The Seduction of Sound in Consumer Culture

Abstract

Whilst much has been written about the nature of visual desire in Western consumer culture, the significance and nature of ‘sound’ desire has been largely neglected. This article sketches out what an epistemology of sound desire might ‘look’ like and reinterprets three iconic moments in the history of Western sound experience beginning with the Odysseus myth before moving on to early accounts of gramophone and radio use. The article then discusses the nature of Walkman desire and how the inherent mobility of Walkmans makes them an icon to individual choice, permitting users to create their own soundworld through the spaces, places and timings of consumer culture. Through an empirically grounded analysis of Walkman practices, the author delineates the nature of aural desire by analysing sound aesthetics, sound tourism and the intimacy of sound.