Company information acct 370 excel projectjohnson & johnsoncompany
1. Company InformationACCT 370 Excel ProjectJohnson &
JohnsonCompany InformationCompany NameJohnson &
JohnsonTicker SymbolJNJIndustryPharmaceuticals, Consumer
products, Medical DevicesProducts and Services OfferedBeauty,
Over The Counter Pharmaceuticals, Baby Care, Oral Care,
Women's Health, Wound CareImmunology, Infectious Disease
Vaccines, Neuroscience, Oncology, Cardiovascular Metabolic
DiseasesOrthopaedic, Surgery, Cardiovascular, Diabetes care,
Vision CareMajor CompetitorsPfizer, Merck, Proctor & Gamble,
Bristol Myers Squibb, Unilever
Historical Income StatementsJOHNSON & JOHNSON AND
SUBSIDIARIESCONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF
COMPREHENSIVE INCOMEAt December 30, 2018 and
December 30, 2017(Dollars in Millions)
(Note 1)$2,018.00$2,017.00$2,016.00Net
earnings$15,297.00$1,300.00$16,540.00Other comprehensive
income (loss), net of tax Foreign currency translation-
$1,518.00$1,696.00-$612.00 Securities: (1) Unrealized
holding gain (loss) arising during period-$1.00$159.00-
$52.00 Reclassifications to earnings$1.00-$338.00-
$141.00 Net change$0.00-$179.00-$193.00 Employee
benefit plans: Prior service credit (cost), net of
amortization-$44.00$2.00$21.00 Gain (loss), net of
amortization-$56.00$29.00-$862.00 Effect of exchange
rates$92.00-$201.00$159.00 Net change-$8.00-$170.00-
$682.00 Derivatives & hedges: Unrealized gain (loss)
arising during period-$73.00-$4.00-
$359.00 Reclassifications to earnings-
$192.00$359.00$110.00 Net change-$265.00$355.00-
$249.00Other comprehensive income (loss)-
$1,791.00$1,702.00-$1,736.00Comprehensive
income$13,506.00$3,002.00$14,804.00
Historical Balance SheetsJOHNSON & JOHNSON AND
SUBSIDIARIESCONSOLIDATED BALANCE
2. SHEETSAt December 30, 2018 and December 30, 2017(Dollars
in Millions Except Share and Per Share Amounts)
(Note 1)201820172016AssetsCurrent assetsCash and cash
equivalents (Notes 1 and 2)$ 18,107.00$ 17,824.00$
18,972.00Marketable securities (Notes 1 and 2)$ 1,580.00$
472.00$ 22,935.00Accounts receivable trade, less allowances
for doubtful accounts $248 (2017, $291)$ 14,098.00$
13,490.00$ 11,699.00Inventories (Notes 1 and 3)$ 8,599.00$
8,765.00$ 8,144.00Prepaid expenses and other receivables$
2,699.00$ 2,537.00$ 3,282.00Assets held for sale (Note 20)$
950.00$ - 0$ - 0Total current assets$ 46,033.00$
43,088.00$ 65,032.00Property, plant and equipment, net
(Notes 1 and 4)$ 17,035.00$ 17,005.00$
15,912.00Intangible assets, net (Notes 1 and 5)$ 47,611.00$
53,228.00$ 26,876.00Goodwill (Notes 1 and 5)$ 30,453.00$
31,906.00$ 22,805.00Deferred taxes on income (Note 8)$
7,640.00$ 7,105.00$ 6,148.00Other assets$ 4,182.00$
4,971.00$ 4,435.00Total assets$ 152,954.00$ 157,303.00$
141,208.00Liabilities and Shareholders’ EquityCurrent
liabilitiesLoans and notes payable (Note 7)$ 2,796.00$
3,906.00$ 4,684.00Accounts payable$ 7,537.00$ 7,310.00$
6,918.00Accrued liabilities$ 7,601.00$ 7,304.00$
5,635.00Accrued rebates, returns and promotions$ 9,380.00$
7,210.00$ 5,403.00Accrued compensation and employee
related obligations$ 3,098.00$ 2,953.00$ 2,676.00Accrued
taxes on income (Note 8)$ 818.00$ 1,854.00$ 971.00Total
current liabilities$ 31,230.00$ 30,537.00$ 26,287.00Long-
term debt (Note 7)$ 27,684.00$ 30,675.00$
22,442.00Deferred taxes on income (Note 8)$ 7,506.00$
8,368.00$ 2,910.00Employee related obligations (Notes 9 and
10)$ 9,951.00$ 10,074.00$ 9,615.00Long-term taxes
payable (Note 8)$ 8,242.00$ 8,472.00$ 9,536.00Other
liabilities$ 8,589.00$ 9,017.00$ - 0Total liabilities$
93,202.00$ 97,143.00$ 70,790.00Shareholders’
equityPreferred stock — without par value (authorized and
unissued 2,000,000 shares)$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Common stock —
3. par value $1.00 per share (Note 12) (authorized
4,320,000,000 shares; issued 3,119,843,000 shares)$ 3,120.00$
3,120.00$ 3,120.00Accumulated other comprehensive income
(loss) (Note 13)$ -15,222.00$ -13,199.00$ -
14,901.00Retained earnings$ 106,216.00$ 101,793.00$
110,551.00$ 94,114.00$ 91,714.00$ 98,770.00Less:
common stock held in treasury, at cost (Note 12)
(457,519,000 shares and 437,318,000 shares)$ 34,362.00$
31,554.00$ 28,352.00Total shareholders’ equity$ 59,752.00$
60,160.00$ 70,418.00Total liabilities and shareholders’
equity$ 152,954.00$ 157,303.00$ 141,208.00
Historical Statement of Cash FlJOHNSON & JOHNSON AND
SUBSIDIARIESCONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH
FLOWSAt December 30, 2018 and December 30, 2017(Dollars
in Millions) (Note 1)201820172016Cash flows from operating
activitiesNet earnings$ 15,297.00$ 1,300.00$
16,540.00Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to cash flows
from operating activities:Depreciation and amortization of
property and intangibles$ 6,929.00$ 5,642.00$
3,754.00Stock based compensation$ 978.00$ 962.00$
878.00Asset write-downs$ 1,258.00$ 795.00$ 283.00Gain
on sale of assets/businesses$ -1,217.00$ -1,307.00$ -
563.00Deferred tax provision$ -1,016.00$ 2,406.00$ -
341.00Accounts receivable allowances$ -31.00$ 17.00$ -
11.00Changes in assets and liabilities, net of effects from
acquisitions and divestitures:Increase in accounts receivable$ -
1,185.00$ -633.00$ -1,065.00(Increase)/Decrease in
inventories$ -644.00$ 581.00$ -249.00Increase in accounts
payable and accrued liabilities$ 3,951.00$ 2,725.00$
656.00Increase in other current and non-current assets$ -
275.00$ -411.00$ -529.00(Decrease)/Increase in other current
and non-current liabilities$ -1,844.00$ 8,979.00$ -
586.00Net cash flows from operating activities$ 22,201.00$
21,056.00$ 18,767.00Cash flows from investing
activitiesAdditions to property, plant and equipment$ -
3,670.00$ -3,279.00$ -3,226.00Proceeds from the disposal of
4. assets/businesses, net$ 3,203.00$ 1,832.00$
1,267.00Acquisitions, net of cash acquired (Note 20)$ -
899.00$ -35,151.00$ -4,509.00Purchases of investments$ -
5,626.00$ -6,153.00$ -33,950.00Sales of investments$
4,289.00$ 28,117.00$ 35,780.00Other (primarily
intangibles)$ -464.00$ -234.00$ -123.00Net cash used by
investing activities$ -3,167.00$ -14,868.00$ -4,761.00Cash
flows from financing activitiesDividends to shareholder s$ -
9,494.00$ -8,943.00$ -8,621.00Repurchase of common
stock$ -5,868.00$ -6,358.00$ -8,979.00Proceeds from short-
term debt$ 80.00$ 869.00$ 111.00Retirement of short-term
debt$ -2,479.00$ -1,330.00$ -2,017.00Proceeds from long-
term debt, net of issuance costs$ 5.00$ 8,992.00$
12,004.00Retirement of long-term debt$ -1,555.00$ -
1,777.00$ -2,223.00Proceeds from the exercise of stock
options/employee withholding tax on stock awards, net$
949.00$ 1,062.00$ 1,189.00Other$ -148.00$ -188.00$ -
15.00Net cash used by financing activities$ -18,510.00$ -
7,673.00$ -8,551.00Effect of exchange rate changes on cash
and cash equivalents$ -241.00$ 337.00$ -
215.00Increase/(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents$
283.00$ -1,148.00$ 5,240.00Cash and cash equivalents,
beginning of year (Note 1)$ 17,824.00$ 18,972.00$
13,732.00Cash and cash equivalents, end of year (Note 1)$
18,107.00$ 17,824.00$ 18,972.00Supplemental cash flow
dataCash paid during the year for:Interest$ 1,049.00$
960.00$ 730.00Interest, net of amount capitalized$ 963.00$
866.00$ 628.00Income taxes$ 4,570.00$ 3,312.00$
2,843.00
Uniliver Inc.StaUniliver Consolidated Income Statement - EUR
(€) € in MillionsAt December 30, 2018 and December 30,
201712 Months EndedDec. 31, 2018Dec. 31, 2017Dec. 31,
2016Profit or loss [abstract]Turnover$ 51,980.00$
50,982.00$ 53,715.00Operating profit$ 8,708.00$
12,639.00$ 8,957.00Which includes non-underlying item
credits/(charges) of$ -1,239.00$ 3,176.00$ -543.00Net
5. finance costs$ -627.00$ -608.00$ -1,004.00Finance income$
224.00$ 135.00$ 157.00Finance costs$ -821.00$ -718.00$
-683.00Pensions and similar obligations$ -30.00$ -25.00$ -
96.00Net finance cost non-underlying items$ -382.00Non-
underlying item net monetary gain/(loss) arising from
hyperinflationary economies$ 32.00$ 122.00Share of net
profit/(loss) of joint ventures and associates$ 176.00$
185.00$ 155.00Which includes non-underlying item
credits/(charges) of$ 3.00$ 32.00Other income/(loss) from
non-current investments and associates$ 22.00$ 18.00Profit
before taxation$ 8,289.00$ 12,360.00$ 8,126.00Taxation$
-2,263.00$ -2,572.00$ -1,670.00Which includes tax impact of
non-underlying items of$ 113.00$ -288.00$ 655.00Net
profit$ 6,026.00$ 9,788.00$ 6,456.00Attributable to:Non-
controlling interests$ 401.00$ 419.00$ 433.00Shareholders'
