To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Fashioning the “People’s Guitarist”: The Mythologization of Rory Gallagher in the International Music Press
Örebro University, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5554-4492
2022 (English)In: Rock Music Studies, ISSN 1940-1159, E-ISSN 1940-1167, Vol. 9, no 2, p. 174-198Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This paper traces how the international music press used the clothing and appearance of the Irish blues/rock musician Rory Gallagher to mythologize him as the “People’s Guitarist.” I explore how this image was constructed and developed over time, as well as Gallagher’s own response to this mythologization and how it has consolidated since his death in 1995. I argue that Gallagher’s unwillingness to compromise his integrity and shift his music or clothing to fit changing trends made him an anomaly in an image-conscious music industry. Thus, his appearance became an easy target for the music press who focused overwhelmingly on his clothing in interviews and articles. This focus unfairly drew attention away from his music and downplayed the important contribution he made to the world of blues and rock. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2022. Vol. 9, no 2, p. 174-198
Keywords [en]
Rory Gallagher, music press, mythologization, clothing, lumberjack shirt, jeans
National Category
Media and Communications
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-97715DOI: 10.1080/19401159.2022.2048988Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85135973370OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-97715DiVA, id: diva2:1641201
Available from: 2022-03-01 Created: 2022-03-01 Last updated: 2025-02-07Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

O’Hagan, Lauren Alex

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
O’Hagan, Lauren Alex
By organisation
School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences
In the same journal
Rock Music Studies
Media and Communications

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 78 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf