editorial
april 2003

We now have been online for five years ...

Editorial

by Ger Tillekens

Five long years. Soundscapes — an online journal on media culture — now has been online for five long years. So we thought it was about time to redesign our pages to a new format. Last month we have been quite busy reworking all our pages and we hope you like the results. We have not yet tested it on all browsers. Please let us know, if you have any problems in finding or reading the articles of your choice.

Going strong. When we started this online journal in April 1998, we planned to go on for at least five years. During the first few weeks, of course, we were the only ones to visit the pages. Then the site took off and at the moment the number of unique visitors almost equals an impressive 1,500 each day of the week, all in all requesting five fat gigabytes of data each month. In short, the journal is going strong. And, seeing that we're not alone in our interest for the study of media culture, we have decided to continue for the next years to come. So, we want to thank you all for your visits to this site. They keep our motivation going.

Top 20 Most Hitted Pages. This site now hosts over 750 pages, all informing their readers, one way or the other, about media culture. Just for once, and only to encourage you to walk through our volumes, below we list the twenty most requested pages over the last few months. It will give you an impression of our themes and topics.

Alan W. Pollack (1989-2001), Notes on ... series. A musicological analysis of all Beatles' songs.
Marie-Agnès Beau (1996), Hip Hop and Rap in Europe. The culture of the urban ghetto's.
Greg Philo and David Miller (2000), Cultural compliance and critical media studies.
Ger Tillekens (2000), Words and chords. The semantic shifts of the Beatles' chords.
Thomas Völkner (2000). Featuring the voices that challenge the conventional wisdom. Ten questions to David Barsamian about his Alternative Radio project.
Jean-Luc Bostyn, Hans Knot en Ger Tillekens (2000), De prehistorie van de hitparade. Over Billboard's uitvinding van de hitparade en hoe die de Lage Landen bereikte.
Hans Knot (2001), Songteksten voor de jeugd van toen. Bespreking van "Tijd voor Teenagers".
Markus Heuger (1997-2003), Beabliography. Mostly Academic Writings about the Beatles.
Alan W. Pollack (1994), Notes on "Eleanor Rigby".
Hans Knot en Arno Weltens (1998), De invloed van de radio op de popmuziek.
Alan W. Pollack (2000), Notes on "Hey Jude".
Ger Tillekens (1999), The amazing grace of "Never Ever". The power of a four-girl band and a three-chord song.
Hans Knot (2001), Radio Luxembourg, de Nederlandstalige Afdeling (1960-1962). Drie jaren uit de verloren geschiedenis van Radio Luxembourg.
Keith Roe (1996), Music and identity among European youth. Music as communication.
Ger Tillekens (1999), A Beatles' Odyssey. Alan W. Pollack's musicological journey through the Beatles' songs.
Hans Knot (2001), Televisie op de kabel en reclame op de televisie. De publieke discussie over de toekomst van de televisie in 1964.
Thomas J. Scheff (2001), Words of love and isolation. Individualism and alienation in popular love songs, 1930-1999.
Dénes Pintér (2001), The Queen anomaly. Melody repetition and the melody factor in Queen songs.
Marco Maurizi (2003), Ecce robot. Go Nagai meets Adorno, or how to philosophize with an atomic punch.
Hans Knot (2001), De radio als politiek strijdmiddel. Propaganda via de radio in heden en verleden.

Welcoming all contributions. And remember, as we keep on going, we will need fresh material at all times. So we welcome all contributions on our themes and topics.