Abstract
Between 1979 and 1989, AIR Studios on the Caribbean island of Montserrat was a premier recording destination for a galaxy of top rock-and-roll stars. Forced to close by Hurricane Hugo, the property has suffered further damage from the ongoing eruptions of the Soufrière Hills volcano since 1995. Access is now restricted, but it has nonetheless become a virtual and actual place of tourist pilgrimage. In 2010 archaeologists from the Survey and Landscape Archaeology on Montserrat project (SLAM) surveyed the ruins of AIR Studios, carefully recording the spatial layout of the studio, documenting remnant material culture abandoned at the time of the studio’s closure, and excavating ash-covered pavement slabs inscribed by musicians during the studio’s heyday. Further research revealed that certain elements of the studios had been systematically stripped from the premises after 1989 and, in some cases, have since been reincorporated into other buildings across the island.
As a site of contemporary archaeology, AIR Studios raises several theoretical considerations about the maintenance of ruins, experiences of a doomed place, and the movement and displacement of material objects. Why, for example, is there such interest in maintaining the orderly appearance of a structure that is rapidly succumbing to tropical decay and will probably soon be overwhelmed by volcanic ash flows? Is a trip to AIR Studios so evocative precisely because of its somewhat dangerous location and because a visit involves trespassing? Understanding this place requires consideration of the nostalgic sentiments and collective memories that draw people from around the world directly to AIR Studios. In this chapter, we discuss these and other issues, including the site’s prospects as a heritage site, given its imminent demise.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the Montserrat National Trust for their continued support, the SLAM and Little Bay Archaeology Project field crews who participated in the AIR Studios survey, and, most of all, Douglas C. Anderson and Sir George Martin for arranging and granting us access to AIR Studios. We hope that our experience will contribute, in some small measure, to the preservation of the Studio’s important place in Montserrat’s cultural and archaeological heritage. We are grateful to Christina Hodge for inviting us to participate in the CHAT 2011 session in which the first version of this paper was presented and to Mary Beaudry and Travis Parno for including us in the subsequent publication and for the most helpful comments of our two referees.
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Appendix. A Partial List of Musicians and the Albums they Recorded at AIR Studios Montserrat, 1979–1989
Appendix. A Partial List of Musicians and the Albums they Recorded at AIR Studios Montserrat, 1979–1989
Date | Artist | Album/sessions |
|---|---|---|
1979 | ||
April | America | Silent Letter |
May | Jimmy Buffett | Volcano |
June | Climax Blues Band | Real to Reel |
Oct/Nov | Private Lightning | n/a |
December | Roger Daltrey | McVicar |
1980 | ||
February | Lou Reed | Growing Up In Public |
March | Cheap Trick | All Shook Up |
U.F.O. | No Place to Run | |
Earth, Wind & Fire | Faces | |
July | Alan David/Bruce Welch | n/a |
December | Nazareth | The Fool Circle |
Sheena Easton | You Could Have Been With Me | |
1981 | ||
January | John Townley | n/a |
Feb/Mar | Paul McCartney | Tug of War with Stevie Wonder |
April | Mike Batt | n/a |
Apr/May | Little River Band | Time Exposure |
May/June | Michael Schenker Group | MSG |
Jun/July | The Police | Ghost in the Machine |
Jul/Aug | Rob de Nijs | 80/82 |
August | Stray Cats | Built for Speed |
1982 | ||
January | Elton John | Jump Up |
Jan/Feb | Duran Duran | Rio |
April | Roger Daltrey | Parting Should be Painless (parts) |
May | Nazareth | 2XS |
May/June | Sheena Easton | Madness, Money, and Music |
Jul/Aug | Ultravox | Quartet |
Sept/Oct | Elton John | Too Low for Zero |
December | The Police | Synchronicity |
1983 | ||
January | The Police | Synchronicity |
Feb/Mar | Status Quo | Back to Back |
Mar/Apr | James Taylor | That's Why I'm Here |
Apr/Jun | I Pooh (Italy) | n/a |
Jun/July | Duran Duran | Seven and the Ragged Tiger |
Oct/Dec | O.M.D. | Junk Culture |
December | Elton John | Breaking Hearts |
1984 | ||
January | Elton John | Breaking Hearts |
Feb/Mar | AIR Supply | AIR Supply |
Mar/Apr | Eric Clapton/Phil Collins | Behind the Sun |
May | Geoff Emerick | EMI project |
September | Luther Vandross | Give Me the Reason |
Nov/Dec | Dire Straits | Brothers in Arms |
1985 | ||
Jan/Feb | Dire Straits | Brothers in Arms |
Apr/May | Mike Rutherford | n/a |
May/Jun | Rush | Power Windows |
Jun/July | Midge Ure | The Gift |
Jul/Aug | Tommy Keene | n/a |
Aug/Dec | Art Garfunkel | Various |
1986 | ||
Mar/Apr | Sting | Various |
June | Luther Vandross | Any Love |
Jul/Aug | Ultravox | U-Vox |
August | Boy George Culture Club | From Luxury to Heartache |
Sept/Oct | Black Sabbath | Eternal Idol |
1987 | ||
March | Rush | Hold Your Fire |
Apr/May | Indochine (France) | n/a |
May/Jul | Sting | Various |
Jul/Aug | Deep Purple | The House of Blue Light |
Sept/Oct | Takako Okamura | n/a |
Nov/Dec | Corey Hart | Young Man Running |
1988 | ||
Jan/Feb | Corey Hart | Young Man Running |
February | Eddie Jobson | n/a |
Feb/Mar | Midge Ure | Answers to Nothing |
April | Keith Richards | Talk is Cheap |
May/Jun | The Fixx | Calm Animals |
Jun/July | Simply Red | A New Flame |
October | Walt Disney World | n/a |
December | Complex (Japan) | n/a |
1989 | ||
January | Complex (Japan) | n/a |
Jan/Mar | Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford, and Howe | Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe |
March | Kassav (France) | n/a |
Mar/May | Rolling Stones | Steel Wheels sessions |
May/Jun | Trance Dance | n/a |
July | Ziggy Marley | Various |
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Cherry, J.F., Ryzewski, K., Pecoraro, L.J. (2013). “A Kind of Sacred Place”: The Rock-and-Roll Ruins of AIR Studios, Montserrat. In: Beaudry, M., Parno, T. (eds) Archaeologies of Mobility and Movement. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology, vol 35. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6211-8_12
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