equity$ 5,625.00$ 9,369.00$ 6,023.00Combined earnings
per shareBasic earnings per share (€)$ 2.15$ 3.49$
2.15Diluted earnings per share (€)$ 2.14$ 3.48$ 2.14
uniliver BALUniliver Consolidated Balance Sheet - EUR (€) €
in MillionsDec. 31, 2018Dec. 31, 2017Dec. 31,
2016At December 30, 2018 and December 30, 2017Non-current
assetsGoodwill$ 18,067.00$ 17,341.00$
16,881.00Intangible assets$ 12,962.00$ 12,152.00$
11,520.00Property, plant and equipment$ 12,062.00$
12,088.00$ 12,270.00Pension asset for funded schemes in
surplus$ 2,422.00$ 1,728.00$ 2,173.00Deferred tax assets$
1,336.00$ 1,152.00$ 1,118.00Financial assets$ 874.00$
642.00$ 675.00Other non-current assets$ 653.00$ 530.00$
441.00Total non-current assets$ 48,376.00$ 45,633.00$
45,078.00Current assetsInventories$ 4,164.00$ 4,301.00$
3,962.00Trade and other current receivables$ 6,695.00$
6,482.00$ 5,219.00Current tax assets$ 397.00$ 472.00$
488.00Cash and cash equivalents$ 4,185.00$ 3,230.00$
3,317.00Other financial assets$ 907.00$ 874.00$
770.00Assets held for sale$ 82.00$ 119.00$
3,224.00Current assets$ 16,430.00$ 15,478.00$
6. 16,980.00Total assets$ 64,806.00$ 61,111.00$
62,058.00Current liabilitiesFinancial liabilities$ 4,691.00$
3,613.00$ 8,378.00Trade payables and other current
liabilities$ 14,768.00$ 14,457.00$ 13,426.00Current tax
liabilities$ 898.00$ 1,445.00$ 1,088.00Provisions$
620.00$ 624.00$ 525.00Liabilities held for sale$ 1.00$
11.00$ 170.00Total current liabilities$ 20,978.00$
20,150.00$ 23,587.00Non-current liabilitiesFinancial
liabilities$ 23,566.00$ 23,125.00$ 18,039.00Non-current
tax liabilities$ 182.00$ 174.00$ 118.00Pensions and post-
retirement healthcare liabilities:Funded schemes in deficit$
1,157.00$ 1,209.00$ 1,225.00Unfunded schemes$ 1,461.00$
1,393.00$ 1,509.00Provisions$ 664.00$ 697.00$
794.00Deferred tax liabilities$ 2,573.00$ 1,900.00$
1,888.00Other non-current liabilities$ 339.00$ 346.00$
700.00Total non current liabilities$ 29,942.00$ 28,844.00$
24,273.00Total liabilities$ 50,920.00$ 48,994.00$
47,860.00Shareholders' equityCalled up share capital$ 420.00$
464.00$ 484.00Share premium account$ 134.00$ 129.00$
130.00Other reserves$ -5,574.00$ -15,218.00$ -
13,587.00Retained profit$ 18,212.00$ 26,022.00$
26,413.00Total equity attributable to owners of parent$
13,192.00$ 11,397.00$ 13,440.00Non-controlling interests$
694.00$ 720.00$ 758.00Total equity$ 13,886.00$
12,117.00$ 14,198.00Total liabilities and equity$ 64,806.00$
61,111.00$ 62,058.00
Uniliver. CashflowUniliver Consolidated Cash Flow Statement -
EUR (€) € in Millions12 Months EndedDec. 31, 2018Dec. 31,
2017Dec. 31, 2016Statement of cash flows [abstract]Net profit$
6,026.00$ 9,788.00$ 6,456.00Taxation$ 2,263.00$
2,572.00$ 1,670.00Share of net (profit)/loss of joint
ventures/associates and other (income)/loss from non-
current investments and associates$ -176.00$ -207.00$ -
173.00Net monetary (gain)/loss arising from hyperinflationary
economies$ -32.00$ -122.00Net finance costs$ 627.00$
608.00$ 1,004.00Operating profit$ 8,708.00$ 12,639.00$
7. 8,957.00Depreciation, amortisation and impairment$
1,982.00$ 2,216.00$ 2,025.00Changes in working capital:$
-9.00$ -793.00$ -68.00Inventories$ 313.00$ -471.00$ -
104.00Trade and other receivables$ -445.00$ -1,298.00$ -
506.00Trade payables and other liabilities$ 123.00$ 976.00$
542.00Pensions and similar obligations less payments$ -
260.00$ -128.00$ -904.00Provisions less payments$ 7.00$
55.00$ 200.00Elimination of (profits)/losses on disposals$
60.00$ -4,313.00$ -298.00Non-cash charge for share-based
compensation$ 151.00$ 196.00$ 284.00Other adjustments$
2.00$ -260.00$ -153.00Cash flow from operating activities$
10,641.00$ 9,612.00$ 10,043.00Income tax paid$ -
2,532.00$ -2,294.00$ -2,164.00Net cash flow from operating
activities$ 8,109.00$ 7,318.00$ 7,879.00Interest received$
146.00$ 110.00$ 154.00Purchase of intangible assets$ -
210.00$ -203.00$ -158.00Purchase of property, plant and
equipment$ -1,316.00$ -1,329.00$ -1,509.00Disposal of
property, plant and equipment$ 97.00$ 108.00$
46.00Acquisition of businesses and investments in joint
ventures and associates$ -1,122.00$ -1,336.00$ -
4,896.00Disposal of businesses, joint ventures and associates$
177.00$ 7,093.00$ 561.00Acquisition of other non-current
investments$ -160.00$ -94.00$ -317.00Disposal of other
non-current investments$ 55.00$ 151.00$ 251.00Dividends
from joint ventures, associates and other non-current
investments$ 164.00$ 154.00$ 138.00(Purchase)/sale of
financial assets$ -68.00$ -10.00$ -149.00Net cash flow
(used in)/from investing activities$ -2,237.00$ 4,644.00$ -
5,879.00Dividends paid on ordinary share capital$ -4,209.00$
-4,066.00$ -3,916.00Interest paid$ -694.00$ -571.00$ -
574.00Net change in short-term borrowings$ 337.00$ -
4,026.00$ 2,695.00Additional financial liabilities$ 5,911.00$
10,595.00$ 8,851.00Repayment of financial liabilities$ -
4,912.00$ -6,594.00$ -2,604.00Capital element of lease
payments$ -435.00$ -481.00$ -497.00Buyback of preference
shares$ -448.00Repurchase of shares$ -6,020.00$ -
8. 5,014.00Other movements on treasury shares$ -201.00$ -
257.00$ -204.00Other financing activities$ -464.00$ -
693.00$ -309.00Net cash flow (used in)/from financing
activities$ -4,667.00$ -12,113.00$ -2,020.00Net
increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents$ 1,205.00$ -
151.00$ -20.00Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of
the year$ 3,090.00$ 3,169.00$ 3,198.00Effect of foreign
exchange rate changes$ -179.00$ 72.00$ -9.00Cash and cash
equivalents at the end of the year$ 4,116.00$ 3,090.00$
3,169.00
Pfizer Inc.StatementPFIZER CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS
OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOMEAt December 30, 2018 and
December 30, 2017US$ in millions20182017201612 months
ended:12/31/1812/31/1712/31/16Revenues$ 53,647.00$
52,546.00$ 52,824.00Cost of sales$ -11,248.00$ -
11,240.00$ -12,329.00Gross profit$ 42,399.00$ 41,306.00$
40,495.00Selling, informational and administrative expenses$
-14,455.00$ -14,784.00$ -14,837.00Research and
development expenses$ -8,006.00$ -7,657.00$ -
7,872.00Amortization of intangible assets$ -4,893.00$ -
4,758.00$ -4,056.00Restructuring charges and certain
acquisition-related costs$ -1,044.00$ -487.00$ -
1,724.00Operating income$ 14,001.00$ 13,620.00$
12,006.00Gain on completion of Consumer Healthcare JV
transaction$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Interest income$ 333.00$
391.00$ 470.00Interest expense$ -1,316.00$ -1,270.00$ -
1,186.00Net interest expense$ -983.00$ -879.00$ -
716.00Foreign currency loss related to Venezuela$ - 0$ - 0$
- 0Royalty-related income$ 495.00$ 499.00$ 905.00Net
gains on asset disposals$ 71.00$ 343.00$ 171.00Net gains
recognized during the period on equity securities$ 586.00$ -
0$ - 0Net realized losses on sales of investments in debt
securities$ -141.00$ - 0$ - 0Income from collaborations,
out-licensing arrangements and sales of compound/product
rights$ 488.00$ - 0$ - 0Net periodic benefit credits (costs)
other than service costs$ 288.00$ - 0$ - 0Certain legal
9. matters, net$ -157.00$ -240.00$ -510.00Certain asset
impairments$ -3,115.00$ -395.00$ -1,447.00Business and
legal entity alignment costs$ -4.00$ -71.00$ -261.00Net
losses on early retirement of debt$ -3.00$ -999.00$ -
312.00GSK Consumer Healthcare JV equity method income$ -
0$ - 0$ - 0Other, net$ 359.00$ 427.00$ -1,485.00Other
income (deductions), net$ -2,116.00$ -1,315.00$ -
3,655.00Income from continuing operations before (provision)
benefit for taxes on income$ 11,885.00$ 12,305.00$
8,351.00(Provision) benefit for taxes on income$ -706.00$
9,048.00$ -1,122.00Income from continuing operations$
11,179.00$ 21,353.00$ 7,229.00Income (loss) from
discontinued operations, net of tax$ 9.00$ -1.00$ 16.00Gain
(loss) on disposal of discontinued operations, net of tax$ - 0$
3.00$ 1.00Discontinued operations, net of tax$ 9.00$ 2.00$
17.00Net income before allocation to noncontrolling i nterests$
11,188.00$ 21,355.00$ 7,246.00Net income attributable to
noncontrolling interests$ -35.00$ -47.00$ -31.00Net income
attributable to Pfizer Inc.$ 11,153.00$ 21,308.00$
7,215.00Preferred stock dividends, net of tax$ -1.00$ -1.00$
-1.00Net income attributable to Pfizer Inc. common
shareholders$ 11,152.00$ 21,307.00$ 7,214.00Based on:
10-K (filing date: 2020-02-27),
10-K (filing date: 2019-02-28),
10-K (filing date: 2018-02-22),
10-K (filing date: 2017-02-23),
10-K (filing date: 2016-02-29).
