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date: 26 January 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This chapter explores the relationship between humanism and music, giving attention to important theoretical and historical developments, before focusing on four brief case studies rooted in popular culture. The first turns to rock band Modest Mouse as an example of music as a space of humanist expression. Next, the chapter explores Austin-based Rock band Quiet Company and Westcoast rapper Ras Kass and their use of music to critique religion. Last, the chapter discusses contemporary popular music created by artificial intelligence and considers what non-human production of music suggests about the category of the human and, resultantly, humanism. These case studies give attention to the historical and theoretical relationship between humanism and music, and they offer examples of that relationship as it plays out in contemporary music.

Keywords: humanism, music, popular culture, Modest Mouse, Quiet Company, Ras Kass, Taryn Southern, artificial intelligence, rock music, hip hop

Christopher M. Driscoll

Department of Religion Studies, Lehigh University

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