Jennifer Otter Bickerdike

Peter Hook in Conversation with Jennifer Otter Bickerdike

Jennifer Otter Bickerdike is a media and music academic and author, specializing in fandom, vinyl records, the cult of dead celebrity, pop culture and music. She has written and presented extensively on fandom and media across various platforms, including the BBC, Channel 4, TruTV, The Guardian and Playboy.

Music experience and early academic career[]

Otter Bickerdike was raised in Santa Cruz, California, where she established an interest for the ocean, conservation, swimming, surfing and music. While working to complete her BA in American Studies at the University of California, Davis, Otter Bickerdike landed her first position in the music industry, with a College Music Representative job at Sony Music Entertainment. Before graduating, she interned at a variety of record companies, including PolyGram, MCA Records and Universal Music Distribution before becoming the West Coast Marketing Director for Interscope Geffen A&M Records at 25.^[1] She toured with and devised marketing and branding campaigns for acts including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Dr. Dre, Gwen Stefani, U2 and Eminem, before leaving to start her own consulting company, working with a wide array of creative and technology industry, such as Facebook, Music for America, Fuzz, Adeline Records and L.A.M.B.^[2] She concurrently taught at and gained her MA in Humanities from San Francisco State University.

After friend Hunter McPherson was murdered in San Francisco, Jennifer decided to quit her job, sell everything she owned and fulfill a life long dream of living in England.^[1] Her story of transformation was featured in the New York Times best-selling author Marlo Thomas’s book, It Ain’t Over ‘Till Its Over.

After moving to London, Otter Bickerdike enrolled in Goldsmiths, University of London, where she completed her PhD in Cultural Studies. The doctorate focuses on the evolving fandom and mythology of post-punk band Joy Division and Seattle icons Nirvana.

Otter Bickerdike is currently a Professor and Global Music Ambassador for BIMM Institute. She also helped start Moving the Needle, a non profit organisation created to support women in the UK music industry through their entire career.

Publications[]

Otter Bickerdike specializes in writing about popular culture and fandom. Her books include:

• Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon (Bonnier / Nine Eight) {{|9781788705240}}
• You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico (Faber & Faber / Hachette, 2021)
• Why Vinyl Matters: A Manifesto from Musicians and Fans (ACC Art Books) ISBN 9781851498635
• Joy Devotion: The Importance of Ian Curtis and Fan Culture (Monograph, 2016) Headpress, ISBN 9781909394285
• The Secular Religion of Fandom (Sage, 2015)
• Fandom, Image and Authenticity: Joy Devotion and the Second Lives of Kurt Cobain and Ian Curtis (Palgrave MacMillan, 2014) ISBN 9781137393524

Otter Bickerdike is the editor of Will Sergeant of Echo and the Bunnymen's book Bunnyman (Hachette / Third Man, 2021) and a book about Iggy Pop, Iggy & the Stooges: One Night at the Whisky 1970, featuring the photography of Ed Caraeff.

Media appearances and awards[]

Otter Bickerdike is asked to speak regularly at conferences and public lectures around the world on various aspects of music and media, from symposiums on branding and promotion to talks on the cultural history of the 27 Club. She has appeared at a range of institutions including Google, Liverpool Sound City, Manchester Off The Record, Bestival, Goldsmiths University of London, Cambridge University,^[3] Experience Music Project Seattle, San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival,^[4] XOYO, The Battery and others, on areas as diverse as the rise of celebrity culture, the tragic gothic heroine, and dark tourism. She has featured as an expert on pop music and media across a variety of platforms such as BBC 1, BBC Radio 6, Channel 4, BBC 3 and TruTV, and has written for The Guardian, Louder Than War, Long Live Vinyl, Bass Guitar Magazine and Playboy.^[5]

In 2019, Otter Bickerdike was featured on the cover of the Good Times. In September of the same year, Santa Cruz mayor Martine Watkins proclaimed September 28th officially 'Jennifer Otter Bickerdike' day in honor of Otter Bickerdike's contributions to music culture and community in her hometown.

In 2013, she won the Student Led Teaching award for Most Innovative Lecturer^[6] and was short listed for the same accolade on a national level by the Times Higher Education.^[7]

References[]