Kids and gigs: mediated constructions of parental identities and popular music concerts

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the construction of contemporary parental identities related to live music concerts and popular music fandom in the media. The analysis on transforming parental identities presented in this paper draws on Bennett’s (2012; 2013) work on ageing music fans and their sustained practices, Grossberg’s (1992) notion of ‘youth’ as a site of struggle between young people and adults, and Frith’s (1984; 2007) work on reframing notions of youth and youth culture. I argue that understandings of contemporary parental identities in the media are being reconfigured along the lines of adults’ familial responsibilities and their popular music fandom. Based on textual analyses of articles drawn from popular online news sites based in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, this paper critiques aspects of constructed parental identities related to live popular music fandom, such as ‘teachers’ of family values, ‘cultivators’ of popular music literacy, and ‘cool’ parents. The findings illustrate tensions between the discourses of parenting and being an ageing music fan. It also highlights the growing significance and acknowledgement of ‘youth’ and popular culture in the media as a resource that helps to construct understandings of ‘family’.