Parrothead Margaritaville and Buffett’s Corporitaville: Audience Action

and the Negotiation of Culture

By John Mihelich

 Abstract

Jimmy Buffett’s entertainment and Parrothead practice reflect contested cultural terrain involving hegemonic incorporation and resistance.  I discuss how Buffett-ism incorporates Parrotheads into dominant cultural forms and, through “thick description,” demonstrate that Parrothead practice and Margaritaville imagery produce alternative cultural forms addressing identity, community, and existential concerns.  Although the alternative forms are not articulated structural challenges to dominant culture but nonetheless inject alternatives, Parrothead practice constitutes “embedded resistance.” Because alternative forms provide the attraction and promise of popular culture, I articulate the forms Margaritavile imagery offers, grounding the analysis in the ideas of Stuart Hall, Max Weber, and Herbert Gutman.

Wasted away again in Margaritaville/Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt.

Some people claim there’s a woman to blame/But I know it’s nobody’s fault

(Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville, Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, 1977)

In 1977 Jimmy Buffett's song "Margaritaville," from his album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” hit the pop music charts.  Baby boomers embraced the imagery of Margaritaville, a leisurely sun drenched place where individuals could experience the magic, mystery, and spontaneity absent in the “real” world of their everyday lives.  Facilitated by Buffett’s music and imagery, fans fashioned their own understanding and meaning of this constructed paradise through buying Buffett’s albums and cultivating Margaritaville in private parties and the small-scale venues where Buffett played.  As fans’ passion for the Margaritaville co-constructed by them and Buffett waned during the early 1980s, Buffett rejuvenated his entertainment career in 1984 through a corporate sponsorship with Grupo Modelo, a Mexico based brewing company that manufactures and sells Corona beer.  Assisted by the resources of the new corporate sponsor, Buffett’s entertainment empire flourished as it reached a broader audience, accessed much larger venues, and spawned a line of merchandise for the consuming pleasure of Buffett fans.  The ensuing wave of participants largely adopted the identity of “Parrotheads,” developed and embraced the communitas of the Parrothead subculture, and pursued the fanciful Margaritaville while Buffett developed his “Corporitaville” in predictable and rationalized ways.[i] 

The popular culture phenomenon centered on Jimmy Buffett’s music, what I call “Buffett-ism,” is part of the growing list of popular culture forms through which people find escape from the pressures and pace of daily life in the United States.  While scholars of popular culture interpret popular culture forms differently, they often directly or indirectly attribute the  consumption of popular culture to efforts to “get away from it all.”  In this quest for relief, people in contemporary American society pursue many directions.  Those directions recently described and analyzed by scholars include modern roller coasters (Anderson, 1999), professional wrestling (Rickard, 1999), raves (Martin, 1999), amusement or theme parks (Mintz, 1998), gambling (Moran, 1997), slam-dancing (Simon, 1997), motion simulators (Strehovec, 1997), karaoke (Lancaster, 1997), the Grateful Dead (Reist, 1997), punk rock (Davies, 1996), country dancing (Flinn, 1995), television (Elteren, 1994), the heavy metal scene (Hinds, 1992), and the subculture of the “Beats” (Elteren, 1999).  Other articles mention the longing for “community,” including Lewis (1997) and Carlson (1998), which is itself a response to the conditions of the “rat race.” 

In dealing with powerful imagery of escapism, such as that in Margaritaville, one wonders about the nature of the society that compels people toward escapism, why people seek relief through the consumption of popular culture, and whether their behavior constitutes something beyond escapism.  Since “getting away from it all” is a constant theme in Buffett-ism, broader assertions can be made on its cultural significance.  These assertions center on the cultural struggle developed by the tension between agency among the masses and the generation of culture on the part of those in power.  Some analyses have emphasized the active choices among the masses in participating in cultural forms, through actively selecting meanings and consumption patterns, extending the forms provided, or expressing resistance (de Certeau, 1984; Fiske, 1986, 1987; Jenkins, 1992; Klein, 2000; Morely, 1980; Radway, 1984; Willis, 1990).  Others have highlighted how ideological elements and power shape culture and incorporate the masses through popular culture mediums (Croteau and Hoynes, 1994; Hall, 1996; Gans, 1979; McGuigan, 1992; McKracken, 1993; Macherery, 1978; Schiller, 1992).  Still others attempt a compromise between audience action and the cultural impositions of power through neo-hegemony theory (McRobbie, 1994; Rose, 1994; Storey, 1985).  These differing approaches explore the dynamic culture process that includes negotiation, resistance and the tension resulting from power, agency and conflicting interests. 

Using the case of Buffett-ism, I illuminate the culture process with a balanced attention toward hegemonic incorporation and the active audience practice as revealed through  “thick description” (Geertz, 1973).  Several characteristics of Buffett-ism make it an exemplary case for a critical analysis attending to hegemonic cultural struggle in mass popular culture.  On the one hand, the content or “text” of Buffett-ism, centered on the imagery of Margaritaville, serves as a form of cultural critique, an enduring characteristic of popular culture.  Whether Margaritaville represents a place or a state of mind, the imagery symbolizes the possibility of a lifestyle with a much slower pace and very different values then the day-to-day rat-race of American life.  When representing an alternative way of life, with promise if not permanence, popular culture often offers cultural forms unavailable in mainstream society.  Audience participation in creating and pursuing Margaritaville demonstrates the desire for alternative cultural forms on the part of the masses.  Their active participation in Buffett-ism generates alternative cultural forms addressing needs for community, identity, and existential meaning and provides them an avenue through which to experience alternative cultural practice. 

