The road to paradise? Misreading Bloom, allowing for a theory of context

Bloom's theory on anxiety sets each text within a poetic tradition. For Bloom, each poet is aware of the need to pay homage to the great writers of the past whilst also struggling against any danger of mimicry. Instead they strive to find a space for their own ‘genius’ within this poetic tradition. Poetry, according to Bloom, can only be read in terms of its relationship to other poetry where the poet revises, or ‘misreads’ (ibid., p. 5), the earlier work. By the use of six revisionary ratios, Bloom demonstrates how poets show their indebtedness to their precursors, whilst also allowing for a correction of the past to take place that allows their own authorial genius to shine through. By using Bloom's theory on anxiety, it is possible that the diachronic trajectory of melodic rock can be analysed by recording the revisionary swerves made by the band upon reformation (cf. ibid., p. 44). I shall use Magnum's recent release to demonstrate how a band who have split up and then reformed struggle to clear ‘imaginative space’ (ibid., p. 5) for themselves. However, it is also necessary to show how Magnum react to expectations surrounding a release from this particular band, these expectations being fashioned by past releases. Although it is risking stating the obvious, for the fans of Magnum their strongest precursor is … Magnum. By its nature, a reformed band has had to start out once again, and has to grow. The temporal disruption in its existence caused by its split affects the circularity of its life-cycle and the band's existence in the present serves to place its former entity as its precursor.

However, it is important not to focus on Bloom's thesis in isolation and the work of Pierre Bourdieu offers an illuminating angle through which to widen Bloom's theory. Bourdieu's work on cultural fields shows how artists use position-taking strategies to appeal to consumers within the field. Here, success in the field (be it measured in economic or cultural terms) is measured by the social rules governing these (sub)genres and participants' symbolic capital (see Bourdieu Reference Bourdieu1993, p. 30). Producers are required to take a position related to the structure of the field as a whole and thus either recreate or reposition the field (see Hesmondhalgh Reference Hesmondhalgh2006, pp. 215–16). Therefore, a modification of Bloom taking into account Bourdieu's work on cultural fields would be useful. This will allow me to demonstrate how a band's relation to its former work fits into each cultural field's own individual markers of value and prestige. Bourdieu's work enables us to view ‘the wider social and political consequences’ (Couldry Reference Couldry2003, p. 65) of the making of cultural texts. This is important if we are to discuss a band's work in relation to its own cultural context.

Unlike Bloom, I do not wish to ground my analysis purely within the texts themselves. For in actual fact to include extra-material such as interviews and commentaries is to enhance his reading. If we accept that influence involves ‘inheritance between fathers and sons’ (Pondrom Reference Pondrom, Clayton and Rothstein1991, p. 209), then in this instance the reformation of a band is a ‘rebirth’. It is moulded in the image of its previous incarnation – but there are differences. The members of the group may change and the delivery style of the songs may change owing to the different experience that the band members have gained as they have got older. But its umbilical cord to its previous incarnation has yet to be severed in its entirety.

To use extra-textual material would not necessarily run contrary to Bloom's theory, as Kawamoto suggests (Reference Kawamoto2005, p. 225), but in fact is necessary in order to see how these relations between poems (or in the present study, songs) are enacted in everyday culture. The way the band achieve this is to construct a reading formation (see Bennett and Woollacott Reference Bennett and Woollacott1987, p. 64) where meaning is anchored prior to reading the text itself. I wish to concentrate my analysis on this inter-textual material, as it suggests that even if allowing for the agency of the author, it is impossible to analyse a text in isolation. For as Magnum experience anxiety with regards to their past, in their struggle to attain consecrated status it is necessary for Magnum to maintain a position in the contemporary melodic rock field.

Bloom looks at influence and as such offers a method to outline stylistic variations throughout a band's existence (cf. Kawamoto Reference Kawamoto2005, p. 239). Bloom's method of finding the meaning of a poem in another poem serves to focus attention on the individual creator. When looking at extra-textual material I shall demonstrate how certain reviewers feel the need to emphasise the creative, individual nature of songwriter Tony Clarkin's output. After all, even if we accept a (post)structuralist approach that sees writing as a coming together of various cultural flows (cf. Barthes Reference Barthes1977, p. 146), then each band's cultural trajectory features a unique combination of these currents (cf. Burke Reference Burke1998, p. 174). The band (and songwriter Tony Clarkin) can still be analysed in terms of their creative output, as what is important is which reading formations both critics and the band themselves choose to activate in interviews. By demonstrating how the band's anxiety was shown not just in the texts themselves, but also in their discourses about those texts, I show just how deeply these anxieties are felt. There are clearly elements in the musical style that are influenced by early Magnum. However, in the context of this analysis, the music itself is almost incidental. Moreover the reviews of the album, when combined with interviews given by the band, serve to show that there is a preferred meaning (Morley Reference Morley1992, pp. 75–118) of the burden of influence under which Clarkin has toiled. Hoping to exhibit the album's unique qualities, the band firstly need to display their abilities as purveyors of their former style (cf. Homan Reference Homan and Homan2006, p. 33).

Jim Collins introduces the idea of the ‘intertextual arena’ (Reference Collins1989, pp. 43–9), where discourses surrounding a text fight for position with other texts and producers. Collins's work allows for Bloom's vitally important emphasis on the agency of the writer to come through, whilst acknowledging that a work such as Princess Alice … is required to fit a certain generic expectation of melodic rock. Jacques Derrida argues that ‘as soon as genre announces itself, one must respect a norm, one must not cross a line of demarcation’ (Derrida Reference Derrida and Attridge1992, pp. 224–5), yet this need not necessarily mean that the songwriter Tony Clarkin be defined as ‘weak’. By conducting interviews and highlighting the album's position in the Magnum heritage, the band attempt to present the melodic rock field as a phenomenon. Here, the intertextual valorisation of melodic rock is presented as offering the necessary elements for the band to acquire symbolic capital and thus cultural acceptance (cf. Collins Reference Collins1989, p. 52).

I have set out in this section how a misreading of Bloom can enable us to see, if not how a band may function textually, how it is represented within the field of production. By showing how inter-textual factors have great importance in how an album is read, I have stated the case for demonstrating a band's anxiety in terms other than a solely textual/musicological analysis. I now wish to discuss Princess Alice … and show how the band allow their anxiety to shine through with regards to their previous legacy. In this next section, I shall demonstrate how Magnum's anxiety is inextricably linked to the melodic rock field as it is presently constituted. As such, I first wish to discuss the melodic rock field, and Magnum's standing within it.

So far away: Magnum and melodic rock's struggle with the past

As a band, Magnum have been a significant part of the melodic rock field since the release of their debut album Kingdom of Madness in 1978. Melodic rock's roots lie in the 1980s. As metal and rock bands sought to increase commercial potential, so the complexity and keyboard-dominated melodies of progressive rock were mixed with the rhythmic power chords of heavy metal. Mainstream pop sensibilities such as hooksFootnote ³ and choruses were also used to broaden the fan-base beyond the hardcore of a rock subculture, and enable a move into the mainstream. Robert Walser suggests that Bon Jovi, one of the more successful melodic rock bands, ‘focussed the intensity and heaviness of metal with the romantic sincerity of pop and the “authenticity” of rock, helping to create a huge new gender-balanced audience for heavy metal’ (Walser Reference Walser1993, p. 13) and this sums up effectively the ethos of melodic rock. Even the title ‘melodic rock’ signified such bands' attempts to reposition themselves away from the more accepted idea of heavy metal. This name signalled that more pop-oriented harmonies would complement the subcultural standard of the heavy metal ‘riff’. The sub-genre sought to appropriate generic conventions from both metal and mainstream pop music to create a hybrid form of ‘popular’ metal that was seen as a commodified form of the more ‘authentic’ rock forms dominant in the previous decade (see Walser Reference Walser1993, pp. 13–14). Melodic rock as a genre shows how it is possible to think in terms other than constructing a binary opposition between commercial and ‘art’ music, as elements of the restricted heavy metal field find themselves in tension with the field of large-scale production.

