Iain Ellis

About Iain Ellis

Born in Manchester, England, and raised east of London, Iain Ellis spent his formative years playing, performing, and consuming a heavy (if not healthy) diet of punk rock music and football. Little has changed since. In 1986, the young man went west to find his dreams in Bowling Green, Ohio, U.S.A. Instead, he picked up a PhD in American Culture Studies, writing his dissertation on 1980s American Punk Culture. In 2000, he traveled further west, settling in Lawrence, Kansas, where he currently teaches English and Youth Culture Studies at the University of Kansas. An avowed arrested adolescent, Iain continues to follow music and sports with a passion, performing and recording periodically with his Ohio-based Britpop band, piss artists, and playing weekly with his Lawrence football team, The Sweepers. When he grows up, Dr. Ellis hopes to head further west.

Columns

Subversive Rock Humor

Dead But Not Buried or, When the '90s Took a '60s Turn

[23.May.08] :. The post-Dead and post-Zappa bands of the '90s sought to subvert the prevailing trends towards crass commercialism, individual greed, and phony superficiality.

Recent columns

 

Subversive Rock Humor

Gene Vincent: A Caricature Portrait of the Artist as Rebel Rocker

[28.Mar.08] :. Nostalgic craving for the iconic Gene gene still burns bright, as look-alikes (young and old) exaggeratedly hiccup their way through “Be-Bop-a-Lula”.

Recent columns

 

Subversive Rock Humor

The 'Dewussification' of Texas

[25.Jan.08] :. The Texas Jewboys' fan base mutated into a hodge-podge collection of unconventional mavericks, spanning Hells Angels bikers, hardened hippies, and down-to-earth country folk.

Recent columns

 

Subversive Rock Humor

George Formby: Tangled in the Roots of British Rock Humor

[30.Nov.07] :. Full of cheeky wordplay and double entendres, Formby continually tweaked the sensibilities of the staunchly conservative British establishment with saucy narratives that left little to the imagination.

Recent columns

 

Alternative Rock Cultures

The Affectionate Parodies and Ironic Diss-Positions of Ween

[1.Oct.07] :. Shock-humor abounds across Ween’s work, and dumb infantilism is worn as a badge of honor.

Recent columns

 

Subversive Rock Humor   Rap's Righteous Rhyme-Fighter

Alternative Rock Cultures   The Rudest, Crudest, Lewdest, Drunkest Band in Christendom

Alternative Rock Cultures   Hit Me With Your Rhythm Shtick: The Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury

Alternative Rock Cultures   From the Mop-Top to the Walrus: Some Funny Sides of the Beatles

 
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