Atte Oksanen
 Senior researcher, Dr. Soc. Sci., M.A
atte.oksanen(at)nuorisotutkimus.fi

Finnish Youth Research Network

 
 

 

IMAGES OF ADDICTION IN ROCK CULTURE

 

Funding: The Academy of Finland 2007-2008

Representations of addiction from inside and outside - lay, professional and addict perspectives project

Part of Images of Addiction and Theories of Addictive Behaviours research consortium

 

Funding: The Academy of Finland 2009-2011, 195 400 euros

Type of Funding: Post-doctoral researcher's project

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

The postdoctoral researcher's project Images of Addiction in Rock Culture concentrates on the theme of addiction in contemporary mainstream rock culture. Rock music has a great resonance for the lives of late modern subjects, but it is still a relatively little studied subject. Meanings of rock and popular music are represented everywhere in youth and adult cultures and also in successful reality television programs and videogames. They form a central part of everyday life in Western societies.

 

Rock texts, music, lyrics, videos and biographies from the 1950s will be used to elaborate the agony of addictions expressed by musicians and artists, especially towards the end of the 20th century. The study will provide not only a historical account of changes in rock and youth culture but also theoretical insights for understanding the implications of addiction in people's lives.

 

It is hypothesized that the typical notion that rock music expresses freedom through drug-use has become problematic. Drugs as a means of rebellion or authenticity are no longer praised as they once were. Rather rock culture has become increasingly imbued with psychological vocabulary and different notions of risks. Surviving addiction, for example, is a key theme of current mainstream rock. Addictions discussed in rock culture involve not only substances, but also different actions prone to become addictive. The theme of addictive lifestyles is often represented in rock texts.

 

The study will advance the scientific understanding of the addictive process. If we do not understand the cultural images related to addictions we may fail to understand the addicts. Addiction crystallizes the identity problems people may be currently facing. There is a need for a systematic and multi-disciplinary study of meanings and images of addiction in rock culture.

 

The research will be accomplished in close co-operation with the research consortium Theories of Addiction and Images of Addictive Behaviours (IMAGES) funded by the Academy of Finland (2007-2010) and also with various institutions and researchers in the fields of sociology, social psychology, youth studies, cultural studies, literature studies and musicology.

 