Pfizer Balance SheetConsolidated Balance Sheet2018Nov-
17Nov-16PFIZER CONSOLIDATED BALANCE
SHEETSAt December 30, 2018 and December 30,
2017EQUITIES AND
LIABILITIES201820172016SHAREHOLDER'S FUNDSEquity
Share Capital$ 29.84$ 29.84$ 29.84Preference Share
Capital$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Total Share Capital$ 29.84$ 29.84$
29.84Revaluation Reserves$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Reserves and
Surplus$ 871.25$ 619.88$ 375.89Total Reserves and
11. - 0$ - 0Foreign Currency Monetary Item Translation
Difference A/C$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0CURRENT ASSETSCurrent
Investments$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Inventories$ 124.99$ 95.85$
99.31Trade Receivables$ 60.31$ 61.69$ 69.48Cash And
Cash Equivalents$ 543.65$ 479.91$ 306.94Short Term
Loans And Advances$ 261.96$ 142.69$
70.90OtherCurrentAssets$ 0.50$ 0.50$ 4.80Total Current
Assets$ 991.41$ 780.64$ 551.43Total Assets$ 1,100.65$
871.97$ 648.15OTHER ADDITIONAL
INFORMATIONCONTINGENT LIABILITIES,
COMMITMENTSContingent Liabilities$ 68.69$ 105.72$
59.34Other Earnings$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0BONUS DETAILSBonus
Equity Share Capital$ 19.11$ 19.11$ 19.11NON-CURRENT
INVESTMENTSNon-Current Investments Quoted Market
Value$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Non-Current Investments Unquoted
Book Value$ 0.50$ 0.50$ - 0CURRENT
INVESTMENTSCurrent Investments Quoted Market Value$ -
0$ - 0$ - 0Current Investments Unquoted Book Value$ - 0$
- 0$ - 0
Pfizer Cash Flow StaPFIZER CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS
OF CASH FLOWSAt December 30, 2018 and December 30,
2017US$ in millions20182017201612 months
ended:12/31/1812/31/1712/31/16Net income before allocation to
noncontrolling interests$ 11,188.00$ 21,355.00$
7,246.00Depreciation and amortization$ 6,384.00$ 6,269.00$
5,757.00Asset write-offs and impairments$ 3,398.00$
634.00$ 1,613.00Foreign currency loss related to Venezuela$
- 0$ - 0$ - 0Loss on disposal of discontinued operations$ -
0$ - 0$ - 0TCJA impact$ -596.00$ -10,660.00$ - 0Gain
on completion of Consumer Healthcare JV transaction, net of
cash conveyed$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Deferred taxes from continuing
operations$ -2,205.00$ -2,410.00$ -700.00Deferred taxes
from discontinued operations$ - 0$ - 0$ - 0Share-based
compensation expense$ 949.00$ 840.00$ 691.00Benefit plan
contributions in excess of expense$ -1,095.00$ -961.00$ -
712.00Other adjustments, net$ -1,270.00$ 107.00$
12. 1,921.00Trade accounts receivable$ -644.00$ 259.00$ -
134.00Inventories$ -717.00$ -357.00$ 365.00Other assets$
-16.00$ -31.00$ -60.00Trade accounts payable$ 431.00$
46.00$ 871.00Other liabilities$ 98.00$ -67.00$ -
223.00Other tax accounts, net$ -78.00$ 1,446.00$ -
734.00Changes in assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions and
divestitures$ -926.00$ 1,296.00$ 85.00Adjustments to
reconcile net income before allocation to noncontrolling
interests to net cash provided by operating activities$
4,639.00$ -4,885.00$ 8,655.00Net cash provided by operating
activities$ 15,827.00$ 16,470.00$ 15,901.00Purchases of
property, plant and equipment$ -2,042.00$ -1,956.00$ -
1,823.00Purchases of short-term investments$ -11,677.00$ -
14,596.00$ -15,957.00Proceeds from redemptions/sales of
short-term investments$ 17,581.00$ 10,307.00$
29,436.00Net (purchases of) proceeds from redemptions/sales of
short-term investments with original maturities of three months
or less$ -3,917.00$ 2,058.00$ -4,218.00Purchases of long-
term investments$ -1,797.00$ -3,537.00$ -8,011.00Proceeds
from redemptions/sales of long-term investments$ 6,244.00$
3,594.00$ 11,254.00Acquisitions of businesses, net of cash
acquired$ - 0$ -1,000.00$ -18,368.00Acquisitions of
intangible assets$ -154.00$ -261.00$ -176.00Other
investing activities, net$ 287.00$ 650.00$ 52.00Net cash
(used in) provided by investing activities$ 4,525.00$ -
4,741.00$ -7,811.00Proceeds from short-term borrowings$
3,711.00$ 8,464.00$ 7,472.00Principal payments on short-
term borrowings$ -4,437.00$ -9,990.00$ -5,102.00Net
proceeds from (payments on) short-term borrowings with
original maturities of three months or less$ -1,617.00$
1,401.00$ -3,084.00Proceeds from issuances of long-term
debt$ 4,974.00$ 5,274.00$ 10,976.00Principal payments on
long-term debt$ -3,566.00$ -6,154.00$ -7,689.00Purchases
of common stock$ -12,198.00$ -5,000.00$ -5,000.00Cash
dividends paid$ -7,978.00$ -7,659.00$ -7,317.00Proceeds
from exercise of stock options$ 1,259.00$ 862.00$
13. 1,019.00Other financing activities, net$ -589.00$ -233.00$ -
196.00Net cash used in financing activities$ -20,441.00$ -
13,035.00$ -8,921.00Effect of exchange-rate changes on cash
and cash equivalents and restricted cash and cash equivalents$
-116.00$ 53.00$ -215.00Net increase (decrease) in cash and
cash equivalents and restricted cash and cash equivalents$ -
205.00$ -1,253.00$ -1,046.00Cash and cash equivalents and
restricted cash and cash equivalents, at beginning of period$
1,430.00$ 2,595.00$ 3,641.00Cash and cash equivalents and
restricted cash and cash equivalents, at end of period$
1,225.00$ 1,342.00$ 2,595.00Based on:
10-K (filing date: 2020-02-27),
10-K (filing date: 2019-02-28),
10-K (filing date: 2018-02-22),
10-K (filing date: 2017-02-23),
10-K (filing date: 2016-02-29).
Fanacial statement AnalysisJOHNSON & JOHNSON AND
SUBSIDIARIESCOMPETITORS RATIO
ANALYSISUniliverPfizerIndustry AverageRatios
201820172016201820172016201820172016Liquidity Current
ratio1.471.412.470.780.770.725.043.592.302.06Quick
Ratio4.624.865.060.580.550.550.790.790.702.06Leverage
Ratios - 0Debt to total assets
ratio0.610.620.500.790.800.770.180.250.370.54Debt to equity
ratio1.561.611.013.674.043.370.220.340.601.82Long-term debt
to equity 0.460.510.320.460.470.390.000.010.000.29Times
interest earned ratio166.27- 6.47104.0320.6729.5018.77-
319.66- 454.36- 233.74- 75.00Activity Ratios- 0Inventory
Turnover1.780.152.0312.4811.8513.56- 89.99- 117.27-
124.15- 32.17Fixed asset turnover
0.900.081.041.071.121.194.915.755.462.39…
Sociology
2016, Vol. 50(2) 333 –348
15. these processes, reflect on them
and even try to create them.
Keywords
biography, consumption, epiphanies, indie music, peak music
experiences, taste
As sociology has recognised that cultural meanings and
identities are produced through
the continual, complex interaction of various influences, in
relation to which people pos-
sess awareness and agency, the detail of subjective, lived
experience has come to
the fore. Study that is close to experience has proved especially
important in the sociol-
ogy of music, as the very malleability of music’s meaning is
key to its social signifi-
cance. However, work in this area has been more concerned
with general experience and
experience that is typical of given groups or genres, than
discrete and extraordinary
experiences that might have more unique significance. There
has been an associated
tendency to favour the static study of existent meanings,
established practices and
Corresponding author:
Ben Green, Griffith University, Nathan, 4111, QLD, Australia.
Email: [email protected]
565835 SOC0010.1177/0038038514565835SociologyGreen
research-article2015
Article
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1177%2F00380385
14565835&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2015-02-19
16. 334 Sociology 50(2)
objectified tastes, leaving a dearth of biographical analysis in
the sociological study of
music consumption, although some recent work begins to
address this lack (for example,
studies of ageing music fans: Bennett, 2013). The substantial
body of work arguing that
musical taste and practices are not pre-determined gives rise to
questions about why and
how people commence, continue and alter their particular
trajectories. Similarly, follow-
ing the broad abandonment of a simplistic ‘effects’ model of
media influence, there
remains a need to consider the ways in which music
consumption might actually affect
people and be involved in changing subjectivities (DeNora,
2004).
One way in which people discuss music is by talking about
particular experiences
with it that stand out in memory. For example, some music
experiences are described as
especially affecting, important, influential or even pivotal for
the individuals involved. I
call these ‘peak music experiences’, on the basis that their
defining characteristic is to
stand out from general musical experience. While the term is
similar to Maslow’s (1962)
concept of ‘peak experiences’, it is not intended to import his
psychological theories
such as a ‘hierarchy of needs’. However, the similarity in the
terms is appropriate as the
concepts are analogous in their distinction of especially
17. meaningful experiences from
general experience:
I would like you to think of the most wonderful experience or
experiences of your life; happiest
moments, ecstatic moments, moments of rapture, perhaps from
being in love, or from listening
to music or suddenly ‘being hit’ by a book or a painting, or
from some great creative moment.
(Maslow, 1962: 67)
Some people refer to peak music experiences when narrating
their biographies and iden-
tities, as moments of inspiration, influence, conversion and
affirmation. Such stories are
common in popular literature including music journalism and
criticism, artist biogra-
phies and the cultural histories found in books and films.
Similarly, bold claims are made
about the impact of specific musical events, like live or
televised performances, music
festivals and the release of songs or albums, on collective
history and identity. Underlying
these narratives is the idea that music affects people and, in
turn, culture and society and
moreover that this can happen through particular encounters
between people and music.
While there are examples of peak music experiences in the
existing sociological lit-
erature, there has been no dedicated study of the concept. Both
the examples and the gaps
in the literature are considered in the next section of this
article. In the following section,
I contend that peak music experiences can be seen as
‘epiphanies’: interactional moments
18. that leave marks on people’s lives and in which personal
character is manifested (Denzin,
1989). Peak music experiences as epiphanies are important in
understanding how asso-
ciations and attitudes are formed and maintained. They are
interactions that reveal mean-
ings and produce feelings which, through their intensity, leave
an imprint that affects
future interactions. In this way they make visible the more
constant, subtle construction
of music’s meaning and effects. As with other epiphanies,
reflection on peak music expe-
riences enables people to remember and reproduce their tastes
and values, making them
important to self- and group-identity. The final section of this
article presents a pilot case
study of the significance of peak music experiences to
participants of the local indie
music scene in the city of Brisbane, Australia. The participants
are not only familiar with
Green 335
the concept of peak music experiences, but use them to
articulate narratives of inspira-
tion, influence and taste conversion. The pilot study also
demonstrates how studying
particular musical experiences highlights the important situation
and interaction-based
aspects of music consumption. This approach acknowledges the
multiplicity of factors
contributing to music’s meaning and effect, without denying
agency to either people or
music. Although drawing on a small and localised sample, the
19. findings of the pilot study
serve to illustrate the significance of peak music experiences as
a conceptual framework
for examining the currency of music in everyday life and can be
used as the basis for a
more expansive study of the sociological phenomenon.