This field is significant for the fact that, over a thirty year life-cycle to the present day, it has had a fluctuating relationship with the mainstream. Originating from Birmingham in the 1970s, Magnum originally found themselves being viewed as a ‘lighter’ version of contemporaries such as Judas Priest and Black Sabbath. Until the mid-1980s Magnum's output could be considered ‘subcultural’. Their albums were characterised by long complex song structures and neo-progressive chord changes. Meanwhile the artwork and song content revolved around fantastical imagery and anti-war songs.Footnote ⁴ After signing a deal with Polydor in the mid-1980s, there was a shift in Magnum's output that saw the songs become shorter and relatively more ‘commercial’. Indeed, an ever-increasing number of love songs entered their repertoire. At this stage, melodic rock artists such as Poison, Journey and Def Leppard found themselves selling greater quantities of records and entering mainstream consciousness. This was also the period when Magnum gained their greatest commercial success, including an appearance on Top of the Pops, top ten albums and sell-out concerts at the National Exhibition Centre and Wembley Arena in Britain. However, the field declined in commercial strength in the early 1990s and the band split in 1995. In recent years, as melodic rock's commercial power has diminished, so bands have reverted to their earlier strategies to show their distinction from the mainstream.Footnote ⁵ Accordingly, more complex song structures, concept albums and fantasy lyrics have once again become the norm. What this shows is that the values of what is considered ‘authentic’ in any cultural field can shift over time. Despite having gone through a period when mainstream ‘pop’ was considered an ‘authentic’ position in the field, this is no longer the case for melodic rock.

Thus by the time Magnum reformed in 2002, the melodic rock field had been distanced from the commercial mainstream, and acquired rules of entry that once again emphasised musicians' creativity. From a position of huge commercial success and great popularity, melodic rock had retreated so far away from the field of large-scale production that awareness of the musical genre barely registered outside of the subculture (cf. Harris Reference Harris2000, p. 5). Consequently, by the release of Princess Alice … , Magnum found themselves in a difficult position. They were required to show indebtedness both to their original subcultural position, whilst also clearing imaginative space to show the band had created a unique album that was not a mere pastiche of … Storyteller's … As the field was now constituted, this prior commercial era of the band would be related to negative connotations of genericism and inauthenticity. Thus the challenge was for the band to compete with the strength of the ‘subcultural’ albums in their oeuvre, especially … Storyteller's … . As such, singer Bob Catley was despatched in interviews to position the album relative to its precursor in interviews. In the next section I shall now consider Catley's contribution here and more generally the band's struggle to clear imaginative space for Princess Alice …

We all play the game: Magnum's anxiety of influence and their struggle with the past

Bob Catley acknowledges Princess Alice … is a conscious effort on songwriter Tony Clarkin's part to revisit Magnum's past (Ashcroft Reference Ashcroft2007b, p. 34) and was inspired by the interest in the twentieth anniversary tour (ibid.). It is apparent that reviewers will seek to activate different discourses, depending on their reception of the band and their own position within the field. In itself, this raises questions as to the band's success in re-positioning themselves within the field. Although some accept their reversion to a subcultural style, others feel the need to raise doubts over the reformed band's supposed strength. For hostile reviewers an effort is made to link Magnum to that which the band were attempting to move away from – namely their commercial stage – and thus link them to notions of inauthenticity. To this extent, certain strategies of linking the band to commercialism are an attempt to marginalise the band within the field. Reviewer Ben Hogwood (Reference Hogwood2007) calls them ‘returning rock dinosaurs’ and the period of Magnum's past he chooses to link them to is not the twenty-year anniversary of the release of … Storyteller's … , but it is instead ‘nearly twenty years on from their biggest commercial success’. It is stated, with some bemusement, that the band ‘sold bewilderingly large amounts of 1988's Wings of Heaven album’ (ibid.). This is bewildering, not only because he cannot understand who would choose to buy a record by Magnum, but also because the volume of sales links Magnum to the inauthentic field of large-scale production.

For those taste-formers within rock music who occupy a different taste culture to Magnum, it is important for them to show how Magnum's music does not really follow rock's practices of authenticity after all. The easiest way of doing this is to portray them as weak and mimicking that which had gone before. Hogwood's review exemplifies what Clarkin has to battle against – ‘the exhaustions of being a late-comer’ (Bloom Reference Bloom1975, p. 12) to melodic rock. No longer a viable genre to many in the present musical climate, melodic rock is considered to have died. The genre is seen as one that should be avoided by all musicians aspiring to cultural strength, referred to derogatively by some taste-formers as ‘cock rock’ (see Longhurst Reference Longhurst1995, p. 121). With Magnum's precursor now culturally devalued, this enables the review of the album to focus on the inauthentic nature of the music itself. By associating Magnum with the very part of their career which the band try to position themselves against, the strategy of this review is to make the derivative nature of Magnum's work seem natural and inevitable.

The most damning quote is left until the end of the review where we are told that ‘in these “days of no trust”– no change from the band's prophetic lyrics in 1988 then – some things can be trusted after all. Chief among these things – Magnum will never change’ (Hogwood Reference Hogwood2007). It is made plain that the band have not progressed musically since this time and the cultural positioning of the review mirrors uncannily Bloom's review of weak poetry, blighted by the threat of repetition (Bloom Reference Bloom1975, p. 80). In Hogwood's review the reformed band have failed to produce anything original and have instead churned out a replica of Wings of Heaven. To make matters worse they have copied an inauthentic album that no longer holds any subcultural legitimacy.

