Ben Watson (music writer)
Encyclopedia
Ben Watson is a British writer on music and culture of Marxist views, known especially for his books on Frank Zappa
.
Watson is well-known for his writing in The Wire
, as well as the author of numerous books, often entailing studies of popular culture
from a Marxist perspective. Watson is a member of the British Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party
; his writing combines this background together with influences from Theodor Adorno and the Frankfurt School
, the Situationists and wider cultural interests including the writings of James Joyce
and J.H. Prynne. Excerpts from his first full-length book, Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play were read to Zappa shortly before his death. Watson calls his own field of study in this area Zappology. He is also an experimental poet and novelist; his first novel Shit-Kicks and Dough-Balls was published in 2003. In November 2010, he and Andy Wilson founded the Association of Musical Marxists (AMM).
Watson's partner is the Marxist philosopher (and scholar of Walter Benjamin
and Georg Lukács
) Esther Leslie with whom he has collaborated on various works.
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
.
Watson is well-known for his writing in The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
, as well as the author of numerous books, often entailing studies of popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
from a Marxist perspective. Watson is a member of the British Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
; his writing combines this background together with influences from Theodor Adorno and the Frankfurt School
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...
, the Situationists and wider cultural interests including the writings of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
and J.H. Prynne. Excerpts from his first full-length book, Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play were read to Zappa shortly before his death. Watson calls his own field of study in this area Zappology. He is also an experimental poet and novelist; his first novel Shit-Kicks and Dough-Balls was published in 2003. In November 2010, he and Andy Wilson founded the Association of Musical Marxists (AMM).
Watson's partner is the Marxist philosopher (and scholar of Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
and Georg Lukács
Georg Lukács
György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. He is a founder of the tradition of Western Marxism. He contributed the concept of reification to Marxist philosophy and theory and expanded Karl Marx's theory of class consciousness. Lukács' was also an influential literary...
) Esther Leslie with whom he has collaborated on various works.
List of writings
- 28 sliverfish macronix out to lunch (1992)
- Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play (1995)
- Art, Class and Cleavage: Quantulumcunque Concerning Materialist Esthetix (1998)
- The Complete Guide to the Music of Frank Zappa (1998)
- Mad Pride: A Celebration of Mad Culture (with Robert Deller, Esther Leslie and Ted Curtis) (2000)
- Shit-Kicks and Dough-Balls (2003)
- Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation (2004)
- Frank Zappa: The Complete Guide to his Music (2005)
- Academy Zappa: Proceedings of the First International Conference of Esemplastic Zappology (with Esther Leslie) (2005)
- Honesty Is Explosive!: Selected Music Journalism (edited by W.C. Bamberger) (2010)
- Adorno for Revolutionaries (edited by Andy Wilson) (2011)
External links
- Militant Esthetix - Ben Watson and Esther Leslie's site.
- Philosophy on Television in Radical PhilosophyRadical PhilosophyRadical Philosophy is a British academic journal of critical theory and continental philosophy, appearing six times a year. It was established in 1972 with the purpose of providing a forum for the theoretical work which was emerging in the wake of the radical movements of the 1960s, in philosophy...
- http://www.unkant.com/ - AMM (Association of Musical Marxists) website
- Internet Archive - Bob Dobbs and Ben Watson discuss Marshall McLuhan and Karl Marx over the oeuvre of Frank Zappa (added on 2009/07/09).