Experiences with Music: Peeking through the Static
The sociological study of music has not mirrored the popular
fascination with discrete
and special music experiences. One reason has been a tendency
to overlook individual
trajectories of music consumption in favour of collective
directions, or simply static
analysis. This is exemplified by Willis’s (1978: 191) concept of
homology, which refers
to the ‘continuous play’ between a social group and its
preferred items producing ‘styles,
meanings and forms of consciousness’. Homology assumes a
ready-made group with
unified preferences and interpretations, and Willis contends that
these are determined
largely by class, consistently with the contemporaneous
subcultural theory. Thus homol-
ogy does not account for changes in the membership of a group,
nor for differing levels
or kinds of engagement between members. Subcultural studies
of musical practice have
been criticised for privileging symbolic readings over the actual
experience of subjects
(Driver, 2011; Malbon, 1999), and similarly for focusing on
publicly visible and ‘spec-
tacular’ activities to the exclusion of the personal and private
(‘what happened when a
mod went home after a weekend on speed’, McRobbie, 1980:
20. 68–69), meaning that such
work does not fully explore how ‘subcultural’ engagements
might play a role in indi-
vidual biographies. One challenge to this tendency is Jones’s
(1988) study of how
Jamaican reggae and related music were received in the United
Kingdom. His argument,
that the music had a collective ‘impact’ on black and white
youth, is fleshed out by eth-
nographic portraits of people and communities that evolved,
through their interactions
with the music and its associated styles and practices, i n terms
of their tastes, relation-
ships and even spiritual and political attitudes. This up-close
approach recognises that
people’s reasons for liking reggae, and the precise kinds of
subjectivity the music might
express and produce, may be ‘as diverse as the infinite variety
of contexts in which they
hear and experience the music’ (Jones, 1988: 117). This results
in an evidence-based,
nuanced account of music’s effects, without downplaying the
potential significance of
music to cultural change: ‘For reggae did not produce ready-
made forms of political
consciousness, but worked through the pleasures of its
consumption to propagate values,
sensibilities and fundamental perspectives on life’ (Jones, 1988:
160).
‘Post-subcultural’ popular music studies are defined by more
flexible concepts like
music ‘scenes’, which allow a variety of meanings and practices
oriented around cultural
objects and styles (Bennett, 2004; Straw, 1991), and ‘neo-
tribes’, which are consumption-
21. oriented groups defined by fluidity as opposed to subcultural
rigidity (Bennett, 1999).
Some studies of scenes consider how a scene changes over time,
like Spring’s (2004)
336 Sociology 50(2)
examination of the rave scene in the city of Ruston in the
United States. However, this
work has been concerned more with environmental or cultural
developments affecting the
scene as a collective, than with the individual biographies that
must comprise the history
of any scene. At the other end of the scale, DeNora (2000) and
Hennion (2007, 2010) each
focus on very personal engagements with music. Their subjects
include, respectively, peo-
ple using music at home to evoke and manage memories and
moods, and music lovers
(‘amateurs’) engaging in elaborate, solo listening routines to
enhance their enjoyment and
appreciation. These up-close studies of everyday music
consumption demonstrate the
active nature of listening and the highly personal nature of
music’s meaning and effects.
DeNora and Hennion’s work focuses more on music’s effects on
mood and attention than
enduring change, and more on established practices than their
development. However, it
follows from their insights that an encounter with music can be
unique and that people can
develop practices and subjectivities through such encounters.
The development of prac-
tices within a scene is addressed by Driver (2011) who, based
22. on his ethnography of the
hardcore scene on the Gold Coast, Australia, argues for the
importance of embodied expe-
rience to both ‘learning’ and ‘earning’ (sub)cultural identity.
Driver’s focus is on the
development of competency and symbolic capital, but the same
approach can be taken to
study how the enjoyment, meaning and effects of music develop
over time. Bennett’s
(2013) study of music fans and ageing also considers the detail
of how practices alter over
time, like punks gradually ‘toning down the mohawk’, and how
people change allegiances
like the interview subjects who refer to sequential involvement
with different music
scenes. This longer view is part of the essential task of
understanding how music, which
is often conceptualised as only a youth concern, can be a part of
life more generally. Such
work can be built upon by considering the biographical
significance of particular encoun-
ters with music, particularly in relation to questions about what
motivates and informs
people’s involvement in certain practices and scenes.
Examples of peak music experiences arise and are in some cases
afforded significance
in existing sociological literature. In his inaugural lecture as
Donald Tovey Professor of
Music at the University of Edinburgh, Frith (2007: 169)
supports his argument that a
formal musical education is not a prerequisite to musical
appreciation by noting that:
It is a common trope in the autobiography of
[formally/classically trained] musicians that they
23. heard a piece of music by chance – at a concert, on Radio 3, on
someone’s record player – that
so moved them that they then pursued a musical education. The
same experience is common in
popular music.
The trope of an inspiring music experience is indeed common in
non-academic literature.
Pursuing this theme in academic literature, Kahn-Harris (2004:
111) reports on the sig-
nificance in extreme metal culture of a person’s shocking first
encounter with the genre,
which can be ‘a musical experience separate from previous
musical experience’ and may
inspire a frantic search for more of the same. Shock and
difference are also important in
Laing’s (1985) analysis of punk rock, in which he calls on
Barthes’s concept of jouis-
sance to describe an experience that unsettles a listener’s
assumptions. Kahn-Harris
(2004: 116) notes that while initially shocking music might
provide diminishing returns,
long-standing scene members can be rejuvenated from time to
time by ‘the experience of
Green 337
music through the body’. Tsitsos (2012) makes the similar
finding that for the ageing
punks in his study, occasionally ‘returning to the pit’ to
slamdance is a way to reconnect
emotionally to their scene. These examples demonstrate that
certain musical experiences
can have important and lasting effects.
24. In dance club culture, Malbon (1999) observes the importance
of the ‘ecstatic’ and
‘oceanic’ experiences sought and occasionally undergo ne by
clubbers while dancing to
music in a crowd, with those terms referring respectively to
experiences with and with-
out drugs. These experiences have an ‘afterglow’ and can
provide motivation for the
days, weeks or even years to come, informing everyday identity:
The seemingly unreal, yet also extremely vivid experiences of
clubbing can allow clubbers to
go beyond themselves. Yet, and seemingly paradoxically,
through this going-beyond they may
find something more of – as well as something of extraordinary
value within – the very self
outside of which they may temporarily slip. (Malbon, 1999:
187)
This illustrates how particular, extraordinary experiences can be
an important and even
defining element of music cultures. They can be sought, felt
strongly when they occur
and reflected on and discussed in retrospect.
Cavicchi’s (1998) ‘experience-near anthropology’ of Bruce
Springsteen fans reveals
the way they talk about their ‘conversion’ to Springsteen’s
music, through ‘Bruce sto-
ries’. In these stories the fans commonly attribute ‘radical,
enduring change in orienta-
tion’ (1998: 59) to a particular experience. One fan is shown to
have reshaped his previous
story of becoming-a-fan to fit the prevailing ‘Bruce story’
formula for an online discus-
25. sion, by adding a clearly defined setting and a more sudden
epiphany. It is not suggested
that the story is false and the experience is invented; rather,
Cavicchi argues that Bruce
stories work to order fans’ personal experiences according to
socially derived categories,
enabling them to understand their experiences as shared. The
story formula also shapes
expectations of group behaviour, by promoting values and
serving as a model for react-
ing in certain situations. Thus the circulation of peak musi c
experience stories might be
seen as a discursive practice that helps define who belongs to a
group and enables them
to feel that they belong. Accordingly, peak music experiences
are an avenue for studying
the values of a group and the way those values are reproduced.
Epiphanies with Music?
Cavicchi uses the terms ‘epiphany’ and ‘conversion’ to
emphasise similarities with the
narratives of ‘born-again’ Christians. He does not refer to the
use of epiphanies by soci-
ologist Norman Denzin (1989) in the latter’s ‘interpretive
biography’, although the con-
cept is compatible. According to Denzin, epiphanies are
interactional moments that leave
marks on people’s lives and in which personal character is
manifested. Like Giddens’s
(1991) ‘fateful moments’, epiphanies can be problematic and
liminal, with positive or
negative outcomes. These experiences become narrative
resources with which people
interpret their lives for themselves and others. Importantly,
Denzin notes that the meaning
26. of experiences is given retrospectively and is never definitive;
like the selves they inform,
they are always unfinished productions. Further, they are never
individual productions but
338 Sociology 50(2)
derive from group contexts, as demonstrated by the Springsteen
fan’s reshaped story,
discussed above.
Epiphanies are therefore a resource for what Giddens (1991)
calls the reflexive pro-
ject of the self. While Denzin’s (1989) examples of epiphanies
involving murder, addic-
tion and family relations could occur in pre-modern society, the
project of the self in
(late) modern, post-traditional, mediatised societies is
increasingly informed by and con-
structed from mass media and commodified leisure culture
(Chaney, 1994; Giddens,
1991). Thus Woodward (2001), citing Denzin, coins the term
‘taste epiphanies’ for the
stories that the participants in his study tell about significant
domestic objects (like a
chair or vase), as a way of presenting effective narratives of
self. Woodward’s study
reveals the fusion of aesthetic taste with ethical values, as well
as the significance of taste
to broader social and cultural identifications, supporting his
proposal for biographical
approaches to the study of popular culture to complement the
more established study of
objectified taste. With studies like Bennett’s (2013) work on
27. music and ageing demon-
strating that music consumption features significantly in
people’s self-identity, it follows
that people may have epiphanies arising out of their interactions
with music. The exam-
ples of peak music experiences in the work of Frith, Kahn-
Harris, Laing, Malbon and
Cavicchi can be seen as epiphanies, as they are experiences that
are remembered by
people as having marked their lives and they are stories that are
told to explain matters
of identity. The pilot case study detailed in the following
section shows how participants
in the Brisbane indie music scene refer to epiphanies with music
when describing how
their preferences, practices and associations have developed
over time.
Some of the qualities noted in the literature regarding music
mean that it is particularly
capable of becoming linked with specific experiences and to
biographical identity. To
begin with, the significant non-verbal elements of music make it
relatively open to inter-
pretation. Music involves a combination of signs: written,
spoken, sung, played and ges-
tured, not all of which are in the service of communication,
representation and expression
(Laing, 1985). It has therefore been called a ‘non-propositional’
medium (Frith, 1987).
Thus the ‘meaning’ of a song could be based, for example, on a
listener’s physical enjoy-
ment and at odds with the lyrical content and this focus may
differ between listeners.
Music’s polysemy and abstractness increase the importance of
the context of its reception.
28. Frith (1998) notes that music is never heard outside a situation
and, further, that different
situations produce different aesthetic objects (that is, different
music). Similarly, Small
(1998) argues that music’s meaning lies not in objects or works
but in the activities that
are oriented around them, through which a group explores and
celebrates its relationships
and values. Accordingly, music’s dependence on context for
meaning is a part of what
enables its meanings to be shared and disputed and therefore to
be socially significant. A
range of steps are taken to control the context of music’s
reception and therefore its mean-
ing, not only by the performers, visual artists, publicists and
promoters traditionally seen
as music’s ‘producers’, but also by audiences, who reproduce
visual styles, forms of inter-
action, physical responses and ways of talking about music.
These discursive formations
define listeners’ roles and limit or prefer meanings (Laing,
1985) but they are not entirely
determinative. As in Hall’s (1981) ‘encoding/decoding’ model
of communication and the
‘active audience’ theory that followed (see Lull, 1999), the
production, circulation and
consumption of a message are steps that are articulated to each
other but each step does
not determine the next. It is the ultimate, subjectively ‘decoded’
message that has an
Green 339
effect: to influence, entertain, instruct or persuade (Hall, 1981).
29. Music can be seen to
arrive as a partly filled narrative that is completed in the
subjective experience of recep-
tion, never finally but sometimes memorably. It is for this
reason that there can be peak
music experiences, in which music’s partly filled narratives are
completed in ways that are
uniquely meaningful and have particular effects.
The dependence on context does not mean that every experience
of music begins with
a clean slate or produces an entirely different ‘aesthetic object’.
While meaning does not
inhere in music, its ability to adhere is integral to music’s social
significance. Bennett
(2013) notes that music’s abstractness allows meanings to be
drawn in highly subjective
and individual ways, engendering strong feelings of textual
ownership. People take pos-
session of certain meanings and ‘build [music] into their sense
of themselves’ (Frith,
1987). One example of this is music’s capacity to evoke past
times, places, thoughts and
feelings. Van Dijck (2006: 361), in a study of the Dutch ‘Top
2000’ radio-event, repro-
duces the following online comments regarding two popular
songs, John Lennon’s
‘Imagine’ and U2’s ‘With or Without You’ respectively:
It was 1971, I was waiting on a boat someplace in Norway when
I heard this song for the first
time. It was such a perfect day, everything was right: the
weather, the blue sky, the peaceful tidal
waves in the fjord matching the melodious waves of music.
There are moments in life that you
feel thoroughly, profoundly happy. This was such moment [sic],
30. believe me. (posted by Jan from
Eindhoven)
My father died suddenly in November of 1986. That night we all
stayed awake. I isolated myself
from my family by putting on the headphones and listening to
this song. The intense sorrow I felt
that night was expressed in Bono’s intense screams. I will never
forget this experience, and each
time I hear this song I get tears in my eyes. (posted by Jelle van
Netten from Woudsend)
In these examples, the meanings attributed to songs are not only
very personal but also
tied to specific past experiences. The songs provide a way of
remembering and even
reliving those experiences. DeNora (2000: 66) observes that
reliving past experience
through music is a way to perform ‘the work of producing
oneself as a coherent being
over time’, by reminding listeners of their accomplished
identities and allowing those
identities to be projected into the future. For Bennett (2013:
33), this function of music
is one basis for exploring people’s long-term and post-‘youth’
investment in particular
popular music, not as social pathology ‘but as a “normal” and
increasingly prevalent
aspect of the late modern life course’. The following section of
this article shows how the
concept of ‘peak music experiences’ provides an opportunity to
develop this exploration
of investment in music as a life-long project.
There remains the question of why, and how, some musical
experiences and the mean-
31. ings they carry endure more than others. What makes a peak
music experience? One
feature that is common to all of the examples provided so far is
an intensity of feeling.
Ahmed (2004) argues that it is through intensifications of
feeling that people recognise
and attribute meaning and value to objects, other people and
themselves. The feelings
that are read as being ‘in’ people or objects come from previous
encounters with them
and evolve over a lifetime of encounters. As a result, ‘histories
are bound up with attach-
ments precisely insofar as it is a question of what sticks, of
what connections are lived as
the most intense or intimate, as being closer to the skin’
(Ahmed, 2004: 33, emphasis in
340 Sociology 50(2)
original). This observation suggests a means for understanding
how music experiences
that involve intense feelings can leave lasting impressions,
informing people’s future
attitudes to the objects (songs, artists, places) that they hold
responsible. As meaning is
mediated by feeling, the meanings mediated by the strongest
feelings may be the ones
that persist. Peak music experiences can therefore provide
concrete insight into the ques-
tion of how encounters with music can affect people in enduring
ways. This is demon-
strated in the pilot case study discussed in the following
section.
32. Finally, however, it must be emphasised that if subjectivities
(ways of experiencing)
are themselves shaped through experience, the role of
‘experiences’ in this research is
not as uncontestable evidence of unmediated ‘reality’. Indeed,
experiences are ‘not the
origin of our explanation, but that which we want to explain’
(Scott, 1992: 34, 38). Nor
is the goal to determine, for example, which of the stories told
by Cavicchi’s (1998)
Springsteen fan was ‘true’, the original or the reshaped version.
As Denzin (1989: 77)
argues, the sociologist’s task is not to distinguish true and false
stories, but to study:
how persons and their groups culturally produce warrantable
self and personal-experience
stories which accord with that group’s standards of truth. We
study how persons learn how to
tell stories which match a group’s understandings of what a
story should look and sound like.
Plummer (1995), based on his study of sexual stories, calls for a
sociology of stories,
conceiving of them in two linked and critical ways: as symbolic
interactions and as politi-
cal processes. Accordingly, part of studying peak music
experiences is to consider how
both the events and their commemoration are constructed
discursively, as well as how
experiences shape future subjectivities by reproducing or
disrupting such discourses.
‘Nodes of Awesomeness’: Peak Music Experiences in the
Brisbane Indie Scene
33. Between September and November 2012 a pilot study was
conducted with participants
in the Brisbane indie music scene,1 to gain insight into the
significance of peak music
experiences for them. In-depth interviews were conducted with
five amateur/part-time
performing musicians aged between 26 and 34 years of age.
Participating in the scene as
a regular audience member and performer, the author was an
‘insider researcher’
(although that term is necessarily a simplification, Hodkinson,
2006: 133) which encour-
aged productive interviews and aided understanding. The
category of ‘musicians’ and
their age range were not theoretically based limitations but
convenient, arbitrary limits to
obtain homogeneity, so as to allow a deeper study of the
common experience of the par-
ticipants (Minichiello et al., 2008: 172).
Beyond those limits, based on the researcher’s observations of
the Brisbane indie scene,
the sample was ‘typical’, though not a perfect reflection. All
participants were Australian-
born and spoke English as their first language. The sample was
more gender-differentiated
than the population as a whole. All of the participants had
attended university and all but
one obtained their primary income from employment outside of
music, both of these being
common but not universal within the scene.
This study, restricted to a small and homogeneous sample from
one music scene and rely-
ing primarily on interview data, acts as a pilot study in relation
to peak music experiences.
34. Green 341
Pilot studies are underused and underreported but assist in
defining the focus of study, par-
ticularly in qualitative research on relatively unexplored topics,
and aid the design of ongoing
research (Van Teijlingen and Hundley, 2001). The findings of
this study, which are discussed
in the ensuing sections, demonstrate the significance of peak
music experiences to at least
these music fans and the utility of such experiences as focus
points for research into music-
based sociality. Accordingly, this pilot study forms the basis for
further research with larger
and more varied samples and a more extensive suite of research
methods.
‘I Always Remember That Moment’: The Discourse of
Music Experiences
After an opening statement in which the researcher expressed a
general interest in the
respondent’s experiences with music, each in-depth interview
proceeded according to a
roughly biographical structure. In this context, all of the
interview participants seemed to
fall naturally to talking about peak music experiences before
being asked specifically
about the concept. This occurred as part of their biographical
narratives of inspiration,
conversion and motivation, providing further evidence of the
utility of epiphanies in
presenting narratives of the self (Denzin, 1989; Woodward,
35. 2001), which may be one
explanation for the apparent popularity of stories about peak
music experiences. The fol-
lowing sections …
Page 239
.
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Still kissing their posters goodnight: Female
fandom and the politics of popular music
Tonya Anderson,
University of Sunderland, UK
Abstract
Through an ethnographic investigation of adult female fans of
’80s heart throbs
Duran Duran, this article will explore the motivations and
complications inherent in
36. women’s lifelong participation in pop music fandom. Finding
that adult female pop
fans experience a euphoric empowerment from performing the
same fannish
activities they did as teens, this article will consider how
continued involvement in a
fandom discovered in one’s teenhood may be appealing because
it approximates a
‘reclaimed youth’ for adults who are approaching midlife.
However, dominant
cultural politics characterise such female fan behaviour in
adulthood as pathological.
This article will scrutinise the bases and consequences of such
prejudice, including
fan reaction in the form of shame and ‘closet’ fandom.
Keywords: bedroom culture, closet fandom, Duran Duran, fan
shame, female
fandom, lifelong fandom, pop idolatry, popular music fandom.
Introduction
They think we're all crazy and we did not really grow up.
37. They probably think we are a bunch of girls who lust after an
80s band.
They ask me ‘Still? They still exist?’
‘Aren’t you people out of that?’
Friends that are non-Duranies just sigh and shake their heads.
(2009 Fan Interviews)
The comments above are a sampling of testimonies taken from
an ethnographic field
investigation of adult female fans of ’80s pop icons Duran
Duran. As early as Elvis and the
Beatles, every generation of women has embraced its own
version of the teen pop pin-up.
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 240
The origin of such fandom for most begins in adolescence, a
formative period in which
cultural influences like pop music have a significant impact.
And while most girls grow out of
38. this phase, for some, the attachment is carried into adulthood.
Matt Hills (2010) refers to the music of artists like Duran Duran
as ‘post-popular
music’, that is, music that was once mainstream and topping
record sales, but which now
has a ‘cult’ following. As of yet, there are very few academic
accounts of research on lifelong
fandom of such post-popular acts. But Lucy Bennett’s (2012)
research with fans of R.E.M,
Nick Stevenson’s (2009) study on fans of David Bowie, and
Joanne Garde-Hansen’s (2011)
analysis of diachronic Madonna fandom are some examples.
Outside the realm of popular
music, there is also Rachel Moseley’s (2002) audience study on
fans of Audrey Hepburn and
Annette Kuhn’s (1999) research on fans of 1930s film stars,
which are noteworthy due to
their consideration of ageing, memory, nostalgia, and ‘loyalty to
a star which continues
throughout the fan’s life’ (Kuhn 1999, p. 135).
