Gary Burns
Biographic Data
| ID | 3878404 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gary Burns |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gary |
| FAMILY NAME | Burns |
| SIGNATURE | BURNS G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Northern Illinois University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 63 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 58 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 62 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Joel Whitburn (1939–2022)
Joel Whitburn was probably the world’s leading expert on the Billboard record charts. That is an odd distinction, but The New York Times deemed Whitburn important enough that it published his obitu...
Walk Away Renee
When the Left Banke recorded “Walk Away Renee” in 1966, they could not have imagined that their baroque-pop lamentation would become an epitaph for Renee Good sixty years later. Good was shot and k...
Grace Notes
With this issue of Rock Music Studies and with “Dave Grohl, the Disco Flam, and the Un-Whitening of Alternative Rock” by Theo Cateforis, we are introducing “Grace Notes,” a new section that will fe
R. Serge Denisoff Award
One Chord Is Fine, Two Chords Are Pushing It, Three Chords and You’re Into Jazz
One and One and One Is Three
We are pleased to announce that Rock Music Studies has a new Editor, Martin Butler, PhD, Professor of American Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Oldenburg, Germany. He joins Gary Burns a
Ronald D. Cohen (1940–2022)
Greg Shaw Award
Improving Visual Inspection, Interrater Agreement, and Standardization with the Graphic Variability Quotient
R. Serge Denisoff Award
Journal of the Plague Year
This is a special issue of Rock Music Studies on the pandemic. The global crisis of 2020 has been such a shock to musicians and audiences that we wanted to publish something relevant and to do it a
Jerry Rodnitzky, 1936-2020
Fifty Years of Popular Music and Society
Chuck Berg, 1941–2016
No Guns at Geezer Rock
A Companion to Popular Culture
Trouble Comin’ Every Day
A journal called Rock Music Studies must focus on the music that never wanted to be studied; that sounded like mud on the AM transistor radio; that made your ears ring the next day after a night at...
Pat Browne, 1932–2013
Dick Clark, 1929–2012
The Complete Reprise Singles
Scott McKenzie, 1939–2012
What Should You Do with Your Collection When You Die
Sean Bonniwell, 1941–2011
The soundtrack of my adolescence consisted mainly of AM radio hits. Some of these, such as “Talk Talk,” a monstrous piece of protopunk by a band called the Music Machine, prompted me to buy the 45
Ray B. Browne, 1922–2009
Ray B. Browne, a member of the Editorial Board of Popular Music and Society, died 22 October 2009, following a brief illness. He was 87. Professor Browne was instrumental in the founding of Popular
This Is Tom Jones
Paul Brownstein (Producer) and Tom Jones (Executive Producer), 2007 Time Life M19269digi, three-DVD box set Extra Cheese, as the fanzine Bad Trip used to say—but I like my cheese. This Is Tom Jones
A typology of ‘hooks’ in popular records
What is a ‘hook’? Delson's Dictionary defines it as ‘[t]hat part of a song, sometimes the title or key lyric line, that keeps recurring’ (Hurst and Delson 1980, p. 58). According to songwriters Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, hooks are ‘the foundation of commercial songwriting, particularly hit-single writing’. Hooks may involve repetition of ‘one note or a series of notes ... [or of] a lyric phrase, full lines or an entire verse’. The hook is ‘wha…
Trends in lyrics in the annual top twenty songs in the United States, 1963–1972
(1983). Trends in lyrics in the annual top twenty songs in the United States, 1963–1972. Popular Music and Society: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 25-39
Popular Music, Television, and Generational Identity