On the other hand, the history of Buffett-ism reveals a common pattern as popular culture becomes commercialized.  Innovative forms develop as alternative forms of expression and then often become corporate in their production and distribution and mass consumed with elements of critique mediated in some manner.  An analysis of this pattern in the case of Buffett-ism turns the critique toward Buffett-ism itself because the “alternative” cultural practice, once commercialized, serves to incorporate people into, and maintain and legitimate, dominant cultural patterns.  In such a critical gaze, Buffett-ism, while promising a world of “Margaritaville,” helps maintain cultural hegemony by incorporating fans into a dominant culture of consumption, into a world of “Corporitaville” employing the capitalist model of exploitation through production, distribution, and consumption.  Because this model dominates the cultural arena, it is largely responsible for the rationalized, fast-pace and stressful life that the over-worked Parrotheads seek to escape.  Through incorporation, cultural critique is deflected into mass entertainment while the provision of escape comes to the fore and any message of structural cultural critique is minimized.  The tension between alternative culture and the incorporation of hegemony is revealed as groups of Buffett-ists maintain an open critique of the commercialism of Corporitaville, exposing, if not clearly articulating, the tension in hegemonic struggle. 

A closer look at Buffett-ism reveals how popular culture reproduces and negotiates culture, but it also provides an example for explicating the nature and potentialities of particular types of negotiation.  First, Buffett-ism represents an implicit negotiation, an “embedded resistance” (Mihelich and Storrs, 2003), in which people, mostly unwittingly, participate in the resistance directed toward dominant cultural forms.  Secondly, Buffett-ism aids in developing the articulation of structural and cultural critique implicit or explicit in much of popular culture with grass-roots origins.  I argue the promise of popular culture is that it cultivates seeds of cultural critique, disseminates them to the masses partially through entertainment, and offers specific directions for structural and cultural change that can be, in a final step of the recombinant processes of popular culture, articulated as such.

Methods

The following analysis of Buffett-ism encompasses various aspects of the phenomenon from the commercialized marketing and production practices of Buffett to the consumption, meaning creation, and identity construction practiced by Parrotheads.  I present a thick description of Buffett-ism derived from a variety of data sources including music lyrics, secondary literature, and the contents of numerous Buffett oriented websites.  From key websites and discussion groups, I accessed participants' narratives concerning, among other things, their experiences, identity, and reasons for participating in Buffett-ism.

Discovering the Buffett Appeal

“The point is a mood, a mindset, a way to flee, for three to four minutes at a time, from wherever you are to someplace warmer and friendlier.  Most of Buffett’s themes in both his lyrics and his live show—relaxation, friends, the power to let go, cutting through the bullshit, and a general sense of cheerful hedonism—can’t be denied…Buffett represents an image of what is, for many, the Ultimate Dream Lifestyle, tapping painfully well into the impossible soul of the guy who quit his job, bought a boat, sailed around the world, drank a lot of rum, sat in tiny bars, shared bottles with old men and young women, and lived a life of adventure—the life that, for damn near all of us, will only ever be possible in books and music.  Most of us left in the modern world won’t ever come close to it.  But most of us can’t bring ourselves to call off the search for it either”(Jeff Vrabel, 2001)

In his musings in Nude as the News (NATN), Jeff Vrabel refers to the “search” that Jimmy Buffett invokes in his fans.  The process of constructing the “Ultimate Dream Lifestyle” began to take shape between 1973 and 1976 as Buffett generated seven albums that had great appeal to his early fans but made little impact on the national scene.  Buffett’s break came in 1977 with the release of the album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” containing the classic track “Margaritaville” which made the top ten singles chart while propelling the album to platinum.  The subsequent success of Buffett’s music relied partially on his unique sound stemming from his experimentation with and exposure to folk, rock, and country music.  Phrases used to describe the Buffett “sound” include, “Carib-honky-tonk”, “Shrimp-boat rock”, and “Gulf and Western” (Harrington,1989, G1, cited in Bowen, 1997, p. 103).  One fan gives the recipe for Buffett’s music by stating, “start with a cup of country, add two tablespoons of Caribbean music a pinch of rock and a cup of soul from New Orleans.  Shake it all up and the result is what Buffett sounds like” (Bowen, 1997: 104).  Whatever the label, many Buffett fans know any particular song as soon as the first chord is struck and know all the words.  In a review of a 1983 concert in Los Angeles, the reviewer captured this characteristic of Buffett’s music by writing, “ [Buffett] had a sell-out crowd to sing backup vocals…judging by their knowledge and enthusiasm, if Buffett himself had failed to show, they would have sung every number without him”(Bowen, 1997, p. 103). 

Margaritaville and Parrotheads: A Place for All and for All a Place

While Buffett’s appeal stems partially from his style, the song “Margaritaville” established the anthem for the “ultimate dream lifestyle.”  The post-1977 success of Buffett’s entertainment rests on the captivating imagery of Margaritaville and on the active participation of his fans.  Margaritaville imagery points to alternatives to the rat-race of contemporary society, casting a somewhat averted critical gaze on American culture.  With a similar indirect critical perspective, audience participation generates other alternative cultural forms, giving expression to forms of identity, community, and existential meaning.

