‘Born in the Republic of Austria’ The invention of rock heritage in Austria

Abstract

This article explores the retrospective cultural consecration of popular music in Austria. Examining two recent documentary projects, one focusing on Austropop, a Viennese popular music phenomenon of the early 1970s, and the other on the punk-inspired music scene of Linz in Upper Austria from late 1970s, the article shows how both projects seek to invent an Austrian popular music heritage and advance claims for national or regional cultural identity based on the discourse of rock heritage. ‘Weltberühmt in Österreich. 50 Jahre Austropop’ (World Famous in Austria. 50 Years of Austropop) deploys the ‘Sound of Music’ image of Austria in the construction of Austropop as an essential part of national cultural heritage and hence, national identity for the post-war generation. ‘Es muss was geben’ (There must be something) asserts the identity of the punk-inspired musicians of Linz as ‘Steel City kids’ and yet claims that this music scene contributed significantly to the transformation of Linz from an industrial town dominated by state-owned steel works to a ‘cultural city’. My analysis suggests how the claims of rock heritage are, after all, consistent with the cultural ideology of the post-war republic and how they reflect broader contradictions in Austrian society.

Keywords:

• Austrian popular music heritage
• national and regional identity
• cultural ideology
• Austropop
• post-war generation

Acknowledgements

The research for this article was carried out as part of the HERA research project Popular Music Heritage, Cultural Memory and Cultural Identity (POPID). I am grateful for suggestions made by Alfred Smudits, the Principal Investigator of the POPID project in Austria, Thomas Herscht and Rainer Prokop, the two Ph.D. students working on the project as well as the two peer reviewers. In addition, I would like to thank Anthony Auerbach for valuable discussions during the preparation of this article.

Notes

1. The original German-language quotations have been translated by the author.

2. For this reference I thank Rainer Prokop, who has analysed Austropop compilation albums in detail.