Passion Nodules: the social

network space of Portuguese

alternative rock (1980-2010)
PAULA GUERRA
TANIA MOREIRA

This presentation is systematized in the journal article

Keep it rocking: The social space of Portuguese alternative
rock (19802010)
Journal of Sociology
Paula Guerra
(www.punk.pt)

PURPOSE AND
METHODOLOGY

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

In this presentation we will discuss

the social and relational space of alternative Portuguese rock
in the last 40 years, using polyhedron dynamics or Q-analysis.

This algebraic procedure is based in several connected

structures pointed out by our interviewees in respect to
national and international bands, blogs, journalists,
critics, venues, record stores and key-actors of the indie
Portuguese scene as a network sub(field)

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

This is part of broader research into the 30

years of modernization of Portugal (from
the post-revolutionary period initiated in
1974 on), in which alternative rock is
regarded as a significant social practice within
the scope of the social, artistic and musical
structuring of the country itself.

Among these social actors, there is

an understanding that alternative
rock coincides with so-called indie
rock, viewed as opposed to the
mainstream, that is, opposed to the
charts and the dominant trends of
mass-oriented popular music.

We consider that alternative rock is a

subject that is illuminated by
Bourdieus theory of fields, without
overlooking its clear interconnection
with art worlds or music scenes, and
the aesthetic cosmopolitanism of late
modernity.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

This is a pioneering work on the Portuguese sociology of culture and arts,

whose results may be the starting point of a debate to problematize the logic of
popular music outside Anglo-Saxon settings.

Research study conducted between 2005 and 2010

191 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the various
agents featured on the field of analysis,
Complemented by 11 biographical interviews with groundbreaking
(both diachronically and synchronically) Portuguese alternative rock
actors.
The realization of interviews follows snowball sampling techniques.
The interviews covered the diversity of agents in the subfield:
bloggers, critics and journalists, promoters, editors, managers,
owners of music distribution places, shopkeepers, musicians, DJs
and music lovers (basically, only agents regarded as audiences have
been excluded).

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

All interviews were recorded on digital

audio and together mount up to a total
playing time of approximately 300 hours.
Our methodology was driven by
categorical content analysis of discourse
segments in order to ascertain the
meanings and purposes of social actions,
privileging, therefore, qualitative and
intensive approaches. Data processing
techniques additionally included
polyhedral analysis, used to describe the
structure of alternative rock (concerning
subjects ways of relating and associating
with each other)

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

Our sample was composed of sets of individuals classified

as follows:
33 interviewees aged 3135
55 interviewees aged 3640
35 interviewees aged 4145

Predominantly MALE, the sample reflects gender logics

generally present in rock, especially among the older
generations in the Portuguese context.
The group also displayed high educational skills (85 college
graduates and 54 with university attendance).

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

The highly placed social positions of the participants seem congruent with
their scholarly, professional and social qualifications, which clearly contrast
with the average Portuguese population profile, but closely relate to the
typical profile of artistic groups in Portugal.
Most of our sample came from the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto
(75%). The sample is geographically distributed in accordance to the spatial
distribution of members of the artistic field in general, reflecting the cultural
dualities and asymmetries (if not macrocephaly) of the country.

A PROPOSED ILLUSTRATION OF
THE ALTERNATIVE ROCK SUBFIELD
IN PORTUGAL

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

During the investigation, it was possible to identify and create a topology of

the positions that define the alternative rock (sub)field in Portugal. To better
comprehend this, we shall refer to polyhedron dynamics.

Polyhedron dynamics or Q-analysis is specifically adapted to

describe structures and networks, and here was designed to define,

describe, map and represent the complexity of the relationships that
substantiate the underlying structures of actors, venues, bands and
promoters that compose Portuguese alternative rock.
Exploring our object through polyhedron dynamics, we have noted

an important recurrence: thus, the words used by our interviewees to

identify said actors, venues, shops, promoters and media may inspire
a hierarchical layout based on the number of references to those
same words.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

Illustrating this, the existence of a symbolic universe of reference was supported by

allusions to national bands (Figure 1)
Figure 1.
Polyhedron
dynamics:
referenced
national bands.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra
A first group of bands (represented, in Figure 1, by the biggest orange ellipse)
seems structural in the formation of Portuguese alternative rock, entailing bands
which are associated by nearly all interviewees with indie rock. Most of these
bands were formed in the second half of the 1980s, deeply influenced by postpunk aesthetics, and have assumed roles as field institutions due to their
longevity, protagonism, leadership in the definition of the canons of artistic
creation, independent relationship with labels and the media, and continuous
proclamation of DIY ethics with
their members shunning
professionalization in their musical
careers.

Figure 1. Polyhedron dynamics: referenced national bands.

