God Bless come back
new experiments with nostalgia in Indonesian rock
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v12i2.129Keywords:
comeback, God bless, Indonesia, nostalgia, popular music, rockAbstract
This article discusses the production of an Indonesian rock past through a case study of the 1970s rock band God Bless, which has been gradually ‘coming back’ since the middle of the 2000s. In doing so, the article documents this comeback, analyses shifts in the band’s position vis-à-vis nationality, and places these shifts in the context of the industrial and aesthetic transformation of Indonesian popular music over the past decade or so. Furthermore, it considers how the range of nostalgic productions associated with the comeback might be understood not only in light of the scholarship on nostalgia, but also the political environment it inhabits.
References
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God Bless. Semut Hitam. 1988. Jakarta: Logiss Records.
Hatley, Barbara. 2008. Javanese Performances on an Indonesian Stage: Contesting Culture, Embracing Change. Singapore: NUS Press.
Heryanto, Ariel. 2008. ‘Pop Culture and Competing Identities’. In Pop Culture in Indonesia: Fluid Identities in Post-Authoritarian Politics, ed. Ariel Heryanto, 1–36. London: Routledge.
Homan, Shane, ed. 2006. Access All Eras: Tribute Bands and Global Pop Culture. Berkshire: Open University Press.
Ivy, Marilyn. 1995. Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity, Phantasm, Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Iwabuchi, Koichi. 2002. ‘Nostalgia for a (Different) Asian Modernity: Media Consumption of “Asia” in Japan’. Positions 10(3): 547–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/10679847-103-547
Jameson, Frederic. 1991. Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Kelly, William W. 1986. ‘Rationalization and Nostalgia: Cultural Dynamics of New MiddleClass Japan’. American Ethnologist 13(4): 603–18.
Lubis, Febby. 2004. Interview with author. 12 May.
Ma, Eric Kit-Wai. 2000. ‘Readvertising Hong Kong: Nostalgia Industry and Popular History’. Positions 9(1): 131–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/10679847-9-1-131
Mazzarella, William. 2003. Shoveling Smoke: Advertising and Globalization in Contemporary India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mulyadi, Muhamad. 2009. Industri Musik Indonesia: Suatu Sejarah. Bekasi: Koperasi Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial.
Murray, Alison. 1991. ‘Kampung Culture and Radical Chic in Jakarta’. Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs 25(1): 1–16.
Pioquinto, Ceres. 1995. ‘Dangdut at Sekaten: Female Representations in Live Performance’. Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs 29(1–2): 59–89.
Sakai, Minako, Glenn Banks and John H. Walker, eds. 2009. The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia: Social and Geographical Perspectives. Singapore: NUS Press.
Schulte Nordholt, Henk, and Gerry van Klinken, eds. 2007. Renegotiating Boundaries: Local Politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV.
Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia. 2004. ‘Rumah Kita’ (Our House). Indonesian Voices. Music video.
Sopian, Agus. 2001. ‘Putus Dirundung Malang’. Pantau II/16 August.
Tribute to Ian Antono. 2004. Jakarta: Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia.
Wallach, Jeremy. 2008. Modern Noise, Fluid Genres: Popular Music in Indonesia, 1997–2001. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
Wang, Jing. 2008. Brand New China: Advertising, Media and Commercial Culture. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
Weintraub, Andrew N. 2006. ‘Dangdut Soul: Who are “the People” in Indonesian Popular Music?’ Asian Journal of Communication 16(4): 411–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 01292980601012444
—2010. Dangdut Stories: A Social and Musical History of Indonesia’s Most Popular Music. New York: Oxford University Press.
Zurbuchen, Mary S., ed. 2005. Beginning to Remember: The Past in the Indonesian Present. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Aspinall, Edward. 2005. Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance and Regime Change in Indonesia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Baulch, Emma. 2007. Making Scenes: Reggae, Punk, and Death Metal in 1990s Bali. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
—2010. ‘Music for the Pria Dewasa: Changes and Continuities in Class and Pop Music Genres’. Indonesian Journal of Social Science and Humanities 3: 99–130.
Bennett, Andy. 2006. ‘Even Better Than the Real Thing? Understanding the Tribute Band Phenomenon’. In Access All Eras: Tribute Bands and Global Pop Culture, ed. Shane Homan, 19–31. Berkshire: Open University Press.
