ABSTRACT
Image is defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘The way that something or someone is thought of by other people’. Song recordings and performances are acts of negotiation between audiences and performers and the making of meaning is incomplete until the text is mediated. In the process of developing his songs into recordings, Weller is overseeing the introduction of multiple levels of meaning, each of which integrate and are recontextualised to acquire new meaning. In the chapter on Image, a section on the evolution of Weller's artistry explores the effect created by the music over time. This is followed by a section examining the music by type, in which recurring features and themes are identified and theories offered on their particular roles. The image of the popular musician is not restricted to sound alone, rather it is shaped by the totality of the practice including its social dimensions, and consequently, to acknowledge the roles of filmed and stage performance, a final section in the chapter on Image explores effects created by the visual dimension of Weller's music.
