Paper Summary:

This paper takes a close look at the notion of masculinity in Hanif Kureishi's acclaimed British novel, "The Buddha of Suburbia", as this masculine notion applies to the music that Kureishi invokes within his novel. It first looks at the masculine music of the early 1970s, followed by the ultra-masculine and -aggressive punk that followed, and finally to the emasculated point at which popular music ended up. It also looks at the authors views on changing and differing ideas of what is masculine.

From the Paper:

"In England and in the United States, the 1970s was an era of decadence as well as innocence. Before much was known about the dangers of drugs and the perils of promiscuity, this was a time when many lived life to its fullest and most self-indulgent. The music of this time mirrored the cultural transformation of the conservative postwar years to that of the swinging 60s and 70s. This change corresponded with a lessening in the difference between the genders, one where masculine and feminine notions were blurred and toyed with, where androgyny became almost a norm, at least among the younger, hipper culture. The music of the time relayed this gender message, as well. "

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