According to Lee Harrington and Denise Bielby (2010), adult
fans in general ‘remain
under-theorized and under-studied by media scholars’ (p. 444).
Stevenson claims that such
39. studies are rare because they are not consistent with the ‘usual
way in which celebrity
culture is understood’ (2009, p. 83). Celebrity status is often
fleeting; a star is in the public’s
favour one season, out of favour the next. So not only is it less
common for individuals to
maintain loyal fandom long-term, it is also not an area to which
cultural studies has
historically paid much attention as of yet (ibid.). And because
such lifelong attachments are
rare, they are also often misunderstood. This is especially true
for adult female pop fans,
who tend to experience derision and judgment from forces
outside of their fan community,
particularly their spouses, families, and peers, pressure whi ch
sends a message that their
fan attachments would have best been left in their teenhoods.
Sheila Whitely (2000) argues
that young women’s taste has been largely ignored in pop
history, even though pop music is
clearly a force to which young women can relate. Perhaps this is
because ‘discourses
concerned with ‘teenyboppers’ (young girls aged 8-15)
construct them in terms of their
40. naiveté, as immature and undiscerning consumers or cultural
dupes entering into fandom as
a time filler between adolescence and adulthood’ (Andrews &
Whorlow 2009, pp. 255-256).
This article will explore the motivations and complications
inherent in women’s
lifelong participation in pop music fandom. Applying theories
from a variety of disciplines
including fan studies, popular music, feminism, sociology, and
psychology, it will investigate
the euphoric empowerment that adult female pop fans
experience from engaging in
activities that are widely considered to belong to the teen
domain. And because many of
these women claim that their teen idols stirred their first sexual
desires, I will argue that it is
possible the notion of a first crush may have instigated the
formation and continuance of
their fan attachment. Paradoxically, and as the case study data
reveals, today this
attachment has less to do with sex and more to do with memory
and a nostalgic
identification with one’s ‘teen’ self. I will consider the
sociological and psychological
41. underpinnings of this tendency to propose that a continued
participation in a fandom
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 241
discovered in one’s teenhood may be appealing because it
approximates a ‘reclaimed youth’
for fans who are approaching or have reached midlife, as many
Duran Duran fans have.
As suggested previously, cultural politics persist that attempt to
characterise such
female fan behaviour in adulthood as pathological. This article
will scrutinise the bases and
consequences of such prejudice, including fan reaction in the
form of shame and ‘closet’
fandom. Consulting prior feminist scholarship, I will examine
how this bias derives from a
persistent denigration of women’s media, which in itself
originates from a deep-seated
historical fear and pathologisation of anything associated with
feminine sexuality. Although
42. similar issues have been studied by others, this research is
distinctive in how it considers all
these issues in conjunction to investigate women’s lifelong
engagement in pop idolatry and
society’s reception of that fan practice.
Methodology
Informing my decision to study Duran Duran’s fan community,
in particular, was my
personal experience as a Duran fan for the past 30 years. I share
this fact because I want to
make evident my own stake in this project, and I acknowledge
that my data and analysis
was inevitably influenced by my own experience and frame of
reference. It is also pertinent
to this discussion of lifelong fandom to share the impetus for
my embarking upon this study.
In 2005 I attended one of Duran Duran’s much-hyped ‘reunion’
concerts, and my best friend
was with me, telling me later that she had not seen me act that
animated since we were
teens, dancing, jumping, singing, screaming. These men were
my Beatles, and I had
43. rediscovered them. I went home and realized I had to have that
back in my life again. If that
single concert experience affected me so profoundly, I wanted
to understand what
happened. Was there some element of reclaimed youth at play?
Did other fans have similar
experiences?
By sharing my personal story here, I hope that I have shed light
on my interest in
conducting and being part of this study. This ‘aca-fan’ approach
to fan studies has long been
debated, yet supported, by scholar-fans such as Hills (2002) and
Henry Jenkins (2006), who
agree that strategies of immersion and engagement can provide
the most thorough account
of a chosen culture, as suggested by netnographer Robert
Kozinets (2010, p. 60). Even then,
the decision to immerse oneself and participate in that culture
can be a complicated issue,
as noted by Sarah Thornton when discussing the challenges she
faced in investigating club
cultures (1995, p. 106). For my research, there was no question,
participation and
immersion were a must, especially given that I was already a
44. member of the fan community.
I also suspected that the nature of the fan behaviours and
motivations I sought to query
would only be visible and accessible to other fans. Much of my
analysis, therefore, stems
not only from ‘official’ participant responses, but also from
behaviours I witnessed and
experienced in an unofficial capacity as a member of the fan
culture.
With respect to my ethnographic approach, I investigated fan
practice directly and
indirectly using a variety of techniques, which occurred both
online and offline. Methods of
data collection included observation, questionnaires, polls,
interviews, and focus groups.
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 242
Direct online data collection included email, an online
questionnaire, and an online
discussion forum. A total of 49 completed questionnaires were
45. received from Duran fans
and 24 questionnaires were received from fans in other
communities (Backstreet Boys, New
Kids on the Block, and Take That) who were surveyed for
comparative purposes.
Additionally, approximately 100 fans (many of whom overlap
the questionnaire participants)
signed up to a discussion forum that I created, and much of my
field data comes from the
resulting discussion threads. Observational and participatory
methods of online data
gathering included interaction on Duran Duran’s official online
fan community at
Duranduranmusic.com, a paid membership forum. Additional
online observation and
participation was enacted on social networking sites such as
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter,
and a number of other fan-created forums such as the Duran
Duran Message board,
Durantard.com, and fan sites dedicated to specific band
members.
In addition to the online methods of ethnographic data
gathering, a variety of
traditional methods were also employed. Two focus groups were
46. conducted, one in the
United States with 6 participants and another in Europe with 8
fans in attendance.
Additionally, a number of informal discussions, usually follow -
up interviews, were
conducted at fan-related gatherings in both the United States
and the United Kingdom.
Observational data of participant behaviour and interaction was
also obtained from indirect
contact in a variety of settings such as at concerts, fan parties,
and conventions.
Additionally, I conducted an auto-ethnography that ran parallel
to my field work. For
this purpose I consulted old journals and engaged in activities
to prompt memory recall,
including using Heewon Chang’s (2008) ‘border crossing’
technique to identify milestones in
the chronology of my fandom. According to Chang, a border
crossing is a transitional life
experience, which she describes as ‘extraordinary events such
as childbirth, new
relationships, new jobs/schools, immigration/moves, a death,
divorce, and other life crises’
(2008, p. 74). Examining such experiences is an exercise which
47. ‘can lead to a new
understanding of self and others’ (ibid.). This method proved so
effective when I used it on
myself that I decided to use it on my study participants as well.
The significance of
transitional experiences and objects in fandom has been noted
by other scholars (Sandvoss
2005; Hills 2002), a tendency that is also reflected in the
findings from my case study, so I
will return to these ideas later in this discussion.
In the analysis that follows, I use several theoretical modes of
inquiry from a variety
of disciplines, including media studies, cultural theory, fan
studies, feminist criticism, gender
studies, sociology, and psychology. And as I will elaborate
more upon in a moment, the topic
of fantasy was not an easy one for fans to discuss. So while the
identities of all respondents
were disclosed to me during the data gathering stage, out of
respect for their privacy, every
participant has been assured that I will protect their anonymity
here and elsewhere when
reporting my findings.
48. Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 243
The Bedroom Culture of Duran Fans
When you say 'bedroom culture', I know exactly what that
means [sic] ... The
mags, music, posters, prints, articles, pictures, folders, cards,
quips, videos, TV
appearances, everything and anything I could get with my
pocket money.
We had shrines to our favorite member in our lockers … We had
posters
covering the walls and ceilings of our bedrooms.
By Duran fan standards, these fan practices are not unusual. An
overwhelming 97% of the
Duran fans I surveyed reported having a poster of their idols on
their walls at some point.
49. One of the pleasures of teen pop for women is that it gives them
free license to objectify
men (Kidder 2006, p. 84). Describing this as an ‘inversion of a
cultural stereotype’, Kristin
Kidder recalls Laura Mulvey’s (1975) concept of the ‘male
gaze’, only in this case women
reverse traditional gender roles, not only by being those who do
the looking, but also
through dramatic public expressions of adoration (Kidder 2006,
p. 84). Sociologist Angela
McRobbie’s (1991) ‘bedroom culture’ theory proposes that
adolescent girls’ consumption of
posters of male pop idols is related to their emerging sexuality:
The pictures which adorn bedroom walls invite these girls to
look, even stare
at length, at male images (many of which emphasise the whole
masculine
physique, especially the crotch). These pin-ups offer one of the
few
opportunities to stare at boys and to get to know what they look
like. While
boys can quite legitimately look at girls on the street and in
school, it is not
50. acceptable for girls to do the same back. Hence the attraction of
the long
uninterrupted gaze at the life-size ‘Donny Osmond Special’
(McRobbie 1991
p. 23).
Many Duran fans confirm this idea, claiming that their pop idols
stirred their first sexual
desires:
It was … the first time I felt real attraction someone (John
Taylor) nothing
dodgy, but [I] just was infatuated with them (and him).
For me personally, I will never forget the first time I saw a
Duran poster on the back of my
best friend’s bedroom door. Compounding my interest was the
first time I saw one of their
videos at a friend’s slumber party. The other girls sat with their
noses glued to the TV
screen, squealing and drooling. I stood at the back of the room
and watched from afar,
perplexed by everyone’s behaviour. The truth is I was not
comfortable enough in my own
51. skin to have expressed how I was feeling openly, and I was
afraid to participate. At only 12
years old and relatively frightened of anything sexual, I was
embarrassed not only by
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 244
everyone else’s actions, but also confused by the fact that I,
myself, was developing a crush
on the band’s lead singer. In retrospect, this moment of
conflicted adolescent desires
signalled a defining moment for me in terms of my own
sexuality. And I suspect that this
notion of a first crush during adolescence may have sparked the
beginning of a lifelong fan
attachment.
In this instance, McRobbie’s theory about girls’ consumption of
posters can be
equally applied to video. It is the idol’s image or even his
‘essence’ that matters, regardless
52. of which medium is used to consume it. Today girls and grown
women alike, including the
Duran fans I surveyed, perform these same functions by viewing
images and video on the
Internet, illustrating how bedroom culture can continue right
into adulthood. And the
activity need not be about image alone, fans today can follow
their idols’ daily activities and
thoughts on Twitter and Facebook.
A number of Duran fans cite their attraction to a particular band
member as the
primary reason for entering into fandom as teenagers. When I
asked participants “Why did
you become a fan of Duran Duran?”, I received responses of
this nature:
Duran Duran... at the time? Their looks... I was 12 and shallow.
Now?
Definitely their sound which hasn’t seemed to change much...
and yes, I’m
still shallow... their looks.
The music and the good looks.
