Defining the Discographic Self

Desert Island Discs in Context

Edited by Julie Brown, Nicholas Cook, and Stephen Cottrell

Proceedings of the British Academy

First study of a unique and popular broadcasting institution, Desert Island Discs
Will be published in Desert Island Discs' 75th anniversary year
Broadly interdisciplinary - exemplifies how cornerstone of media culture accrues wider cultural meaning
Personal 'spins' by participants in the programme complement the academic chapters

Defining the Discographic Self

Desert Island Discs in Context

Edited by Julie Brown, Nicholas Cook, and Stephen Cottrell

Proceedings of the British Academy

Description

The radio programme Desert Island Discs has run almost continuously since 1942, and represents a unique record of the changing place of music in British society. In 2011, recognising its iconic status, the BBC created an online archive that includes podcasts of all programmes from 1976 on, and many from earlier years. Based on this and extensive documentary evidence, Defining the Discographic Self: Desert Island Discs in Context for the first time brings together musicologists, sociologists, and media scholars in one volume. They reflect on the programme's significance, its position within the BBC and Britain's continually evolving media, and its relationship to other comparable programmes. Of particular interest are the meanings attributed to music in the programme by both castaways and interviewers, the ways in which music is invoked in the public presentation of self, the incorporation of music within personal narratives, and changes in musical tastes during the seven decades spanned by the programme. Scholarly chapters are complemented by former castaways' accounts of their appearances, which give fascinating insiders' views into how the programme is made and how its guests prepare for their involvement.

Defining the Discographic Self

Desert Island Discs in Context

Edited by Julie Brown, Nicholas Cook, and Stephen Cottrell

Proceedings of the British Academy

Preface, Philip Bohlman
1. Introduction, Julie Brown, Nicholas Cook, and Stephen Cottrell
Personal Spin A: Lemn Sissay (11 October 2015)
Desert Island Discs in Historical Perspective
2. The Cultural Baggage of the Desert Island, Will Straw
3. From Forces' Choice to Desert Island Discs: The BBC's Promotion of Personal Choice in Wartime, Jenny Doctor
4. Desert Island Discomorphoses: Listening Formations and the Material Cultures of Music, Kyle Devine
Personal Spin B: Derek Drescher (producer Desert Island Discs 1976-85)
Personal Spin C: Anthony Wall (director of Arena: Desert Island Discs, 1982)
Cultural Ideologies and the Politics of Sound
5. Adrift or Ashore? Desert Island Discs and Celebrity Culture, Jo Littler
6. Playlists and Prizes: Cultural Authority, Personal Taste, and Musical Value since the 1940s, Andrew Blake
7. What Does It Mean to Be Cultured? Desert Island Discs as an Ideological Archive, Simon Frith
Personal Spin D: Uta Frith (castaway 24 February 2013)
Personal Spin E: Angie Hobbs (castaway 1 February 2015)
Desert Island Discs and British Identities
8. Desert Island Discs and British Emotional Life, David Hendy
9. Punk, class, and taste in Desert Island Discs, Peter Webb
10. Peripheral Identities on Desert Island Discs and Beti a'I Phobol, Sarah Hill
Personal Spin F: Mary Beard (31 January 2010)
Personal Spin G: Nick Hornby (28 September 2003)
Narrativising and Caring for the Self
11. Music and Narrative Selves in Desert Island Discs, Tia DeNora
12. Desert Island Dislocation: Emotion, Nostalgia, and the Utility of Music, Julie Brown
13. Musicianly Lives Musically Told: Oral History, Classical Music, and Desert Island Discs, Stephen Cottrell
Personal Spin H: Debbie Wiseman (castaway 19 October 2014)
Personal Spin I: Steven Isserlis (castaway 2 December 2007)
Personal Spin J: Gavin Bryars (castaway 5 April 1998)
14. Afterword: Playing the Discographic Self, Nicholas Cook

Defining the Discographic Self

Desert Island Discs in Context

Edited by Julie Brown, Nicholas Cook, and Stephen Cottrell

Proceedings of the British Academy

Author Information

Julie Brown is Professor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Nicholas Cook is 1684 Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the British Academy.

Stephen Cottrell is Professor of Music at City, University of London.

Contributors:

Andrew Blake, University of Winchester
Julie Brown, Royal Holloway, University of London
Nicholas Cook, University of Cambridge
Stephen Cottrell, City, University of London
Kyle Devine, University of Oslo and University of Oxford
Jenny Doctor, University of Cincinnati
Simon Frith, University of Edinburgh
David Hendy, University of Sussex
Sarah Hill, Cardiff University
Jo Littler, City, University of London
Tia DeNora, Exeter University
Will Straw, McGill University
Peter Webb, University of the West of England