Music, television, and video
A Companion to Popular Culture
Marilyn Manson and the apt pupils of Littleton
(1999). Marilyn Manson and the apt pupils of Littleton. Popular Music and Society: Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 3-8
Forum popular music and the Littleton massacre
Popular music and society and the evolving discipline of popular music studies
What Should You Do with Your Collection When You Die
Here It Comes Again, That Feeling
On February 14, 2008, Steven Kazmierczak shot up a geology class in Cole Hall at Northern Illinois University. My office is in the building next to Cole Hall. The lecture hall where the shooting oc
Greg Shaw, 1949–2004
Jan Berry (1941–2004)
Jan Berry became a tragic figure in rock music when he crashed his Corvette into a parked truck on April 12, 1966, in Los Angeles. Berry died on March 26, 2004, at the age of 62. Almost 38 years la
Fan Culture, the Internet, and the British Influence in Popular Music Studies
Visualising 1950s hits on Your Hit Parade
Although many TV shows from the 1950s seem very odd when viewed today, one of the most peculiar relics of all is Your Hit Parade. This is especially true in light of our current understanding of what it means to visualise a song on television. Although music video looked strange when first seen in the 1970s and early 1980s, it is now highly conventionalised and part of the cultural backdrop. By contrast, Your Hit Parade gropes uneasily to connect…
Audio reviews
Turn On the Music Machine. The Music Machine. Compact disc. Performance PERF 397CD (P.O. Box 156, New Brunswick NJ 08903–0156), 1993. Recorded 1966. Produced by. Brian Ross. Reissue produced by Stephen Kaplan and Arthur Marko. Beyond the Garage. The Bonniwell Music Machine. Compact disc. Sun‐dazed SC 11030 (P.O. Box 85, Coxsackie NY 12054), 1995. Recorded 1967–1968. Produced by Brian Ross and Sean Bonniwell. Reissue produced by Bob Irwin and Sean…
Where the Action Is
From 28 June 1965 to 31 March 1967 many American teenagers rushed home from school to watch Where the Action Is, a weekday ABC-TV program produced by Dick Clark Productions. The show aired at 3:30 p.m. central time and began with Freddy Cannon's song “Action”: “Oh, baby, come on, let me take you where the action is /... It's so neat to meet your baby where the action is.” For a half-hour, guest artists (usually two) lip-synched their hits and a s…
How music video has changed, and how it has not changed
(1994). How music video has changed, and how it has not changed: 1991 vs. 1985. Popular Music and Society: Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 67-79
Television And The Crisis in the Humanities
It is indeed a problem, perhaps even a crisis, that many Americans are igrorant of Tempest, the Civil War, the location of the Persian Gulf, the Constitution, or the chief justice of the Supreme Court. However, if conservative humanists continue to ostracize, scorn, and ignore both media studies and the media themselves, the result will not be a return to the good old days when people read Homer and listened to Bach, but an even darker veil of ig…
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Trends in lyrics in the annual top twenty songs in the United States, 1963–1972
(1983). Trends in lyrics in the annual top twenty songs in the United States, 1963–1972. Popular Music and Society: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 25-39
Music videos
David Bowie, Serious Moonlight. Music Media. (90 min.) The Everly Brothers, Reunion Concert. MGM/UA Home Video (60 min.) Midnight Star in Concert, directed by Lou Tyrrell, featuring Midnight Star, approximately 1 hour, 1983. Distributed by U.S.A. Home Video, 7920 Alabama Ave., Canoga Park, CA 91304. Songs included: “Freak‐a‐Zoid,” “No Parking on the Dance Floor,” “Wet My Whistle,” “Electricity,” “Slow Jam,” “Night Rider,” “Playmates.”
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Music, television, and video
A typology of ‘hooks’ in popular records
What is a ‘hook’? Delson's Dictionary defines it as ‘[t]hat part of a song, sometimes the title or key lyric line, that keeps recurring’ (Hurst and Delson 1980, p. 58). According to songwriters Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, hooks are ‘the foundation of commercial songwriting, particularly hit-single writing’. Hooks may involve repetition of ‘one note or a series of notes ... [or of] a lyric phrase, full lines or an entire verse’. The hook is ‘wha…
The Myth of the Beatles
Research Article| April 01 1987 The Myth of the Beatles Gary Burns Gary Burns Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google South Atlantic Quarterly (1987) 86 (2): 169–180. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-86-2-169 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Gary Burns; The Myth of the Beatles. South Atlantic Quarterly 1 April 1987; 86 (2): 169–180. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00…
Television And The Crisis in the Humanities
It is indeed a problem, perhaps even a crisis, that many Americans are igrorant of Tempest, the Civil War, the location of the Persian Gulf, the Constitution, or the chief justice of the Supreme Court. However, if conservative humanists continue to ostracize, scorn, and ignore both media studies and the media themselves, the result will not be a return to the good old days when people read Homer and listened to Bach, but an even darker veil of ig…
Letters
What's Goin’ on
How music video has changed, and how it has not changed
(1994). How music video has changed, and how it has not changed: 1991 vs. 1985. Popular Music and Society: Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 67-79
Formula and distinctiveness in movie‐based music videos
Audio reviews
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Angel Records 7243 8 52223 2 0. Angel Records, 810 Seventh Avenue, New York, 10019. Jolson. The Musical. CASTCD 56. First Night Records, 2/3 Fitzroy Mews, London WP 5DQ, Great Britain. King Mackerel and The Blues Are Running. SHCD‐8503. Sugar Hill Records, Inc., PO Box 55300, Durham, NC 27717–5300. Constance Demby. JEterna. Compact disc. Hearts of Space HS11051–2. 1995. P.O. Box 31321, San Francisco…
Popular Music, Television, and Generational Identity
Audio reviews
Turn On the Music Machine. The Music Machine. Compact disc. Performance PERF 397CD (P.O. Box 156, New Brunswick NJ 08903–0156), 1993. Recorded 1966. Produced by. Brian Ross. Reissue produced by Stephen Kaplan and Arthur Marko. Beyond the Garage. The Bonniwell Music Machine. Compact disc. Sun‐dazed SC 11030 (P.O. Box 85, Coxsackie NY 12054), 1995. Recorded 1967–1968. Produced by Brian Ross and Sean Bonniwell. Reissue produced by Bob Irwin and Sean…
Popular music and society and the evolving discipline of popular music studies
The R. Serge Denisoff award
Where the Action Is
From 28 June 1965 to 31 March 1967 many American teenagers rushed home from school to watch Where the Action Is, a weekday ABC-TV program produced by Dick Clark Productions. The show aired at 3:30 p.m. central time and began with Freddy Cannon's song “Action”: “Oh, baby, come on, let me take you where the action is /... It's so neat to meet your baby where the action is.” For a half-hour, guest artists (usually two) lip-synched their hits and a s…
Waiting for a train
Current bibliography
Visualising 1950s hits on Your Hit Parade
Although many TV shows from the 1950s seem very odd when viewed today, one of the most peculiar relics of all is Your Hit Parade. This is especially true in light of our current understanding of what it means to visualise a song on television. Although music video looked strange when first seen in the 1970s and early 1980s, it is now highly conventionalised and part of the cultural backdrop. By contrast, Your Hit Parade gropes uneasily to connect…
Marilyn Manson and the apt pupils of Littleton
(1999). Marilyn Manson and the apt pupils of Littleton. Popular Music and Society: Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 3-8
Forum popular music and the Littleton massacre
Audio reviews
Chris Gaines. Chris Gaines’ Greatest Hits. Capitol 20051. 3322 West End Ave., Nashville, TN 37203 Sagittarius. Present Tense. Compact disc. Sundazed SC 11053. Available from Sundazed Music, P.O. Box 85, Coxsackie, NY 12051
Audio reviews
Bloomed. Richard Buckner. Dejadisc 3218. Devotion + Doubt. Richard Buckner. MCA 11564. Since. Richard Buckner. MCA 11780. The Salesman and Bernadette. Vic Chesnutt. Capricorn 538–239–2.1100 Spring St., Atlanta, GA 30309. The Virginian. Neko Case and Her Boyfriends. Bloodshot 028. 912 W. Addison, Chicago, IL 60613. What I Deserve. Kelly Willis. Rykodisc RCD 10458. 27 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970. Black Music. Chocolate Genius. V2 63881–27009–2. 1…
Current bibliography #2
Art (56 works) · Music History and Culture (28 works) · Visual arts (22 works) · History (20 works) · Computer Science (18 works) · Art history (17 works) · History (17 works) · Popular music (11 works) · Advertising (10 works) · Business (10 works)