Significantly, the dangers of the reformed band appearing as clichéd and derivative come out, even in those reviews that are favourable. However, these more positive reviewers are careful to activate discourses of fidelity, rather than predictability. Rock of Ages reviewer Bill Leslie offers the opinion that ‘all of the elements long time followers … look for are here and are here in spades’ (Leslie Reference Leslie2007). It is in the band's interest to follow the rules of the game as currently constituted, especially as this field is one that, as it has reverted to a subcultural position, has become resistant to change. Therefore, being a more stable subculture, these reviewers seek a reaffirming of the original, authentic subcultural position of the melodic rock field (see Ling Reference Ling2002, p. 56; cf. Huq Reference Huq2006, p. 157).Footnote ⁶ As such, despite Magnum's attempt to produce an original work, their position-taking strategy is still constrained by their past struggles for consecration (cf. Bourdieu Reference Bourdieu1993, pp. 183–4). This, therefore, will orient the musical direction the band choose to take.

How then does the band attempt to deal with the critical commentary in the press? To counteract the attacks that have sought to portray them as mimicking their own past, the band seek to marginalise the commercial part of their past in interviews. This, therefore, allows their current output to appear more individual and authentic (cf. Bloom Reference Bloom1975, p. 121). Magnum misread their earlier ambitions for mainstream commercial success and claim they never really wanted this anyway. In narrowing their appeal to their core subculture they end up showing themselves as artistically authentic, more than would otherwise be the case. In interviews, the singer Bob Catley attempts to link the band not to their commercial past, but rather offers their more subcultural style: ‘The songs aren't the same but there are songs on this album that are reminiscent of some songs on the … Storyteller's Night album’ (Catley in Ashcroft Reference Ashcroft2007b, p. 34). Nowhere is the commercial success of Wings of Heaven or Goodnight LA Footnote ⁷ mentioned.

However, by feeling the need to inform the interviewer that ‘the songs aren't the same’ as those on the earlier album, Catley asserts the band's difference from their past output. The subcultural requirements to acknowledge … Storyteller's … influence brings with it the threat of weakness. However, Catley attempts to show the band as capable of being faithful to, yet updating, their subcultural style. Although in part reflecting their past accomplishments, the album is still presented as fresh, new and possessing the subcultural capital necessary for the band's success in the melodic rock field.

Favourable reviews of the album also engage in Bloomian revisionary ratios to assert the album's status. Fireworks reviewer Phil Ashcroft compares the track ‘When We Were Younger’ to that of ‘How Far Jerusalem’ off … Storyteller's … (Ashcroft Reference Ashcroft2007a, p. 55). This statement initially seems to reduce the status of the contemporary band to that of being weak and derivative, yet the review actually serves to allow the current band strength by means of a Bloomian revision. For Bloom's revisionary ratio of tessera a ‘completion’ of a previously unfinished work takes place (Bloom Reference Bloom1975, p. 66). Ashcroft is keen to inform us how ‘When We Were Younger’ goes further than the precursor song and is therefore seen as more creative – and thus more authentic. We are informed that ‘the acoustic guitar solos … [are like] an unexpected icing on your favourite cake’ (Ashcroft Reference Ashcroft2007a, p. 55). This statement shows how the latter song ‘completes’ the earlier work, and the band stick to the core melodic rock instruments of guitar, drums, bass and keyboards in the earlier work. By not including an acoustic guitar, it is presented that the earlier work had not ‘dared enough’ (Bloom Reference Bloom1975, p. 68) to be original. In many ways the original work is presented as, although having its own strength, tending towards the generic and commercial – exactly those qualities which the current band wish to avoid.

