I Always Remember That Moment

Peak Music Experiences as Epiphanies

Bibliographic Data

ID2322641
AuthorsBen Green (0000-0002-3382-8707, Griffith University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume50
Issue2
Pages333-348
Publication date2016-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0038038514565835
OpenAlexW2317290995
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited30

The sociological study of music consumption has tended to focus on general and typical experience instead of discrete or extraordinary experiences, consistently with a wider lack of biographical analysis. However, a popular topic among music fans is the phenomenon of peak music experiences: specific experiences involving music that are especially memorable, influential and even pivotal for the individuals involved. Drawing on the results of a pilot study conducted in Brisbane, Australia, this article shows that participants in the city's indie music scene cite peak music experiences as central to their biographical narratives of inspiration, influence, conversion and motivation. These experiences make visible the more subtle processes by which musical meaning, taste and identity are constantly made and remade, as well as showing how encounters with music can affect subjectivities in an enduring way. The listeners are conscious of these processes, reflect on them and even try to create them

Affect · Consumption · Indie film · Phenomenon · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Music History and Culture · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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