From Brixton to Paisley Park: Tribute shrines to rock legends in the UK and USA
Author(s): Paul M Graves-Brown; Hilary Orange
Year: 2018
Summary
On 10th January 2016, many people flocked to Brixton, London to leave tributes in front of a mural depicting Aladdin Sane, a character developed by the musician David Bowie, who had died that day. The same acts of pilgrimage were seen in April 2016 when ‘Prince’ Rogers Nelson died at his private estate in Minnesota; fans laid flowers and tied purple balloons to perimeter fencing. Such practices of public grieving can tell us a good deal about attitudes to death, commemoration and celebrity.
In this paper, we discuss our longitudinal study of the temporary shrines and memorials to David Bowie in London, set in the context of other shrines to rock musicians. We will discuss the para-religious aspects of pilgrimage and shrine creation, the ethical issues surrounding the collection and disposal of tribute materials, and the creation of more permanent forms of rock memorialisation on, or near, public tribute sites.
Cite this Record
From Brixton to Paisley Park: Tribute shrines to rock legends in the UK and USA. Paul M Graves-Brown, Hilary Orange. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441114)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
memorialisation
•
Popular Music
•
Shrines
Geographic Keywords
United Kingdom
•
Western Europe
Temporal Keywords
Contemporary/Modern
Spatial Coverage
min long: -8.158; min lat: 49.955 ; max long: 1.749; max lat: 60.722 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 366