Portland Public Library

Sounding like a no-no, queer sounds and eccentric acts in the post-soul era, Francesca T. Royster

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-241) and index

index present

non fiction

Sounding like a no-no

bibliography

793221913

Francesca T. Royster

queer sounds and eccentric acts in the post-soul era

This book traces a rebellious spirit in post-civil rights black music by focusing on a range of offbeat, eccentric, queer, or slippery performances by leading musicians influenced by the cultural changes brought about by the civil rights, black nationalist, feminist, and LGBTQ movements, who through reinvention created a repertoire of performances that have left a lasting mark on popular music

Introduction : Eccentric performance and embodied music in the post-soul moment -- Becoming post-soul : Eartha Kitt, the Stranger, and the melancholy pleasures of racial reinvention -- Stevie Wonder's "Quare" teachings and cross-species collaboration in Journey through the secret life of plants and other songs -- "Here's a chance to dance our way out of our constrictions" : P-Funk's black masculinity and the performance of imaginative freedom -- Michael Jackson, queer world making, and the trans erotics of voice, gender, and age -- "Feeling like a woman, looking like a man, sounding like a no-no" : Grace Jones and the performance of "Strangé" in the post-soul moment -- Funking toward the future in Meshell Ndegeocello's The world has made me the man of my dreams -- Epilogue : Janelle Monáe's collective vision