These primary veteran bands are

accompanied, in the second ellipse,
by the newcomers, who follow a
logic of sonic exploration and
experimentation, avoid involvement
with major labels, and were formed
by members previously integrated in
field institution bands line-ups.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

We can, in fact, refer to the existence of a canonproducing structure of a musical subgenre

(grounded in post-punk, musical experimentation
and electronica) in the two major cities of Portugal
Lisbon and Porto.
Such a structure is characterized by:
its DIY ethics and logic,

a mostly amateur presence in what concerns

professionalization,
a search for an alternative to majors in the
creation of independent and personal labels,

and a claim for a cosmopolitan sphere of

action on a Portuguese scale.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

This spectrum of bands is located within the major arcs of alternative rock
of the last three decades in Portugal
The bands clearly illustrate what underlies the alternative world in
Portugal, even if that alternative is plural and dynamic, comprising hybrid
sonority, songs, independent labels, live concerts, DIY logics, canonization
by critics and so on.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

Figure 2. Polyhedron dynamics: referenced labels, promoters and shops.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra
Relating the segment of labels, event promoters and record stores (Figure 2), at first
glance, the data seem to contain some contradictions:
despite the crisis associated with the record market, the promoters, the majors
and the indie labels all retain a recognized and valued position within that
structure, which is based on the importance of such labels and promoters in
the definition of alternative, a vital condition for the indie rock approach.

In fact, a major role can be attributed to promoters who have nowadays expanded
their activities beyond the alternative niches, fuelled by a leitmotiv of searching out
the alternative although their activity
has gradually branched out into more
mainstream expressions, namely in the
creation of major events, such as festivals.
Moreover, the evolution of the Portuguese
music industry in itself is recent, leading
some of the indie labels to eventually
adopt a more mainstream and corporation
like posture towards music production.
Figure 2. Polyhedron dynamics: referenced labels, promoters and shops.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

What seems evident here is the apparently conflictual coexistence between micro
and macro organizations, and a mainstream and alternative ethos: but it should be
stressed that this is much more an apparent conflict than an actual one, an
outcome of general evolution dynamics within the music industry.
These are the main structuration principles of this alternative rock subfield, which
neither hide the general dynamics of struggle within the segment, nor do they stem
the opposition between kings of the segment versus newcomers.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

Figure 3. Polyhedron dynamics: referenced key agents of alternative rock.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra
The configuration of key agents in the alternative rock subfield
(represented in Figure 3) also invokes important elements. This
structure maintains two groups at its core. Focusing on the group with
the wider orange ellipse, we can see that it is composed by key
actors (both musicians and media agents) in the emergence of the
alternative rock subfield in Portugal, during the mid 1980s.

Figure 3. Polyhedron dynamics: referenced key agents of alternative rock.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

For example:
Antnio Srgio (considered the Portuguese John
Peel and responsible for early dissemination of
alternative music) assumes the role of pioneer
diffuser.
Adolfo Luxria Canibal, singer from the band Mo
Morta, assumes the role of a pendulum (that is keeping
the whole thing going), and is certainly an actor who
holds significant (internal) capital amid the canonization
processes of the Portuguese alternative subfield. He
has also attained prevalent notoriety in Portuguese
society in general and in the artistic world in particular
(external capital).

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

In a Bourdieusian language, these two figures exert

subfield dominance, concentrating in their hands the
largest volume of capital(s) in the social-relational
space of indie rock.

CONCLUDING REMARKS: Your

Future Our Clutter

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

The contributions of the investigation which

we summarily present here are grounded in
two key points:
THE FIRST is the application of
Bourdieusian theory to a specific artistic
and musical segment beyond the literary
field or pop rock in general, operating a
theoretical (re)adaptation in an effort to
legitimize the analysis of a musical
segment which calls for specific
approaches and investigative tools.
THE SECOND concerns the empirical
grounding of the approach which,
considering the volume of interviews and
contacts made, we risk stating is one of the
first of its kind, within a non-Anglo-Saxon
reality, to take the theoretical discussion
regarding alternative rock so far.

Passion Nodules: the social network space of Portuguese alternative

rock (1980-2010) Paula Guerra

Still, there are other questions which seem

highly relevant, such as:
the importance of the glocalization of a
musical subgenre, substantiated by the
discourse and representations of those who
participated in different roles in the scene;
that takes us to the core of the sociological
object, since we have conceived alternative
rock as an object of explanation and
understanding in the context of volatility of
social and musical classifications of late
modernity.

THANK YOU

This presentation is systematized in the journal article

Keep it rocking: The social space of Portuguese alternative
rock (19802010)
Journal of Sociology
Paula Guerra
(www.punk.pt)