Jemella Piersol-Freedman | 2026 I.S. Symposium
狈补尘别:听Jemella Piersol-Freedman
罢颈迟濒别:听Trans-World Express: German Influences on Anglophone Popular Music
惭补箩辞谤蝉:听German Studies; Music Education
础诲惫颈蝉辞谤:听Mareike Herrmann
This project examines the influence of German popular music of the 1970s and 1980s on the development of American and English popular music. The context of postwar Germany influenced the next generation of German artists, and much postwar art reflected a desire to construct a new German identity. Many musicians embraced the sounds and lyrical subject matter of an increasingly industrial and commerce-oriented Germany. As this music made its way to America, several artists within the New Wave and techno subcultures related to its aesthetic messages. The varying ways in which these artists incorporated German musical influences often highlighted historical tensions surrounding race and class, placing the German musicians’ work within a much different context than was originally intended. In England, artistic and public reception of German popular music reflected a complicated relationship with Germany following the war. Both the media and individual artists often exoticized the music, relying on stereotypes and associations with Nazism to characterize it and its creators. A variety of artists, from those within niche subgenres to iconic figures like David Bowie, experimented with Nazi symbolism and imagery to accompany their newfound musical inspiration. However, for some audiences, German music provided a sense of joy and inclusivity. The New Romantic subculture of London positioned German music as part of the soundtrack of a vibrant and exploratory queerness, going on to influence fashion and music of the 1980s. This project interested me because the study of global musical influences often centers on how Anglophone music has affected the development of global musics, rather than the other way around.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