Margaritaville is associated with an imaginary place, a place of a fan’s choosing, or a state of mind.  Buffett describes Margaritaville as his “fantasy to find the perfect laid-back town by the ocean, the kind of place where the locals are all legendary characters who spend their days mixing up margaritas, where the air is always warm and the sea is crystal clear – a real Margaritaville of the mind… (Buffett, 1992, p. 10).  Buffett fans offered their own renditions of Margaritaville in their postings on “Parrot Republic Parrot Island” (Parrot Republic).  In response to the question “Where is your Margaritaville?” fans identified particular geographical locations they associated with Margaritaville or referred to Margaritaville as a state of mind (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Margaritaville).  The locations ranged from cafés, bars, and beaches to cabins, beach houses and fishing holes, from Coronado, California to Elliot Key, Florida, from Baja Sur, Mexico to Livingston, Montana, and from the Gulf Shores of Alabama to Cape Cod (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Margaritaville).  Other fans found Margaritaville just about anywhere they can listen to Buffet’s music—in their car, at home, or on the beach.  One fan commented, “Margaritaville is exactly as Jimmy says, ‘that little place that exists only in my mind or at the bottom of a tequila bottle.’ Margaritaville is a state of mind, not a place at all” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Margaritaville, HulagirlA1A).  Another fan commented, “I have a high pressure job and everyday I go over to a local park and sit and have my lunch and just enjoy the calm and tranquility of it all…I guess it’s the place we all go to forget about life for a while!” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Margaritaville, Monique871). 

“Parrotheads,” a term embraced by most participants in Buffett-ism, refers to both individual identities and a community of sorts.  The behaviors, beliefs and meanings that make up Parrothead identity vary from individual to individual, but, through shared practices and meanings, through the atmosphere at the Buffett concerts, and through the activities of local Parrothead clubs, Buffett-ism unites an otherwise diverse group of people, at least along the axes of class and age, into a loose-knit community.  A quote from a Parrothead club, Club Finz of Southern Maine and Seacoast New Hampshire, captures the spirit of Parrotheads and illustrates how Buffett-ism addresses the mutual needs of individuality and belonging: 

“Through his music and writings, Parrot Heads vicariously experience Jimmy’s lifestyle: the party, the ocean, the sunshine, and relaxed sense of freedom are a part of it.  And that freedom is most appealing, it allows us to express our feelings and creativity in whatever manner we choose and allows us to escape from the rat race to our little tropical paradise, if only for a little while. Parrot Heads are everywhere: you probably know a few and don’t even realize it.  Parrot Heads are doctors, sales reps, lawyers, pilots, police officers, college students, computer programmers, grandparents, and maybe even your neighbor.  And through their common interest in Jimmy Buffett’s music, this incredible gumbo of people from all walks of life is able to join together to support community causes in Buffett’s name” (Club Finz, What is a Parrot Head?).

One central feature of Parrothead identity and practice centers on Buffett’s yearly concert tours.  Many fans don Parrothead attire ranging from Hawaiian shirts and coconut bras to elaborate head dresses that have included live parrots, actual fountains of flowing tequila, or giant mock Corona Beer bottles, and begin their participation with pre-concert parties in bars, homes, and parking lots near the concert venue.  One Parrothead described the concert atmosphere and practice stating, “JB concerts…are a day-long, or in some cases, a 2 day-long extravaganza replete with food, margaritas, Coronas, cheeseburgers, other Parrotheads, good conversation, good stories, a lot of JB trivia—there happens to be a concert somewhere scattered among the madness” (COBO I, H/DparrotHD).  Once the concert begins, Parrotheads continue their participatory role with drinking, dancing, and singing along with the collective.  In referring to Parrotheads and his concerts, Buffett states,

“[Parrotheads are] Basically pretty normal people with a slight strain of insanity in their makeup.  I’m sure they all have day jobs, and do them willingly, but when Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band come to town, these folks…transform into Parrotheads and become an essential part of the show…and for a couple of hours I try to take them to Margaritaville " (Buffett, 1992, p. 5, 12). 

Aside from the concert tour, Parrotheads, often in organized clubs, carry on their practice through a myriad of activities.  They organize Halloween, New Years Eve, and Super Bowl parties along with random private celebrations around the Parrothead theme.  Many also devote significant amounts of time keeping in touch with one another through chat groups and a well-developed “Parrot Head Webring” (Parrot Head Webring).  They follow his tour schedule, find recent news, and purchase merchandise through sites like “BuffetNews.com” (BuffettNews.com), “Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville” (Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville), and “Parrotkey.com”—a self-proclaimed “cyber-island where you can sit on the beach, sip on a margarita and listen to some Buffett tunes” (Parrotkey.com).  Parrotheads often subscribe to “The Coconut Telegraph,” Buffett’s newsletter both on-line and in hard copy (Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Coconut Telegraph).  Finally, they participate in scores of Parrothead clubs—184 chapters, from Canada to California and Florida united under the national organization “Parrot Heads in Paradise, Inc.” [PhiP] (Parrot Heads in Paradise, Inc.). 

The Parrothead clubs provide an important organizational framework for the “community” of Parrotheads.  The clubs routinely hold organizational meetings, sponsor parties and events at local bars, develop annual conventions, and author mission statements containing endeavors and concerns deemed important by the club members including environmental issues, community betterment through volunteer efforts, and philanthropy.  For example, “The Atlanta Parrot Head Club,” founded in 1989, sponsors or participates in “numerous community and charitable events…including the Chattahoochee River Cleanup, Peachtree Rd. cleanup, AIDS and Alzheimer’s walks, etc.,” meets “for happy hours” at a local bar, and organizes “wonderful road trips to see Mr. Buffett” (Atlanta Parrot Head Club).  Members of the “Tampa Bay Parrot Head Club,” along with promoting “numerous parties and good times,” volunteer at Lowry Park Zoo, fund a Parrot Head Scholarship at USF, donate money and volunteer for the Save the Manatee Club, and participate in numerous other charitable activities (Finsup.com, Golden Coconut Award).  “Club Finz” contributes efforts to The Red Cross, the New Hampshire Special Olympics, and the Seacoast March of Dimes, among other community efforts (Club Finz, Community Service).  The “Orange County Parrot Head Club,” donates to the Orange County Zoo, volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House, participates in the annual Memory Walk for the Alzheimer’s Association and adopted a dolphin at the Dolphin Research Center in Florida (Orange County Parrot Head Club, Who we are/What we do).  According to PhiP, local chapters contributed “over $1.4 million and 360,000 man hours to various local and national charities” in 2002 (PhiP).

The Margaritaville imagery and club activities exemplify how the participants “recreate context” in the process of “creating culture,” what Harold Hinds refers to as “recombinant culture” (1996).  The recombinant culture offers alternative avenues for Buffett’s fans to cope with the pressures of the rat race and enduring existential concerns.  One fan expressing his/her thoughts stated: “For me, ParrotMusic makes this fast, furious, and often frustrating world a little more bearable, and keeps the idea of someday being able to run away from it all to my own private “Margaritaville” alive and well” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Why I Am a Parrot Head, Parrotmedx).  Other fans echo the sentiments of escaping the hectic day-to-day world of work in citing their favorite Buffett lyrics.  For example, after referring to the lyric “The seas in my veins, my tradition remains, I’m just glad I don’t live in a trailer” from the song “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” one fan wrote “I say this on a daily basis as I go to my suit job and my boat sits and waits for me at the dock” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Read Phavorite Lyrics).  In reference to the lyric “Take it all in it’s as big as it seems. Count all your blessings; Remember your dreams” from the song “Jimmy Dreams” on the album “Barometer Soup,” one fan commented, “Thank

you for the wake up call.  I put down my briefcase and picked up my pen again, writing fiction from the heart. Just stayin’ a boy” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Read Phavorite Lyrics).

            While these postings highlight alternatives to the pace of the contemporary world, other fans, posting and responding to their favorite Buffett lyrics and to the phrase “Why I Am a Parrot Head,” attended to existential realms of life.  One fan wrote, “Buffett…looks at life as more than just an opportunity to join the mainstream ‘rat race.’ Jimmy celebrates life and all that is fun in this world.  Life is more than just working and dying, people.  We’re here for such a short period—Jimmy just wants everyone to make the most of their time” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Why I Am a ParrotHead, HulagirlA1A).  Making the “most” of our time, according to some, means feeling good: “Buffett tunes have a way of suiting my every mood and most importantly they make me feel good about life” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Why I Am a ParrotHead, Shalitta).  Another fan reminds us “not to take yourself too seriously” after quoting his/her favorite lyric, “If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane” from the song “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” from the album with the same title (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Read Phavorite Lyrics).

Other fans tap a little further into the existentials of Buffett-ism and Margaritaville.  For example, one fan commented, “I was born-again into ‘Parrotheadism’ when I was about 15.  Since that point, my outlook on life has changed dramatically.  Life doesn’t seem so traumatic when I’m listening to Jimmy” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Why I am a Parrot Head, Parrothead77).  Another revealed the Parrothead blend of the spirit of community and assurance:

“his music is probably the one true thing that can cheer me up when I’m feeling down, and reassure me that no matter what path I choose in life, everything will fall into place…every summer his concert allows me to slip away…and party with countless others who share the charismatic spirit that is a Buffett concert.  I now consider myself a true member of the phlock, and know that the spirit of the Parrotheads will be with me always” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Why I Am a Parrot Head, Uofdchick). 

Indicating the importance of the “phlock” to both enduring the trials and celebrating the finer moments life offers, another fan wrote: “I’ve had good days and bad days and going half mad days but Brother Buffett has been there for every one of them.  Thanks to the phlock and special thanks to you Jimmy” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Why I’m a Parrot Head, Stephenlink).  The lyric “read dozens of books about heroes and crooks and I learned much from both of their styles” from Son of a Son of a Sailor from the album with the same title inspired a fan to comment: “a classic Buffett line about going through life, enriching your soul from the vast well of life’s experiences” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Lyric Postings).

As indicated by these narratives, Margaritaville provides an imaginative escape from the rat race of contemporary American life, but it is also a philosophy, a way of viewing and understanding the world that makes human life more bearable and meaningful.  While allowing an individual expression of Buffett-ism, the collective participation in clubs addresses members’ need for community, minus the restrictions of structurally more complex communities, in a social context where community has become diffused.[ii] 

Corporitaville

“This whole ‘Corporitaville’ thing is ‘all about money, donchu know.’  The shows are predictable, uninspired, lame and reheated, done in a way that makes me somewhat miss the coke and booze fueled 1977-78 tour”(BuffettNews.com, Message Board).

The message of Margaritaville and the audience construction of alternative cultural forms indicate the capacity for popular culture to give expression to cultural alternatives.  But Buffett-ism also illustrates a familiar pattern of commercialization of popular culture, a condition not lost on some of his audience. 

As the 1980’s approached, the crowds at Jimmy Buffett concerts began to grow older and smaller and his music was played less often on radio stations.  Buffett felt “the day of the singer/songwriter is over” (LaFranco, 1995, p. 84) and began to figure toward a new source of revenue (Pooley, 1998, p. 47).  In 1984 he opened a T-shirt shop that has transformed into a chain of restaurants and retail operations, known as “Margaritaville Café” (Pooley, 1998, p. 47).  In the same year he convinced Group Modelo with its Corona beer to serve as his corporate sponsor and converted his show with enhanced technology.  He built elaborate stage sets, hired clowns to entertain before concerts, and began projecting videos of ocean scenes and his seaplane adventures on a screen behind the stage (Pooley, 1998, p. 47).  Corona Beer invested over 2 million dollars into promoting Buffett in 1987-88 as he helped promote the beer to a 17% share of the imported beer market in the United States (LaFranco, 1995, p. 84).  He continued to expand his financial and entertainment empire by publishing his newsletter, The Coconut Telegraph, in 1985 to inform his fans of concert sites and dates and to market Buffett and Margaritaville paraphernalia.  This has been expanded to the Internet with the Margaritaville.com website.  He partnered with Seagram’s to produce Margaritaville Tequila, which is now owned by the David Sherman Corporation. Most recently, along with partnerships with Krispy Kreme donuts, he partnered with The Mott Company, makers of Margaritaville margarita mix, and Rose’s Triple Sec to make the world’s largest margarita—named “Big Rita.” 

Buffett markets his music and products to the point that he annually grosses fifty million dollars (La Franco, 1995, p. 84).  Although Buffett’s profits have flourished and his concerts continue to be sold out, he no longer simply sells the promise of enchanted experience through the magical creation of a fictional place or state called Margaritaville.  Today he and his corporate sponsors enlist the magic of Margaritaville to market everything from concert tickets, CDs and T-shirts to hamburgers and alcohol.  Buffett has found his means to provide for escape and, in doing so, meet his and his corporate sponsors' ends through choreographing Parrothead consumption.

The Coral Rift

Although the “phlock” of Parrotheads might appear at first glace to form a coherent group constituting a uniform identity and practice including the uncritical consumption of Buffet-ism, Parrotheads vary considerably in many dimensions.  Aside from variation along the lines of gender, class and age, difference appears between the “old-timers” who have practiced Buffett-ism for some time and fans newly exposed to his music and concert shows.  Buffett-ists also vary in the degree of resources, time and money, they devote to Buffett-like pursuits.  Some buy a CD or two and attend a concert if they can, while others own all 40 of his cds, follow his tour at great sacrifice, and embrace Buffett-ism as a core part of their identity.  While some enthusiastically embrace the identity in its widely varying expressions, others, although they enjoy Buffett’s music, don’t embrace the identity at all either because they have invested little time and energy in Buffett or because they adhere to their understanding of the early Buffett music that preceded the Parrothead days. 

An important axes of variation relevant to commercialization involves the degree to which Buffett-ists themselves critique Buffett’s commercial endeavors over the last decade and a half.  Some Buffett-ists condemn the commercialization, others recognize the commercialization but render it inconsequential, and still others seem to simply ignore it while enjoying the escape, “just driving” so to speak.[iii]  By adopting commercialized marketing strategies, many feel Buffett has turned his back on his early roots that grew out of his anti–establishment message.  While, as always, Buffett still sings about drinking, sex, and getting away from it all, many of his earlier pre-Margaritaville songs commented on larger social issues such as racism and economic inequalities.  Further, some argue, in the early days Buffett was truer to the image of “getting away from it all” in his own life and musical endeavors. 

The Church of Buffett, Orthodox [COBO] most clearly expresses the critique of Buffett.  Disgruntled with the later commercial exploits and music of Buffet, some fans established The Church celebrating “JB in the old, pre-neo-jazz-caribbean-steel-drum-cum-backup-singers-Beach-Boy-lookalike days” and maintaining that the “memories of these ancient concerts (as well as bootlegs!) keep us going as well” (COBO II).  The COBO website includes its creed which expresses concern regarding the commercial side of Buffett and his growing empire. The creed states: “The actions of the real-time Jimmy are also problematical; we hold out for his eventual redemption, but if he continues his slide toward commercialism, we…have the [earlier] works…as the solid rock of our faith” (COBO II).

For some members of the COBO, Margaritaville is not the pursuit of their worship.  The creed states, “the spiritual core” of the “holy cannon” consists of the albums “A1A” (1974), “White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean” (1973), Havana Daydreamin’” (1976), and “Livin’ and Dyin’ in ¾ Time” (1974) while “Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude” (1977) “is the most troubling part of scripture” (COBO II).  The author of this section of the page continues, “while I believe that, since it contains the apostasy of ‘Margaritaville,’ it does not belong with those other enlightened works” (COBO II).  Margaritaville is associated with the later Buffett-ism, the Corporitaville, and the Parrothead era.  For the COBO, Buffett’s earlier music evokes imagery of “cheerful hedonism” (COBO II) nondiscernable by most from the imagery of Margaritaville.

            The anti-corporate sentiment, however, runs much deeper than the denunciation of Margaritaville.  In an online discussion concerning the exit of two longtime Coral Reefer band members, Fingers and Mac McAnally, scores of Buffett fans expressed their frustration and disgust with the Corporitaville of the recent Buffett (COBO I).  Many presumed that these revered band members left the CRB because they “were tired of the music and atmosphere at the shows” (COBO I, Chris Wilson) and “tired of the greed and exploitation of parrotheads” (COBO I, Kleinsfriend).  One fan offered these sentiments:

“We have all seen the changes in music (maturation?), and have all seen the dramatic changes (corporate in particular) over the past 10+ years concerning Jimmy.  I remember when the music was #1, not corporate.  I remember when Parrotheads were #1, not doughnuts or cafes.  My life has been built on the ideals of what Jimmy used to be…the escapism, the fun, the lyrics, the simplicity of what life should be…Nobody is demanding corporate sponsorships, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts, or Margaritaville Tequila.  We loved Jimmy just as he was in the 70’s and 80’s when he was struggling and starting to build his empire (COBO I, Mike Haszto).

