The document discusses a class focusing on radio, recordings, and popular music in 1977 New York City. The class will examine the documentary "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell", which looks at how the musical genres of hip hop, punk, and disco reflected and influenced the political and social realities of New York City in 1977. The documentary will be discussed in terms of its style as a performative documentary that stresses subjective experience and links personal accounts to larger historical contexts through the use of a voice-over narrator.

1. CHAPTER 7
Radio, Recordings, & Popular Music
Chapter/Study Focus:
NY77: the coolest year in hell

2. RADIO, RECORDINGS, AND
POPULAR MUSIC
• Book offers good information about the history and
technology involved with radio, recording and
popular music and is covered in quiz material
• We’ll be spending our class time looking at NY77:
THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL as it is a good way to
combine RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM for class
discussion
• COMING NEXT: War of the Worlds = example of
Broadcast Radio Mass Media and its effects

3. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
• Pop Culture has long been enmeshed in “History”
and music is no exception; beyond being just a
“soundtrack for our lives”, music can often be so
powerful that it enacts cultural changes that
resonate through every level of society. This
documentary takes a close look at 1977 as a pivotal
year in the life of New York City, including how
music can be part of the very fabric of society.
Please consider how music can be both a reflection
of, and an influence over various factions of society
and culture, and how such reflection and influence
can impact us all long after songs fall off the charts…

4. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
•NY77: The
Coolest Year in
Hell

5. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
•How did the musical genres of
hip hop, punk and disco and
their mass media messages
(recorded songs) reflect and/or
influence the political and
societal realities of New York
City in 1977?

6. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
•What made NY77 an effective or
non-effective example of
documentary film? How would
you define this documentary in
terms discussed in class (and on
the back of this sheet)?

7. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
• Performative documentaries stress subjective experience
and emotional response to the world. They are strongly
personal, unconventional, perhaps poetic and/or
experimental, and might include hypothetical enactments of
events designed to make us experience what it might be like
for us to possess a certain specific perspective on the world
that is not our own. Performative docs often link up
personal accounts or experiences with larger political or
historical realities.
• Voice-over narrator
The traditional style for narration is to have a dedicated
narrator read a script which is dubbed onto the audio track.
The narrator never appears on camera and may not
necessarily have knowledge of the subject matter or
involvement in the writing of the script.

8. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
•What kind of influence does hip-
hop, punk and disco music hold
in our culture today?

9. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
• Hip-Hop’s lasting influence on society
and culture is undisputed and is the
subject of much academic and cultural
research and critique. It continues to be
a dominant commercial musical force
and its influence can be felt in
advertising, fashion, Broadway, and
beyond…

10. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
• Punk’s lasting influence on society and culture is
undisputed and is also the subject of much
academic and cultural research and critique. It’s
style and energy lives on in modern rock and its
influence can be felt in advertising , fashion,
Broadway, and beyond…

11. NY77: THE COOLEST YEAR IN HELL =
RECORDINGS/MUSIC + FILM
• Disco’s lasting influence on society and culture is also
undisputed and the subject of much academic and
cultural research and critique. Disco as a musical
genre has evolved into various genres of “Dance
Music” (including House Music and EDM) and its
influence can be felt in current pop music of all
stripes as well as advertising , fashion, Broadway, and
beyond…

12. SONGS + ADVERTISING
• The use of popular songs of all genres in
commercials is more widespread than ever, further
deepening the connection between Mass Media
and Advertising
• What do you think about popular songs being used
to sell products? Does it ever bother you when a
song that actually means something to you on a
personal level is then used to sell a product?

13. • The media so fully saturate our everyday
lives that we are often unconscious of
their presence, not to mention their
influence. Media inform us, entertain us,
delight us, annoy us. They move our
emotions, challenge our intellects, insult
our intelligence. Media often reduce us
to mere commodities for sale to the
highest bidder. Media help define us;
they shape our realities…
Central theme of
COMM 101: Understanding Mass Media

14. • …but Media does none of this alone.
They do it with us as well as to us
through mass communication, and
they do it as a central—many critics
and scholars say the central—cultural
force in our society.
Central theme of
COMM 101: Understanding Mass Media

15. • MEDIA LITERACY is the ability to
access, analyze, evaluate, and create
media. Media-literate youth and
adults are better able to understand
the complex messages we receive
from television, radio, Internet,
newspapers, magazines, books,
billboards, video games, music, and
all other forms of media.
Central theme of
COMM 101: Understanding Mass Media