesh out some of the other musical currents of the UK and Europe in the late 60s and early 70s, beginning with… well, what do you call it? Krautrock, space rock, the Great Komische Music? It’s all German to me. In a little under two hours the guys cover the history of post-WW2 Germany (East and West), anti-Communist geopolitics, what you want to hear when you’re tripping, Pop Art, post-rock and playfulness, all in reference to the music of Can, NEU!, Ash Ra Tempel and more.

We hear about the characteristics of the German counterculture from which many of these players came, the various tendencies of revolutionary European socialism, the Green Party, and the problems of De-Nazification. We consider the avant-garde compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen, the impact of American acid rock, Ancient Egypt, and the many ways James Brown’s funk filtered into the motor rhythms of Dusseldorf 1971. More than anything, we survey a formidable body of work that is at once mesmeric and danceable - both things we like here at Love is the Message!

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

For rights reasons, we can only play excerpts of the tracks we discuss. However, if you'd like to listen along in full, with updates every episode, follow our Spotify playlist at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ZylmJYk5SxyyTI2OQp0iy

Books:

Tracklist:

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show, plus much more, sign up at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons episode, Tim and Jeremy continue their investigation into the musical cultures of Europe and the UK of the 1970s. For this show, pull on your wide-leg jeans, pop a dexy and talc the floor, because we’re talking Northern Soul. We hear about Mod culture, subcultural theory, Quadraphenia, and clubs like the Twisted Wheel, the Wigan Casino and the Blackpool Mecca. Tim and Jeremy excavate a particular wistful, romantic and nostalgic affect to the mid-60s Soul music that fuelled these all-night dances in the north of England, and consider to what extent the dancers were seeking escapism. We also hear about Rave, Jackie Chan and Paul Mason, so get out on the floor and keep the faith!

Tracklist:

Books:

Stephen Catterall and Keith Gildart - Keeping The Faith: A History of Northern Soul

Watch Paul Mason’s Keeping The Faith doc here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJsgkXdlkgs

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy are joined by writer, critic and academic Emily J. Lordi to discuss her 2020 book The Meaning of Soul (and much more besides). Emily talks about how she got into writing about Black music and the particular status Soul held in academia at the start of her career. The three consider changing historiographies of Black culture, talk over some key canonical texts, and contrast Soul with scholarship on Blues and Jazz.

Emily J. Lordi is a writer, professor, and cultural critic whose focus is African American literature and Black popular music. She is professor of English at Vanderbilt University and the author of three books: Black Resonance (2013), Donny Hathaway Live (2016), and The Meaning of Soul (2020).

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Check out the back catalog, reading lists, playlists and more at our website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy are joined by writer and scholar Mark Anthony Neal. Mark’s 1999 book ‘What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture’ is a crucial text for us here at Love is the Message, so it was fantastic to have him join the show to discuss his life and work in music. We discuss how the Black popular music of the past 60 years provides an insight into black socio-political life, via Gospel, Soul, Hip Hop and more. Mark explores how his upbringing in the South Bronx, from spending Sunday mornings with his parents to heading to the Apollo to see the Jackson 5 and Aretha, shaped his view of the Black public sphere. The interview provides Jem and Tim with the opportunity to trace their interest in the progressive potential of the 1970s back to the slave experience, the development of spirituals that became a channel for acts of resistance, the African American church’s reversioning of Christianity as a space of Black communion and expression, the importance of the jook and the rent party for expressions of Black pleasure. These spaces contributed to the shaping of an increasingly radical Black politics, from the burgeoning civil rights movement to Black Power, with rhythm and blues, soul and funk. We discuss the late-80s turn toward commodity culture within Hip Hop and consider what happened politically to black musicians into the 90s.

For patrons, Mark, Tim and Jeremy also discuss early disco, Black dance music and Saturday Night Fever; consider the aspirational, entrepreneurial mindset of many of the 70s pioneers; and the role of sampling as an act of Black archival work undertaken by caretakers of Black musical lineage, bringing us right up to the listening practices of today.

Mark Anthony Neal is the Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African and African-American Studies at Duke University host of the weekly webcast ‘Left of Black’ in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. He is the author of ‘What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture’, ‘Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic’, ‘Songs in the Keys of Black Life: A Rhythm and Blues Nation’, ‘New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity’ and ‘Looking for Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities’.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Become a patron to hear an extended version of this conversation by visiting patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

And listen along our Spotify playlist featuring music from the series at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ZylmJYk5SxyyTI2OQp0iy

Tracklist:

The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight 

The Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine

Eugene McDaniels - Headless Heroes

Eric B. And Rakim - Paid in Full

Ray Charles - (Night time Is) The Right Time

The Isley Brothers - Fight the Power

Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On

Sly & The Family Stone - Stand! 

Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues

LL Cool J - The Boomin' System

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show, plus many more hours of conversation, become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons episode Tim and Jeremy offer music on the theme of war and peace. They reflect on the ongoing conflict in Palestine, discussing the current unfolding crisis and taking a longer view on Israeli history. We hear about the ecstatic peace of John Coltrane, a lesser-known companion to Edwin Starr’s ‘War’, why Tim loves the Human League but New Order not so much, and consider the Promised Land.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy welcome writer and academic Gayle Wald to the show to tell us about the life and times of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Christened on social media ‘the queer black woman who invented rock’n’roll’, yet derided in 1970 as ‘a blacked up Elvis in drag’, Sister Rosetta’s story disrupts the received narrative of rock history. We hear about her religious upbringing, hitting the road with her evangelist mother; playing in the Cotton Club, the Decca Records studios, and from the centre field of a football stadium (in her wedding dress!); and being feted by Johnny Cash at the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.

Sister Rosetta’s story concerns misogyny, Pentecostalism, the evolution of the electric guitar, gossip, Little Richard and more, and Gayle is the perfect person to share it with us.

This is an edited version of the full interview. To hear more about Sister Rosetta as well as about Gayle’s book on the television programme ‘Soul!’ - a groundbreaking piece of public broadcasting that brought black thinkers, activists and musicians to the TV screen - and her forthcoming work on the eminent children’s musician Ella Jenkins, become a patron.

Gayle Wald  is a professor of English and American Studies at George Washington University and a Guggenheim Fellow. She is the author of 'Crossing the Line: Racial Passing in U.S. Literature and Culture’, ‘Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe’ and ‘It's Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television’.

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight - Didn’t It Rain
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Strange Things Happening Every Day
Mahalia Jackson - Move On Up a Little Higher
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Move On Up a Little Higher

Love is the Message is back for Series 5! After a few weeks off for the summer holidays, Tim and Jeremy return to the show for more music, dancing, sound systems and counterculture. This time round, we’re changing things up. As you’ll hear, we’re taking a break from our chronological narrative to bring in scholars and writers for a series of guest interviews, allowing us to both deepen our understanding of the late 60s and early 70s, and move around a bit more to histories we haven’t got to yet.

For patrons, we’ll also be recording a number of episodes on the European and British musical phenomena that were taking place at the same time as the Loft and its ecosystem, so hold tight for that.

But for this introductory episode, we’re sharing a ‘What We’re Listening To’ show, featuring ten tracks that Jem and Tim have had on the turntables this year. We’ll hear a rare Northern Soul cut from Tim, driving Brazilian funk, Carol King at her grooviest, plus spiritual jazz, ambient DnB, a conversation about Burning Man, and a pledge from Jem to keep playing Max Romeo until the rents go down.

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out the back catalog, reading lists, playlists and more at our website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Produced by Matt Huxley.

Tracklist:

This is it - the final episode of series 4, New York City 1975-76. For this show Jeremy and Tim are staying in the Bronx for more discussion around the links between Downtown party culture and the port hip-hop scene. We hear about the very first B Boys, what their moves looked like, and what sort of music they were breaking to. We explore how important performing or being watched was to these dancers, and the similarities and differences with losing yourself on a disco dance floor.

Tim and Jeremy unpack the class dimension of the early breaking scene, set against a backdrop of poverty and rising gang membership. They profile Africa Bambaataa, both as a DJ and an agent for social cohesion, and also introduce a young Grandmaster Flash - more on him to follow. Plus - Jeremy shares his own breaking experiences…

We will take a short break (no pun intended) for summer, and will be back in the autumn for Series 5. Thanks to everyone for your continued support as we reach our 60th main episode of the podcast, closing in on 100 hours of music, dance floors, sound systems and counterculture. Love is the message…

Become a patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Books:

Tracklist:

In the penultimate episode of our current series, Tim and Jeremy explore the earlier incarnations of what would become Hip-Hop. They begin by asking where the term comes from and interrogating the problematic historiography of the genre. The show then moves on to a detailed profile of the legendary DJ Cool Herc and his nascent rec room parties, alongside the contemporaneous mobile DJ culture, the Jazz poetry of Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets, the ‘merry-go-round’ mixing technique, and the historical and affective significance of the breakbeat for hip-hop and disco. Plus: the only evidence you’ll find of David Mancuso cutting breaks.

Become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Books and Films:

Wild Style (1982)

Stan Cohen - Folk Devils and Moral Panics

Tim Lawrence - Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor 1980-1983

Jeff Chang - Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

David Toop - The Rap Attack: African Jive to New York Hip HopTracklist:

Rare Earth - Get Ready

Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Last Poets - When the Revolution Comes

Incredible Bongo Band - Apache

Benny Goodman Orchestra - Sing Sing Sing

Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band - Scorpio

For this episode, Tim and Jeremy pull on their dancing shoes to explore why the Downtown dance floors of the early 1970s were such historically unique places. Situating the forms of dancing found at the Loft and the Sanctuary as part of a turn away from the forms of partner dancing covered in our previous episode, we hear how these new forms of dance deconstructed how people experienced their bodies socio-sexually and conceived of themselves as part of a newly self-conscious audience.

Tim and Jeremy discuss how developments in both sound, DJ practice, lighting and the now famous mirror ball contributed to a ‘polymorphously perverse’ experience for dancers. We also try to understand how people were actually dancing, ‘freakout gestures’, ‘lofting’, and how the ‘hustle’ reterritorialised disco for a suburban market.

Become a patron by visiting Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod

And check out our new website: https://www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist: