ABSTRACT
In this part of this publication, Hair's resonances in popular culture are considered in detail. This chapter focuses on analysing songs from the musical that have been re-released in new interpretative contexts. Adopting approaches used in popular music studies and highlighting how material from the musical has been covered or sampled by popular artists allows for an assessment of the political currency of Galt MacDermot's score. It adopts two artists as its main case studies – Nina Simone and Public Enemy – and analyses how both have reimagined the musical theatre song in an alternative context, illustrating additional forms of rebellion against established ideals.