Browne, Susan. 2000. The Gender Implications of dangdut kampungan: Indonesian ‘Low Class’ Popular Music. Monash University Institute for Asian Studies Working Paper, 109. Clayton: Monash University Centre of Southeast Asian Studies.
Buchanan, Ian. 2007. Jameson on Jameson: Conversations on Cultural Marxism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
David, Bettina. 2003. ‘The Erotics of Loss: Some Remarks on the Pleasure of Dancing to Sad Dangdut Songs’. Paper presented at Pop Music in Southeast Asia. Leiden, The Netherlands, 8–12 December.
Denny MR. 2004. Personal correspondence. 10 October.
—2009a. ‘In God We Trust’. Rolling Stone 49 (May): 22–29.
—2009b. ‘Raksasa yang Menyendiri’. Rolling Stone 49 (May): 30–36.
Djuhana, Yan. 2004. Interview with author. 6 April.
Ferry, Megan. 2003. ‘Advertising, Consumerism and Nostalgia for the New Woman in Contemporary China’. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 17(3): 277–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10304310302738
Frederick, William. 1982. ‘Rhoman Irama and the dangdut Style: Aspects of Contemporary Indonesian Popular Culture’. Indonesia 32: 103–30.
God Bless. Semut Hitam. 1988. Jakarta: Logiss Records.
Hatley, Barbara. 2008. Javanese Performances on an Indonesian Stage: Contesting Culture, Embracing Change. Singapore: NUS Press.
Heryanto, Ariel. 2008. ‘Pop Culture and Competing Identities’. In Pop Culture in Indonesia: Fluid Identities in Post-Authoritarian Politics, ed. Ariel Heryanto, 1–36. London: Routledge.
Homan, Shane, ed. 2006. Access All Eras: Tribute Bands and Global Pop Culture. Berkshire: Open University Press.
Ivy, Marilyn. 1995. Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity, Phantasm, Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Iwabuchi, Koichi. 2002. ‘Nostalgia for a (Different) Asian Modernity: Media Consumption of “Asia” in Japan’. Positions 10(3): 547–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/10679847-103-547
Jameson, Frederic. 1991. Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Kelly, William W. 1986. ‘Rationalization and Nostalgia: Cultural Dynamics of New MiddleClass Japan’. American Ethnologist 13(4): 603–18.
Lubis, Febby. 2004. Interview with author. 12 May.
Ma, Eric Kit-Wai. 2000. ‘Readvertising Hong Kong: Nostalgia Industry and Popular History’. Positions 9(1): 131–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/10679847-9-1-131
Mazzarella, William. 2003. Shoveling Smoke: Advertising and Globalization in Contemporary India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mulyadi, Muhamad. 2009. Industri Musik Indonesia: Suatu Sejarah. Bekasi: Koperasi Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial.
Murray, Alison. 1991. ‘Kampung Culture and Radical Chic in Jakarta’. Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs 25(1): 1–16.
Pioquinto, Ceres. 1995. ‘Dangdut at Sekaten: Female Representations in Live Performance’. Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs 29(1–2): 59–89.
Sakai, Minako, Glenn Banks and John H. Walker, eds. 2009. The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia: Social and Geographical Perspectives. Singapore: NUS Press.
Schulte Nordholt, Henk, and Gerry van Klinken, eds. 2007. Renegotiating Boundaries: Local Politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV.
Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia. 2004. ‘Rumah Kita’ (Our House). Indonesian Voices. Music video.
Sopian, Agus. 2001. ‘Putus Dirundung Malang’. Pantau II/16 August.
Tribute to Ian Antono. 2004. Jakarta: Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia.
Wallach, Jeremy. 2008. Modern Noise, Fluid Genres: Popular Music in Indonesia, 1997–2001. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
Wang, Jing. 2008. Brand New China: Advertising, Media and Commercial Culture. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.
Weintraub, Andrew N. 2006. ‘Dangdut Soul: Who are “the People” in Indonesian Popular Music?’ Asian Journal of Communication 16(4): 411–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 01292980601012444
—2010. Dangdut Stories: A Social and Musical History of Indonesia’s Most Popular Music. New York: Oxford University Press.
Zurbuchen, Mary S., ed. 2005. Beginning to Remember: The Past in the Indonesian Present. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Published
2012-01-31
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Baulch, E. (2012). God Bless come back: new experiments with nostalgia in Indonesian rock. Perfect Beat, 12(2), 129-146. https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v12i2.129