Another fan spoke of the commercialism of Buffett more explicitly, linking it to familiar patterns in American consumer culture, choosing to withdraw from contemporary Buffett-ism but vowing to retain the practice of old:

“More than a few people have commented lately about how JB holds his fans in contempt and most likely sees them as merely consumers, not unlike the faceless hordes roaming Wal-Mart aisles.  Like many others, I guess this year will be my last JB concert and I’ve already spent too much on the overpriced store stuff.  He’ll still have the teenies show up at the concert to score booze and wreck cars.  I think the truly loyal fans of 25+ years (like me) have read the book and seen the greed and will simply remember the days of the poet rather than these days of the profit” (COBO I, David J. Stash). 

While one fan claims she/he became a Parrothead because “I reject the corporate matrix” (Parrot Republic, Phun Stuff, Why I’m a Parrot Head, Matrix), the critique offered in another statement comments on the decline of the “parrothead thing” exemplified by the breakup of the Coral Reefer Band [CRB]:  “Many issues have combined to cause the inevitable dissolution of the CRB.  Oft mentioned--and quite correct—are Jimmy’s greed and commercialism, a tiring, predictable routine in both shows and set lists, too much lizard and parrot crap, or maybe this parrothead thing is simply just getting old.  Whatever the reason(s), its dying” (COBO I, Yuke).

While many Buffett-ists feel that Buffett has “sold out” and employed increasingly exploitive commercial tactics, others think either that Buffett deserves the millions or that the money and commercial tactics do not matter.  One fan stated, “and as for the so-called ‘Parrotheads’ that think that Jimmy is selling out, shame on you.  He is the reason that you became a Parrothead” (COBO I, Fitz).  Another wrote, “What would you do at your job?  Would you pass up a chance for a raise or endorse a tequila?  That’s what it is, his job.  Get over it” (COBO I, Mike Johnson).  Disregarding the commercialism of Buffett, this fan wrote, “I don’t regret giving any of the thousands of dollars to JB and Company.  Everything I’ve bought or paid for has been worth it.  All of the memories created, thoughts of escaping and stories I listen to everyday make me who I am.  I will continue to support the Margaritaville Empire until it is not fun anymore” (COBO I, Shady).  Another fan wrote, “No matter what he’s doing it for we like the way he does it—his music speaks to a part of our hearts that very few people reach and I for one will keep on getting there any way I can—I do it for the stories I can tell!” (COBO I, MotherOshn). 

These latter narratives represent those who choose to engage in the discourse of critique, but have determined that Buffett’s commercial model is expected and inconsequential.  They accept these American cultural patterns, and they cope by finding any outlet they can, including patterns of relief that themselves are consumptive.  It seems, for many fans, Buffett can take their money, but he cannot take their Margaritaville. Other fans craft more of a middle ground on Buffett’s commercialism.  They maintain a critique, but are resigned to the inevitability of commercialization.  For example, one fan stated,

“For those who have said it’s his life and he can do whatever he wants, I agree.  But, yes a but, what about the songs and promises he sang about.  He sang of a life much different than what it is now and we followed.  Through those promises we supported him with quite a nice living.  Yes, it’s his life, but I think he should try to stay as true to the old days as he can” (COBO I, Anonymous). 

For fans like this, Buffett-ism as only part of the larger system and that system can’t entirely confine their dreams, promises and pursuit of relief expressed in Buffett’s music.  However, they acknowledge the exploitation involved in Buffett’s empire and hold him to the standards, the promises, and the life about which he sings.

Parrothead critique of Corporitaville indicts both Buffett himself and, less directly, Parrothead participation in the consumption of commercialized Corporitaville.  Corporitaville not only lines the pockets of Jimmy Buffett, it contradicts the movement toward alternative cultural forms by reproducing and maintaining dominant forms.

The Practice of Popular Culture and Hegemony

“God bless Jimmy.  Though it is the music, not the lifestyle, that intrigues me about Jimmy, the business acumen that he demonstrates is incredible.  That he is able to preach a beach bum, no worries life style to us, his fans, yet at the same time be raking in more money than most of us could ever imagine, w/o having the large majority of us calling for his capitalistic head, is nothing short of genius” (COBO I, Joe Miles). 

Popular culture is, importantly, a social product of the “relations of cultural power and domination” (Hall, 1981, cited in Frow, 1995, p. 72).  In reference to Stuart Hall, Frow explains that because popular culture is situated in these relations “it must be understood in terms of struggle over how the world is to be understood—a struggle over the terms of our experience of the world” (Frow, 1995, p. 72).  Thus, along with providing entertainment and temporary escape from everyday life, popular culture is a tool in the negotiations of culture on the part of acting agents.  On the one hand, the powerful enlist popular culture to shape culture in their interests and, on the other hand, the masses use popular culture to address their concerns and express resistance in the contested terrain of culture.  At stake in this negotiated process of culture are alternative means to experience and understand the world.