53. SIMON LE BON! As soon as I saw him (those eyes! Those lips!
THAT voice!) I
was smitten!
I was all of 10 years old, and it was love at first sight once I
saw John Taylor.
I was in love with Simon Le Bon in the 3
rd
grade!
[I] always have been a Simon girl. Always. From the moment I
first saw him,
he was terribly sexy, incredibly confident, not the best dancer
but doesn’t
care, and his lyrics are crazy, poignant, rocking, silly and
entertaining. Oh, and
he’s sexy and has aged very well. Hard to look at some of the
idols from the
80’s and see how they’ve aged but for some reason, the
members of DD all
seem to have aged like fine wine. Oh, and he’s sexy too.
54. According to McRobbie, adolescent infatuations of this nature
are a form of fantasy
construction, as ‘buying time... from the real world of sexual
encounters while at the same
time imagining these encounters, with the help of the images
and commodities supplied by
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 245
the commercial mainstream’ (1991, p. 24-25). Sheryl Garratt
offers a similar explanation:
‘Falling in love with posters can be a way of excluding real
males and of hanging on to that
ideal of ‘true love’ for just a little longer’ (1990, p. 401). And
Lisa Lewis (1992) proposes that
for young girls, a remote ‘relationship with a band’ is appealing
because it ‘avoids many of
the traumas of teenage sexuality’ (Lewis 1992 qtd. in Andrews
& Whorlow 2000, p. 261).
This vicarious relationship to celebrity as a safe method of
objectifying the male body, may
55. be one application of J.B. Thompson’s (1995) ‘non-reciprocal
intimacy at a distance’ with
media texts (p. 219). Thompson suggests that this type of
interaction may be appealing to
adolescent girls because it offers them the ‘opportunity to
explore interpersonal relations’
with the opposite sex ‘in a vicarious way, without entering into
a web of reciprocal
commitments’ (ibid.). Many girls practice their first kisses on
posters, according to
sociologist Mark Rubinfeld (Beck 2012).
Whether it is via posters, video, or following their idols on
social networking sites,
the bedroom culture practice of fantasising is instrumental in
teen girls’ identity
construction and sexual expression (McRobbie 1991; Andrews
& Whorlow 2000). When I
asked adult Duran fans if they have ever day dreamt or
fantasised about Duran Duran or its
individual members, many were hesitant to respond in a group
situation or left the question
blank on surveys, probably fearing the implication of their
answers being pathologised in
56. some way. But as Cornel Sandvoss (2005) advocates, as
researchers “…we must avoid
pasteurised representations of fandom and its underlying
mechanisms – not least because
the sexual desires and fantasies that underlie fandom and
audienceship are of course
utilized by the media industry” (Sandvoss 2005, p. 76). While it
was difficult to get Duran
fans to openly discuss the details of their fantasies with me, a
number of participants
responded affirmatively that they have indeed fantasised:
Almost every day. That stopped when I went to college.
I used to when I was younger…
Well, frankly they got famous as many of us were hitting
puberty. So yeah!
… coming of age in the height of their popularity, certain band
members were
at the forefront of my imaginative fantasy world!!!
Most fans claimed similarly, that they ‘used to’ fantasise but do
so no longer. And most who
57. admitted to fantasising as adults, claim that their fantasies are
no longer sexually motivated.
It is important to recognise that not all fan fantasies are sexual.
At its simplest level, a
fantasy might be defined as an “imaginary scene in which the
subject is a protagonist,
representing the fulfilment of a wish…” (Laplanche and
Pontalis 1978, p. 31 qtd. in Sandvoss
2005, p. 71). Consider these non-sexual fan fantasies of adult
Duran fans:
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 246
… these days as an adult, I'd love to know him [John Taylor] as
a person and
would love to have many conversations with him.
Now my dream is to work for them and hang out with them and
travel the
world with them, watching them perform and partying with
58. them afterwards.
Of the few fans who agreed to share their sexual fantasies, those
who contributed the
details of adolescent fantasies provided accounts that were
relatively tame. Rather than
kissing a poster, for example, this fan admits to kissing pillows:
My cousin and I used to pretend pillows were band members!
We would
serve them champagne (Sprite) in my aunt's crystal champagne
flutes and get
into so much trouble for it! We practiced French kissing the
pillows... oh
Lord! Let's just say... pillow 'Simon' got A LOT of action! LOL!
Whether or not young Duran fans fantasised specifically about
acting out their sexual
desires, those who did so justified those fantasies in the context
of having a romantic
relationship with a favourite band member:
When I was a teenager I dreamed that I would marry John.
59. When I was younger as a teenager I fantasized that he'd [Simon]
be my
boyfriend...
Oh God all the time! As a child I wanted to marry John, even
wanted to lose
my virginity to him. Now, I would settle for a snog with any of
them!
I've been daydreaming and fantasizing about Duran Duran ever
since I first
saw them in 16 magazine. When I was a girl I wanted to marry
John Taylor
and be their back-up singer - with my best friend beside me of
course :) - and
have ten beautiful babies with him! :)
Only a handful of Duran fans (who, incidentally, also write
‘adult’ fan fiction) admitted to
having sexual fantasies about the band as adults:
I always have and always will dream and fantasize about the
lead singer.
Some are naughty, some are innocent. They're too numerous to
even touch
60. on!
Over the years, I have had many dreams of a romantic or sexual
nature about
several members of the band, often times at once… I also like to
read and
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 247
write fan fic and slash fic based on the band members. It’s all
part of the
fantasy.
I have written stories involving John Taylor for years. He is one
of the sources
of my inspiration for writing Erotica. When I was younger, I
fantasized about
marrying him and having his kids or just meeting him and
having a one night
stand with him.
61. This level of openness regarding the topic of sex and fantasy
was atypical in my
ethnographic fieldwork, at least in the United States and the
United Kingdom, an issue
which may be culturally specific. Consider the following
dialogue from the European focus
group I conducted in 2009, which offers an example of group
sexual banter, an activity
which I have observed often as a member of the fan community
for many years, but usually
only when fans think they are in the company of ‘friends’.
While most of the European
participants had not met me prior to the session, and I therefore
was not part of their social
circle, they nevertheless engaged in sexual banter with each
other and with me. I had asked
the participants if they ever ‘drool’, which is common fan slang
for ‘shared expressions of
emotion and desire’ (Jenkins 2002). One fan, whom I will call
Anna to protect her
anonymity, responded, “No! We don’t do that. We don’t
exchange pictures of Simon in his
Speedos.” Everyone then began excitedly discussing paparazzi
photos of Simon Le Bon in a
62. swimsuit which appeared in a tabloid circa 2008 (all names have
been changed to preserve
anonymity):
Laura: Those were horrible!
Sophie: Which one, the one where he’s checking for his ‘boys’?
Or…
Laura: That’s wrong on so many levels. Oh…
Anna: And we don’t drool!
Emma: But you watch it. You watch it.
Laura: It was hard to go around it. It was everywhere.
Anna: No we don’t drool. No.
Diana: No drooling. [Laughter]
Sophie: And what about that picture of Roger naked? Oh my
god.
Everyone: Ohhhhh!
Emma: He must’ve sniffed something because you KNOW
who’s outside.
Sarah: Oh you know they knew because Simon had to wear his
bathrobe and
his flip flops…
63. Anna: He wanted us to take a picture of that. [Laughter]
(2009 European Focus Group)
A similar dialogue occurred at the American focus group I
conducted in 2008, and despite
my efforts to steer the group back on track to topics that I felt,
in my morally dualistic
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 248
academic way, to be superior, their preoccupations were sexual
jokes and ‘meet the band’
tales. Previously I suggested that the hesitancy to discuss
sexuality might be culturally
specific, noting how the European fans were considerably less
reserved than most other
fans I had interviewed. In this particular instance, however, the
Americans engaged in the
same level of intimate banter because they were comfortable
with me – they were my
64. ‘home’ fan group, local to my geographic area, and they knew
me well. I used to attend
monthly parties that they would arrange to watch Duran videos,
gossip, and drink alcohol.
On those occasions, sexual repartee was always on the menu. In
fact I have never attended
any Duran fan-related gathering anywhere, of two fans or more,
even if it is just a luncheon,
where light-heartedly referring to the band members in a sexual
way has not been at the
forefront of activities. After observing this activity countless
times and closely examining the
dialogues from these two focus groups, I believe that the
sharing of such fantasies is, in
essence, a trust-building activity and a form of bonding. It is a
practice that might be akin to
male ‘locker room’ behaviour, providing women a safe space
for ‘play’ that is free from
external judgement and criticism, particularly from men.
Therefore, just as the bedroom
culture practice of fantasising is instrumental in teen girls’
identity construction and sexual
expression, fantasy also appears to play an equally important
function in adulthood.
65. Duranmania
Making a departure from bedroom culture, in this next section I
will move from the private
sphere to the public arena in consideration of another activity in
which female pop fans are
known to engage, a more manifest expression of sexual desire
made famous by the likes of
the infamous Bobbysoxers and Beatlemania. In much the same
way that Duran fans enjoy
communal bedroom culture where they can ‘drool’ among
friends, most confess to getting a
similar thrill when expressing that same libidic energy on a
massive scale at concerts. And
concert attendance appears to be just as popular among adult
Duran fans as their teenhood
poster possession had been, with a substantial 97% of fans
reporting they have attended at
least one Duran concert in their lifetime, 44% claiming they
attend at least one Duran
concert per year in the present day, and 29% say they have been
to more than 20 Duran
concerts in total. For a ‘music’ fan culture like that of Duran
Duran, this should not be
66. surprising, because the live concert is the zenith around which
the entire fan experience is
based. And for teen girls, the pop concert holds particular value,
according to McRobbie &
Simon Frith (1991). ‘A live pop concert is... a landmark among
their leisure activities,’ it is a
chance to ‘express a collective identity, to go out en masse, to
take part in activities
unacceptable in other spheres’ (McRobbie & Frith 1991, p.
148). And what better way to
express that feeling than a squeal of delight that ‘signifies
romantic fantasy while it tests out
some newly active hormonal responses’ (Wald 2002)? 83% of
the Duran fans I surveyed
report that they have screamed while attending a Duran show:
I saw [Duran Duran] in person at my first concert… I absolutely
had a blast
and could not speak for days after… I had just turned 16.
Volume 9, Issue 2
November 2012
Page 249
67. Like this fan, I was also 16 when I attended my first Duran
concert. And although I had been
to concerts by other pop artists before, some who were
phenomenally popular at the time
like Michael Jackson, never before had I encountered an
audience quite like that one. Girls
were screaming, jumping, and throwing every item of clothing
imaginable onto the stage.
Some even climbed light poles and other equipment to get a
better view. Fan after fan
would ‘rush’ the stage only to be escorted out by security. It
was utter chaos, it was
‘Duranmania’ – a complete spectacle, at which I was both
terrified and fascinated. Although
I was frightened for my safety on a couple of occasions, the
crowd’s enthusiasm was
contagious and it furthered the thrill of seeing my favourite
band on stage for the first time.
