Moral Panic: Utopian and Dystopian Worlds In Popular Music
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2024-06-15
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en
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The years 2019-2022 have been very tumultuous regarding socio-political developments in
the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Reflections on unrest such as this can
often be found in products of popular culture, such as music. British rock bands Nothing But
Thieves and Muse created Moral Panic (The Complete Edition) and Will Of The People,
respectively, to reflect on and criticise the socio-political tension that they have experienced
over the past years. By conducting a close reading of songs as well as their sonic dimensions, this thesis analyses how Nothing But Thieves and Muse use utopian and dystopian imagery to represent their experience of the socio-political unrest in 2019-2022 Britain in their albums. This study shows how both bands were able to express their frustration and anger about socio-political developments in the US and the UK by using utopian and dystopian imagery in their lyrics, and how the sonic dimension expands their storytelling.
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