Popular culture helps sustain hegemonic culture and the organization of rational capitalism that increasingly gives it form through incorporating the masses into dominant cultural patterns of production, distribution and consumption, coupled with legitimating cultural ideologies.  In the process, the values and interests of those in power, those who benefit most from dominant cultural forms, are reproduced and maintained.  The quote above reveals that Buffett creates and sells an image, people consume that image, and, through it all, the majority of the consumers do not decry its capitalist exploitation.  This is the essence of hegemony: those in power shape a culture that benefits their interests primarily, and they maintain this culture through gaining the consent of the masses rather than through force. 

As Buffett-ism reveals, many participants recognize that popular culture is used commercially to make profits while capitalizing on the need for relief from the fast-paced conditions of contemporary American culture.  If the social order compels the masses to seek relief, the means toward relief, entertainment, can be produced and marketed to the consumer driven toward the opiate.  In their consumption of Buffett products, Parrotheads may be attuned to their pursuit of the elusive Margaritaville, but they simultaneously are incorporated into the larger culture they are desperate to escape.  Taking part in an orchestrated hegemonic culture of consumption, Parrotheads, like other consumers of popular culture, give their consent and speak with their pocketbooks.  Parrotheads can “spend a little time with the fun part” of themselves, and Buffett can “have a little fun” himself.  Buffet states: “thanks to the wonderful loyalty of my Parrothead faithful, I could afford to go on a trip around the world, and as I have stated from the stage on more than one occasion, ‘Just remember, I am spending your money foolishly’” (Buffett, 1998, p. 13). 

While it is important to attend to incorporation and dominant cultural forms in popular culture, audience action should not be neglected.  A balanced approach addressing both elements demonstrates the dynamic nature of the culture process as alternative cultural forms are produced in the struggle “over the terms of our experience of the world” (Frow, 1995, p. 72).  Incorporation processes play out through Buffett-ism, but Parrotheads, consciously or unconsciously, through their action and participation in alternative cultural forms, engage in the battle over cultural terrain.

The rich context of Parrothead practice indicates Parrotheads actively construct their sense of Margaritaville and cultivate and re-define the particular expression of escape.  Their very identities, indicated by their adoption of the moniker Parrotheads, are shaped by Margaritaville and their cultural psyches are infused with its alternative forms of imagery and values.  Parrothead practice embodies and invigorates alternative forms whether the individuals articulate their cultural practice as resistance to dominant forms or not.  Since the bulk of Parrotheads do not articulate resistance or consciously engage in Buffett-ism as an affront to dominant forms, their practice follows a pattern of resistance identified as “embedded resistance” by Mihelich and Storrs (2003).  Embedded resistance involves the practice of available alternative cultural forms without conscious contestation or critique of dominant forms.  Embedded resistance simultaneously reproduces hegemonic forms and applies pressure on those forms to change or, at minimum, cultivates the opportunities for individuals to pursue alternative forms.  Embedded resistance challenges dominant forms in the tension of cultural struggle. 

In its forms of resistance, Parrothead practice thus parallels that of countless other fans of mass popular culture and the cultural innovators who create alternative cultural forms through popular culture at the grassroots level.  At the level of cultural process, Parrothead practice helps sustain both hegemonic culture and the negotiation of culture by consistently interjecting alternative forms into the cultural milieu. 

Articulating Alternatives

While Buffett-ism provides a microcosm where the cultural process of hegemony can be observed, I am compelled to articulate in more depth the specific alternatives contained in its negotiation.  In the articulation of the alternative forms, Margaritaville and Parrothead practice can be taken both as forms directed toward the pursuit of human needs and as indicators of the shortcomings of dominant culture in offering means to satisfying those needs.  Innovative alternative forms, then, are a response to both human needs and cultural shortcomings.  The alternative practices of Parrotheads, however, are not ideologically based and don’t explicitly identify or articulate opposition or provide conscious resistance.  The construction of Margaritaville offers little in the way of articulated critique of its antagonist, the rat race, or of the cultural forms that produce it.  The critique of Buffett’s commercialism and comments on capitalism coming from the COBO or other Parrotheads are similarly ideologically undeveloped.  Without an articulation of the cultural forms or the problems and needs they address, the idea that perhaps the larger structure of society could be organized differently, that it could be organized in a manner that relief from it was not so compelling, escapes the conscious awareness or falls outside the intended practice of the majority of the participants.  Nonetheless the alternative forms can be read with consideration of how they are situated in the context of contemporary society and they can be articulated in terms of how they respond to structural and cultural conditions. 

The articulation begins with what Buffett-ism specifically offers as alternative cultural forms.  Foremost, like many other forms of popular culture, Buffett-ism embodies the general capacity itself to critique dominant cultural forms.  Cultural critique is a traditional mainstay in and remains a vital component of “American” culture, as in other cultures, and it arises in response to a social system that is not meeting other needs.  The critique can be expressed through the invention of cultural alternatives.  Once alternatives are developed, they can spread to others with or without the original explicit critique, particularly the latter when commercialized, but the derivative forms can nonetheless sustain the critique symbolically and even spawn second-hand explicit critique, or that arising as a result of the spread of the practice.  Thus, critique followed by innovation is a generalized cultural pattern, represented in Buffett-ism, but critique also entails specific themes. 

Buffett-ism responds explicitly to the rat race, commercialism and capitalism.  The theme of the rat race is an unformulated concept that refers to a symptom, or a product, of the dominant culture.  The specific critique articulated by Parrotheads themselves as they echo words like “commercialism,” “profit,” “greed,” “capitalistic” and “corporitaville” in reference to Buffett’s empire calls attention to the structural and cultural forms that spawn the rat race.  Like the common critical reflex in our society, these comments are directed toward an individual, in this case Jimmy Buffett, but could easily be extended, or articulated, into a structural critique of one of the most prominent cultural form in our society—our economic structure.  Margaritaville forms are alternatives for, or comment on, an economic structural condition. 