This approach is found not only in reviews but also the band's lyrics. ‘When We Were Younger’, for instance, offers an elegiac, nostalgic look at the past, as regret is shown for the commercial aberration in the band's trajectory. We are informed that:

Here the instant, immediately accessible nature of commercial music (cf. Bourdieu Reference Bourdieu1984, p. 32) is described, and acknowledgement is made that the band used to be positioned in this way. However, this spell of the band has now ‘drifted away’. In effect the association with the commercial period is distanced, or rather is presented as an inevitable stage on the way to the subcultural present, allowing the band to recognise their mistakes and refocus their subcultural ambitions with renewed intensity. Indeed, by presenting their career in its entirety, the band show how it is only possible to discern a band's style over a great period of time (cf. Bourdieu Reference Bourdieu1984, p. 281). ‘Maybe’, the band muse, ‘the truth [of the commercial period] was a lie’ and this earlier stage in the band's life cycle now needs to be re-read. Displaying regret for that spell where Magnum were commercial, the album insists on the fact that Magnum are a subcultural band, a ‘strong’ band and not a commercial pop band as they had threatened to be. Thus, the total package of Princess Alice … allows us to see Tony Clarkin's status anxiety and his struggle against his former existence. This view is re-enforced out in the song ‘Your Lies’ where Magnum are positioned as distinct and apart from the mainstream:

Magnum are unable to deny that the mainstream holds power in certain cultural circumstances. However, the rest of the song shows a desire for the album to be read as the product of a popular music tradition, but not of the pop tradition in which commercialism is dominant. ‘Just playing’ is a derogative, dismissive statement that paints a picture of the mainstream where the charismatic legitimation of the band writing their own songs is denied to them. The use of a hit songwriter is seen by the rock community as positioning a band in the field of large-scale production, where success is measured not by artistic creativity but by volume of sales. By emphasising the distance between the two fields, such that commercial bands think Magnum are ‘crazy’, Magnum move themselves closer towards an ‘authentic’ rock position. It is crucial here for a group to have authored their own works and thus be seen as original (cf. Weinstein Reference Weinstein2000, p. 62).Footnote ⁸

As well as using this authorship strategy, the band play on the subcultural categorisation of the band as ‘sword and sorcery’. In the track ‘Dragons Are Real’, for example, Magnum nod to the group's earlier period; significantly, Ashcroft (Reference Ashcroft2007a, p. 55) refers to this in his review. The lyrics overtly state Clarkin's position and his attempt to struggle with the past:

This style of music is ‘real’, and authentic, as opposed to the manufactured inauthentic pop of the mainstream.Footnote ⁹ However, there also seems to be an awareness of the need to struggle against the concept of fantasy lyrics as an illegitimate act, which is evinced by the defensive posture the song takes. This is a position that is furthered in interviews where there is a reaction against taste-formers from the mainstream. ‘I think he wrote “Dragons are real” as a bit of a dig at the sort of press we used to get when we first started, kind of “bloody Magnum all dungeons and dragons sort of stuff”’ (Catley in ‘Deano’ 2007). In this way Magnum seek to redefine their genre. They clear imaginative space for their current album by showing how their latest release aims for status in the restricted field of melodic rock by being positioned as writing for writing's sake:

Here, although linked to a subcultural generic position, it is the art of writing itself that is highlighted as the most important criteria for authenticity. This act is, by happy chance, linked to an authentic subcultural position for melodic rock. Clarkin hails his own songwriting skills as ‘magical’ and, by extolling the ‘magic’ of writing for writing's sake, Clarkin displays the characteristics of a strong agent in the field. Magnum's Sword and Sorcery is not restricted to the generic ideal that a band in the melodic rock subculture should aspire to, but is redefined as magical, tying Clarkin in to conventional ideas of the magical, creative artist. Therefore the song offers a trace of the presence of the original version of the band by virtue of the literal imitation of ‘classic’ Magnum. Yet the earlier band is also rendered absent through the transformation of ‘sword and sorcery’ and fantasy lyrics into a demonstration of authorial reflexivity. The ‘reality’ at stake here does not relate to subject matter, but rather the band's ability to generate authenticity.

The subcultural repositioning of the album is furthered by the album cover itself, as this acts as a ‘paratext’ (Genette Reference Genette1997) to serve as an introduction to the work inside. The use of fantasy artist Rodney Matthews links Magnum explicitly to the earlier subcultural period of the band, as he had supplied album covers for Chase the Dragon (1982), Eleventh Hour (1983), On a Storyteller's Night (1985), and the re-releases of Kingdom of Madness (1989[1978]) and Magnum II (1989[1979]). As is made clear in reviews, Matthews and Magnum are often linked together within the melodic rock field (‘Deano’ 2007). This reinforces the link between Princess Alice … and the strong precursor album of … Storyteller's … as opposed to the commercial era as represented by Wings of Heaven. For the latter album, the cover design moved away from the use of subcultural artwork and instead used a photograph of the band, effectively mainstreaming the band (see Weinstein Reference Weinstein2000, p. 29). Thus, by way of contrast, the use of Matthews's artwork gave the clearest indication of Magnum's shift away from the mainstream and back towards their earlier subcultural style. Indeed Dave Cockett of Fireworks magazine recognises this. As he puts it, ‘an association with Matthews lends an air of pompous grandiosity to any project’ (Cockett Reference Cockett2007, p. 48). The similarities with the … Storyteller's … cover are striking. Firstly, the logo for Princess Alice … has strong sword and sorcery imagery, in that the edges of the lettering double as sharp blades. Secondly, Matthews uses a similar colour palette of yellows and browns, whilst the setting of the two pictures is remarkably similar, featuring the protagonists around a large traditional table in a grand, medieval hall. However, differences are still apparent. The Princess Alice … cover is more stylised with echoes of Art Nouveau. Meanwhile, its less pronounced perspective compared to the …  Storyteller's … cover makes it appear more other-worldly and separate, as the viewer remains more detached from the scene. In this respect the cover directs the new-old subcultural ambitions of the album from the very start.

The use of Matthews as artist also serves to distance the band from popular culture and to appropriate some of the values of high culture. Whereas a photograph can be seen as a mass-produced image (see Frosh Reference Frosh2003, p. 10), the band decided to use Matthews because ‘he's the only man we know who can put a paintbrush to canvas, the old fashioned way of painting a picture like artists have done for centuries’ (Catley in Ashcroft Reference Ashcroft2007b, p. 34). Thus the link between present and past paintings is established while the act of painting is also portrayed as unique. In other words, the cover art represents an attempt to summon up the style of the … Storyteller's … cover through an original creative gesture which, quite helpfully, renders the earlier painting absent.

To sum up: in this section we have seen how Magnum have struggled to appropriate the re-invigorated cultural value of the original band in their quest for distinction in the melodic rock field as it is currently constituted. Recognition of that strategy can be found in a number of favourable reviews, for instance ‘Dougie’ who says ‘I think it is proper to say that Magnum, in terms of sound, songwriting and the artwork for the CD, have definitely returned to their roots in some style’ (‘Dougie’ 2007). Similarly, Leslie suggests, ‘“Thank You for the Day” really does capture the feel of Magnum in their 80s pomp’ (Leslie Reference Leslie2007). These readings borrow Magnum's subcultural authority from their former selves, yet the strength of the band's presentation is such that they ensure the revived band is not just a mere pastiche of what has gone before.

Thus the case of Magnum suggests Bloom's apocalyptic view that ‘poetry in our tradition, when it dies, will be self-slain, murdered by its own past strength’ (Bloom Reference Bloom1975, p. 10) cannot be carried across to rock. As Magnum have progressed, it has been necessary for them to ‘misread’ their earlier texts. Although they are referred to, they are revised as they are referenced (cf. Kawamoto Reference Kawamoto2005, p. 233). In this way the band are able to meet the needs of their fans whilst also ensuring they do not sacrifice rock's ideals of creativity and individualism in the process. Magnum's latest album can choose to invoke any part of their past life, be it to repress elements which are no longer palatable to the modern day band or to appropriate the desired subcultural value.

The last dance

Harold Bloom would no doubt baulk at my impertinent suggestion that the meaning of poetry (or, worse, a medium subjected to generic conventions such as melodic rock) cannot be found solely in another poem (see Allen Reference Allen1994, p. 31). Instead, I have suggested a modification of Bloom's theory that allows for the meaning of writing to be found in extra-textual material. By discussing reading formations to be found in material such as interviews and reviews, I have been able to show how the life-cycle of the band is charted and, with it, the cultural trajectory of the melodic rock field as a whole. The various discourses of the interviews and reviews show certain inter-textual position-taking strategies that are taken both by reviewers and the band themselves in order to position the band relative to the melodic rock field as a whole, and how there is a necessity to represent the reformed band as strong relative to their earlier body of work. This, then, allows Magnum's anxiety of influence to be charted and their position in the melodic rock field to be discerned.

Clearly, Magnum are not the only band to struggle with the anxiety of their own past influence upon their reformation. Utilising Bloom allows us to show how bands deliberately misinterpret, or misread, their past and how this impacts on the rock field as a whole (cf. Bloom Reference Bloom1975, p. 43). This modification of Bloom enables us to see those bands' relative strength in the rock field both pre- and post-reformation and allows a greater understanding of how the various sub-fields of rock operate.