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  1. Oksanen, Atte (2012) To Hell and Back. Excessive Drug Use, Addiction and the Process of Recovery in Mainstream Rock Autobiographies. Substance Use & Misuse 47: 2, 143-154.
  2. Oksanen, Atte (2011) Drinking to Death: Traditional Masculinity, Alcohol and Shame in Finnish Metal Lyrics. NAD: Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 28: 4, 357-372.
  3. Oksanen, Atte (2011) Needle and the Damage Done. Deleuzean Readings on Heroin in Rock Texts. In Jason Lee (ed.) Addiction and Obsession. New York: Cambria Press (in press).
  4. Karekallas, Matias & Oksanen, Atte (2011) Addiktion paikat ja kuvaukset populaarikulttuurissa - Kallio ja Berliini [Images and Places of Addiction from Helsinki to Berlin]. In Pauliina Raento, Tuukka Tammi & Pekka Sulkunen (eds) Likainen Tusina: Addiktio, kulttuuri ja yhteiskunta. Helsinki: Gaudeamus (in press).
  5. Oksanen, Atte (2009) Äärimmäistä kulttuuria: eXtreme-minuuksien historiaa dadaismista Hunter S. Thompsoniin [Extreme Culture: Transgression in Arts and Popular Culture]. Helsinki: Johnny Kniga.
  6. Oksanen, Atte (2009) "Wine is fine but whiskey's quicker": Images of Alcoholism and Addiction in Rock Autobiographies. CD-ROM - Proceedings of the 35rd Annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium of the Kettil Bruun Society (KBS 2009), June 1-5, 2009. Copenhagen: KBS.
  7. Oksanen, Atte (2008) Veren viemää. Lyyrinen maskuliinisuus ja psyykkinen vampyrismi Verenpisara-yhtyeen sanoituksissa [Lost Souls: Lyric Masculinity and Psychological Vampyrism in the Lyrics of Finnish Rock Band Verenpisara]. In Kai Aberg & Lotta Skaffari (eds) Moniääninen mies (pp. 128-160).  Jyväskylä: The Research Centre for Contemporary Culture. Publications 95.
  8. Oksanen, Atte (2007) Hollow Spaces of Psyche: Gothic Trance-Formation from Joy Division to Diary of Dreams. In Isabella van Elferen (ed.) Nostalgia or Perversion? Gothic Rewriting from the 18th Century until the Present Day (pp. 124-136). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  9. Oksanen, Atte (2007) Lyriikka populaarimusiikin tutkimuskohteena: esimerkkinä Joy Divisionin sanat tyhjyydestä [Studying Rock Lyrics: On Joy Division and meanings of emptiness]. In Marko Aho & Antti-Ville Kärjä (eds) Populaarimusiikin tutkimus (pp. 159-178). Tampere: Vastapaino..
  10. Oksanen, Atte (2007) "Life Lies a Slow Suicide": Images of Pain and Addiction in Alternative Music. CD-ROM - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium of the Kettil Bruun Society (KBS 2007), June 4-8, 2007. KBS: Hungary.
  11. Oksanen, Atte (2006) Haavautuva minuus. Väkivallan barokki kontrolliyhteiskunnassa [Wound-Subjectivity: Baroque of Violence in  Control Society]. Tampere & Helsinki: Tampere University Press & Finnish Youth Research Society.
  12. Oksanen, Atte (2006) Särkyneen ihmisen muotokuva. Nine Inch Nails ja industriaalimusiikki teknologisen maiseman ruumiillistumana [Fragile Self: Nine Inch Nails and Industrial Music as Diagnosis of Technological Society]. In Markku Lehtimäki & Toni Lahtinen (eds) Ääniä äänien takaa. Tulkintoja rock-lyriikasta (pp. 95-119). Tampere: Tampere University Press.
  13. Oksanen, Atte (2006) Maskuliinisen seksuaalisuuden itsetuhomaisemat [Destructive Masculine Sexuality]. In Taina Kinnunen & Anne Puuronen (eds) Seksuaalinen ruumis (pp. 269-287). Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
  14. Oksanen, Atte (2003) Kuolossa kulkijat. Raskas suomenkielinen rock maskuliinisuuden sosiaalisena diagnoosina [Cursed with Death: Finnish Metal Music as Social Diagnosis of Masculinity]. Nuorisotutkimus 21: 1, 4-20.
  15. Oksanen, Atte (2003) Murheen laakso. Mies ja kuolema raskaassa suomenkielisessä rockissa [Valley of Sorrow: Masculinity and Death in Finnish Rock Lyrics]. Helsinki: The Council for Gender Equality, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Publications 3.


 

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

  1. Oksanen, Atte (2010) Drinking to Death: Social Diagnosis of Traditional Masculinity in Finnish Metal Lyrics. Nordic alcohol and drug researchers' assembly, August 23-25, 2010, Reykjavik, Iceland.
  2. Oksanen, Atte (2009) "Wine is Fine but Whiskey's Quicker": Images of Alcoholism and Addiction in Rock Autobiograhpies. 1st 35rd Annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium of the Kettil Bruun Society (KBS 2009), May 31-June 5, 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark.
  3. Oksanen, Atte (2008) Noise Machines and Body Beats: From Industrial Music to Acid House - A Short Theoretical History of Electronic Music Sub-Cultures. 1st ISA Forum of Sociology, September 5-8, 2008, Barcelona, Spain.
  4. Oksanen, Atte (2008) Needle and the Damage Done: Deleuzean Readings on Heroin Addiction in Rock Texts. 1st International Deleuze Studies Conference, August 11-13, 2008, Cardiff, Wales.
  5. Oksanen, Atte (2008) Addiction to Life (and Death) On Vampires and Uncanny Affects in Goth Music. Uncanny Media: The Gothic Shadows of Mediation, August 7-9, 2008, Utrecht, Netherlands.
  6. Oksanen, Atte (2007) Atrocity Exhibition: Industrial Music and Politics of Shock and Risk. 8th conference of European Sociological Association, September 3-6, 2007, Glasgow, Scotland.
  7. Oksanen, Atte (2007) Rock 'n' Roll Babylon: Motley Crue's The Dirt as Drug Confession Narrative. The 3rd Tampere Conference on Narrative: Knowing, Living, Telling, June 27-30, 2007, Tampere, Finland.
  8. Oksanen, Atte (2007) Rocking the addictive texts: Towards a sociomaterial reading of addictions in rock lyrics. Qualitative workshop, 33rd Annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium of the Kettil Bruun Society (KBS 2007), June 4-8, 2007, Budapest, Hungary.

MAIN PAGE