Confrontation strategy in the counter-cultural rock-discourse

Abstract

   The article describes functions of the strategies and tactics of linguistic persuasion in the counter-cultural rock-discourse.

   The aim of the study is to identify the tactics and means of linguistic persuasion at the macrolevel of counter-cultural rock discourse. The means of linguistic persuasion, determined by the history of the movement, are widely used in songs of different rock-bands. The origins of rock-music are in the music of the U.S. black population, i. e. blues and jazz, which eventually developed into rock’n’roll and rock. The song lyrics raised political, economic and social problems of modern society. The most important and distinctive function of rock-discourse is its appellative, or persuasive function. The material, subjected to discourse analysis in the present research, is the lyrics of the counter-culture album “Drones” by the British rock-band “Muse”. All the songs of the album are united both by the topic of opposition to the total government control and by the common plot. The paper focuses on the main elements of the album’s macrostructure such as its cover, titles of the songs and contents. The analysis of all these elements reveals the main strategy of the album – the Confrontation strategy. The means of the strategy are targeted at the group of the audience called ‘they’ to denounce, blame and offend them.