My initial amazement and curiosity about the other fans’
behaviour that day is what planted
the seed for me to later pursue this research. …
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Popular Music and Materiality: Memorabilia and
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cities across Australia, the article considers how various aspects
of popular music-related
material culture became palpable objects for the writing of
personal histories. In some
instances, these material objects of participation were less
foregrounded but still present.
In these cases, materiality was resigned more to the past, but
material cultures were
actively digitized and distributed. This process was always
ongoing and incomplete.
This article examines and develops a central theme emerging
from our research findings,
namely that popular music objects acquire meanings that raise
them above their everyday
71. status via cultural means strongly influenced by the
contextualizing effects of online
technology.
Introduction
While some aspects of material culture and its everyday uses
within musical life have
received focused attention among popular music scholars, the
broader landscape of
popular music’s material dimensions remains largely unmapped.
Thus, for example,
there is by now a plethora of work on physical playback media,
notably vinyl albums
(see Hayes; Bartmanski and Woodward) and mobile playback
devices such as the iPod
and the Sony Walkman (see Hosokawa; Bull). Indeed, as
popular music scholars have
begun to explore the everyday use of music and music
technologies by casual listeners,
q 2015 Taylor & Francis
Popular Music and Society, 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2015.1061339Vol. 39, No.
– ,1, 28 42
music has increasingly been described as sound and as an
ambient presence in our
lives (Back; Kassabian). Yet woven through these increasingly
72. digital cultures are
concrete manifestations of music listening and fandom. Ticket
stubs, concert T-shirts,
posters, autographed photographs and brochures, fanzines,
badges, and sew-on
patches are but a few examples of the material objects through
which individuals
articulate their identities as music fans with strong ties to and
aesthetic investment in
particular artists, genres, and scenes.
Drawing on the findings of a three-year project on popular
music and cultural
memory funded by the Australian Research Council,1 this
article considers the
significance of such manifestations of materiality for the way in
which we understand
the significance of popular music, and its linking of the past and
the present, in
contemporary everyday life. Core to the article is a
consideration of how various
aspects of popular music-related material culture become
palpable objects for the
writing of personal histories in specific local contexts. In some
locations and eras,
these material objects of participation may be less foregrounded
but are often still
present. In some cases, materiality is resigned more to the past
but material cultures
are actively digitized and distributed. Indeed, as we will
presently illustrate, this is a
73. process that is always ongoing and incomplete. This article
examines and develops a
central theme emerging from our research findings, namely that
popular music
objects acquire meanings that raise them above their everyday
status via cultural
means strongly influenced by the contextualizing effects of
online technology.
Material Culture
The focus on material culture in contemporary social and
cultural theory is linked to
changes in theoretical and empirical approaches to the broader
study of society. Thus,
researchers began to consider culture as a dynamic force in the
production of everyday
life rather than simply a byproduct of it. One aspect of the
“cultural turn” (see Chaney,
The Cultural Turn), as this approach came to be known, was an
interest among
researchers in the relationship between materiality and everyday
life, materiality in
this sense relating to objects, images, and texts produced by the
cultural industries.
Thus, theorists such as Giddens, Bauman, and Chaney argued
that, through the
cultural consumption of objects, images, and texts, individuals
have gained a degree of
agency in the lifestyle choices they make and the identities they
74. construct. Giddens
refers to this as a state of reflexive modernity, within which
individuals, although still
situated by structural constraints such as class, race, and
gender, negotiate these
through the appropriation and inscription of cultural resources
in forms of
conspicuous display. Since the late 1980s, a range of studies has
sought to uncover and
explain the intricate and sometimes intangible ways through
which materiality
informs the socio-cultural worlds of individuals living in the
developed and,
increasingly, the developing world (see Hodder).
An early foray into such processes of materiality is Miller’s
Material Culture and
Mass Consumption. Central to Miller’s argument in this study is
that the meaning of
29Popular Music and Society
material objects cannot be gleaned purely from studying the
objects themselves.
Rather, material objects also have cultural meanings, the latter
becoming clear only
when objects are studied in the context of their everyday
appropriation and use by
individuals. In an approach that coheres well with the central
tenets of the cultural
75. turn, Miller rejects the contention of earlier mass cultural
theorists (see, for example,
MacDonald) that objects produced by capitalist industries serve
to homogenize
individuals into a uniform and uncritical mass. Indeed, for
Miller a broadly opposite
scenario is true. Thus, through their selective appropriation and
reworking of
consumer objects, individuals discover pathways to express
themselves creatively.
Objects bought in the consumer marketplace take on personal
meaning and
significance in such a way that their economic value is replaced
by a personally
inscribed aesthetic value.
Dant espouses a similar view of the significance of material
culture for our
understanding of the social world. According to Dant, while
anthropologists have
long understood the need to engage with the material as a means
of interpreting the
social and the cultural, sociologists remained “agnostic” in this
respect for many years.
However, from the point of view of Dant:
material culture provides evidence of the distinctive form of a
society. It provides
this evidence because it is an integral part of what that society
is. . . . material
culture ties us to others in our society providing a means of
76. sharing values, activities
and styles of life. (Dant 2)
As Dant’s observations illustrate, his interest in the materiality
of social life stems
from a desire to examine how the social and material interrelate
in such a way
that the one is always firmly a reflection of, rather than, a
product of the other.
Dant’s work is, in this respect, particularly instructive in that,
through his
understanding of material culture as a central element in the
production of
distinctive forms of social life, he offers important tools for an
analysis of the ways
that materiality connects with the aesthetic contours of popular
music production,
consumption, and, specifically to this article, memory and
enshrinement in
specific personal narratives concerning music. As noted above,
an examination of
how material objects enable individuals to form bonds with
popular music over
time and become imbricated in particular forms of music life is
a core focus of
our research.
A further study that adds important depth to our comprehension
of material
culture in the contemporary social world is Woodward’s
Understanding Material
77. Culture. Of particular importance is Woodward’s highly
nuanced exploration of the
competencies acquired and used by individuals in their physical
and symbolic
appropriation of material objects. Echoing Miller, Woodward
observes how, due to
the sheer range of material objects, images, and texts available
to individuals, the
fundamental impact of material culture on everyday life is not
one of homogenization
but rather plurality. Thus, according to Woodward, material
culture plays a critical
part in the empowerment of individuals—the power of choice
has to be mastered in
30 A. Bennett and I. Rogers
such a way that individuals choose in a fashion that makes
“cultural sense” both to
themselves and to others. Key here, then, is the ability to
discriminate among objects
in such a way that objects chosen for consumption and social
display signify particular
things, in particular ways, to particular groups:
The trajectories and biographies of objects are not just related
to their commodity
status, but to more complex meanings and interpretations given
to them by
individuals, restricted taste communities (such as those who
78. appreciate avant-garde,
or fans of a particular pop group or television show) or larger
social groups . . . .in
complex, differentiated, pluralistic societies inhabited by
omnivorous,
knowledgeable and flexible consumers, the rules or criteria for
discriminating and
classifying the worth of material culture are diffuse and
variable. (Woodward 30)
In essence, there are clear similarities here between
Woodward’s notion of “rules” and
“criteria” as these determine the appropriation and re-
inscription of material objects
and what Chaney (Lifestyles) refers to as lifestyle “sites” and
“strategies.” Thus, for
Chaney, through their acquired competence in sifting through
and claiming particular
material objects, individuals cluster such objects together in
ways that make sense to
them and can be read in similar ways by others. In this way,
new collectivities of shared
taste or “lifestyle” groups are formed. According to Chaney,
although these may occupy
particular local spaces and reflect particular aspects of local
culture—language, dialect,
etc.—they are, nevertheless, different from the traditional ways
of life once associated
with such spaces.
Popular Music and Material Culture
79. Over the last ten years there has been an increasing focus on the
material objects
associated with popular music production, performance, and
consumption. Bennett
and Dawe’s edited Guitar Cultures marks an early contribution
in this respect.
Although not exclusively about popular music, or about the
materiality of pop and
rock music, chapters in the book, notably those by Waksman,
Ryan and Peterson, and
Bennett consider the iconic status of particular “vintage” makes
of electric guitar and
how these have become, to use Waksman’s words, “instruments
of desire” among
musicians, audiences, and collectors alike. A similar
interpretation has been applied in
the case of original recordings of pop and rock music pressed as
vinyl discs. Once
regarded by the majority of music consumers as merely the
latest form of sound-
carrying technology, over the last 20 years vinyl records have
acquired aesthetic
discourses of authenticity and coolness due to their sound, feel,
and packaging. Thus,
in a study of young people’s consumption of and response to
vinyl, Hayes notes how
his interviewees routinely refer to what they perceive to be the
richer, more textured
nature of recorded sound when reproduced using vinyl formats.
Equally, these and
80. other audiences for vinyl appear unperturbed by the scratch and
crackle noises often
evident on vinyl recordings; rather, such aspects of vinyl discs
are considered integral
to the listening pleasure they evoke. The artwork created for
vinyl album covers is also
something that lends to their perceived material value and
appeal. Often critically
31Popular Music and Society
revered as much as the music on the record itself, and subject to
interpretations
through niche publications, such as Errigo and Leaning’s The
Illustrated History of the
Rock Album Cover, album cover artwork plays a critical role in
bespeaking the aura of
the vinyl LP (long-player) as a desirable material object. Thus,
as Bartmanski and
Woodward observe:
The obvious attraction of vinyl in this context is the large size
of the photo on the LP
record cover, about 500% larger than a CD cover, let alone the
small accompanying
images included in such applications as iTunes. The scaled-up
visual and material
dimensions of the vinyl package also lend themselves to
references to record covers
as artworks in their own right. (Bartmanski and Woodward 7)
81. In addition to the resurgence of vinyl as “new” product, part of
an ever-growing
circulation of re-produced popular music commodities from the
1950s through to
the 1990s often referred to as the “retro market” (see Bennett,
Music) “original” items,
often highly prized by collectors, form the core business of
numerous retail outlets,
both physical and online. Ferrell, in examining the life of
popular cultural objects,
notes how they are locked into a process of what he refers to as
“degradation and
rehabilitation.” Indeed, this buoyant second-hand market for the
material objects of
popular music is arguably one key facet that brings into sharp
relief an issue that is
central to the critical concern of this article—how popular
music objects acquire
meanings that raise them above their mere status as “objects.”
Thus, those who seek
out “valued” objects from the vast array of artifacts on display
in second-hand and
charity shops, or at weekend markets, do so with a fully formed
knowledge of why
such artifacts have value—a knowledge that is linked to
particular cultural codes
of authenticity. Such codes may have global, or near global,
currency, may be
circumscribed by localized forms of inscription, or operate