The structure of capitalism thrives on the pursuit of private material accumulation, increased production and consumption, and a competitive and increasingly intense work environment.  These conditions largely underlie the cultural forms collectively labeled the rat race into which U.S. masses are immersed.  These conditions are at once structural in the sense that they are derived from the organization of a capitalist economy and workplaces and cultural in the sense that they entail meanings, expectations, values and ideologies collectively held by those who participate.  Along the cultural vein, capitalism involves a “spirit” which Max Weber called the “spirit of capitalism” (Weber, 1930/1996).  Margaritaville offers an alternative to the spirit of capitalism, a cultural form based on alternative meanings, expectations and values, akin to what Weber called “traditionalism” (Weber, 1930/1996).  While escape from the rat race is temporarily available through Buffett-ism, emancipation would entail the restructuring of the dominant economic forms and cultural premises—decreasing the emphasis on the spirit of capitalism and cultivating traditionalism, which, in turn, could foster the reshaping of the organization of capitalism.  

For Weber, the spirit of capitalism describes “that attitude which seeks profit rationally and systematically,” with a “devotion to labour” and “the conception of money-making as an end in itself to which people are bound” (Weber, 1930/1996, p. 64-78).  In the spirit of capitalism, the pursuit of profit and/or consumption, define “the sole purpose of [one’s] life-work, to sink into the grave weighted down with money and goods” (Weber, 1930/1996, p. 72). Weber contrasts the spirit of capitalism with “traditionalism” in which humans “by nature” wish “simply to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as is necessary for that purpose” with a “leisurely and comfortable attitude toward life” (Weber, 1930/1996, p. 60, 68).  While Weber did not intend to reduce human complexity only to experience reflecting one or the other of these spirits, he identified powerful cultural forms that dominate economic behavior in traditional and capitalist cultures.  The spirit of capitalism compels people toward increasing profits, consumption, and hard work, incorporating them into, and legitimating, the structural conditions that produce the rat race.  Margaritaville, in contrast, offers an alternative philosophy of life with less work, more leisure, and less emphasis on material accumulation.  If such a philosophy dominated the experience of life, structural organization of work and the economy would necessarily adapt accordingly—and the rat race would be significantly diminished along with the need for relief from it.

The work patterns resulting from Weber’s traditionalism, and potentially from Margaritaville, can be compared to pre-capitalist work patterns identified by Herbert Gutman.  In pre-capitalist society, people worked hard, but different cultural patterns shaped work experience.  Work followed irregular patterns and often gave way to irregular periods of leisure and rest.  Gutman argues that pre-capitalist agrarian life or the life of pre-capitalist tradespeople, while often inconvenient and certainly deficient in modern consumer goods, was, at least for the non-elite classes, punctuated more freely with pauses and non-consumption based entertainment, celebration and pastimes (Gutman, 1977).  Gutman points out that, as industrial work patterns replaced agrarian work models, workers resisted the steady, grueling pace and rational conditions of factory work with methods ranging from work stoppages and labor organizing to steadfastly holding on to, and transforming when necessary, traditional patterns of work and celebration.  Through the imagery of Margaritaville, both cultural forms and work patterns of a traditional form are inserted into the cultural struggle as alternatives to dominant contemporary forms. 

            In recalling and expressing the traditions of critique, traditionalism, and work patterns, Buffett-ism, evokes “tradition” in the sense Stuart Hall meant when he wrote about transformations.  Transformations in popular culture involve “The active work on existing [whether widely practiced or not] traditions and activities, their active reworking so that they come out a different way: they appear to ‘persist’ (Hall, 227; cited in Lipsitz, 1990, p. 13).  Lipsitz expands on traditions stating that they center on “identifiable conditions of possibility” with “historically specific elements” that are “conducive to immediate audience appropriation” (Lipsitz, 1990, p. 14).  The imagery and forms provided by Buffett-ism contain such “identifiable conditions of possibility” presented for the immediate “appropriation” by Parrotheads.  As such, like other forms of popular culture that generate alternative cultural forms, Buffett-ism and the imagery of Margaritaville, sustained by fans, ensure traditional forms “persist” to be appropriated by the masses in the struggle for cultural terrain.  This is the promise of popular culture.  Alternative forms provide the impetus for structural change, or at least maintain the hope for such change as culture, and structure, continues to be negotiated in the struggle over the terms of our experience of the world.  To explore, analyze, and offer articulations of these meanings, the people who participate in them, and their significance in the negotiation of culture remains the promise of popular culture analysis.

Finally, Buffett-ism as part of the rat race, indicts a cultural milieu that does not offer satisfactory forms through which to experience identity, a sense of community, or a resolution of existential meaning and purpose.  These conditions can likewise be traced to the cultural forms of capitalism, but that lies beyond the scope of this paper.  Buffett-ism offers relief from the conditions of contemporary society that often render the search for identity, community and existential meaning exhausting as a result of a increasingly rendering life purpose in terms of competitive material achievement or pursuits for status.  Parrothead identity, Parrothead clubs, and Parrothead formulations of Margaritaville indicate these collective human needs are not being met.  The alternative forms spawned address these needs, and individuals adopt the alternatives to the degree possible without dramatic structural and cultural change.  The sense of community in the clubs provides an alternative model in a society that can be alienating.  Parrotheads communicate online with Parrotheads around the world, and they engage in the extended community through their organized charitable endeavors.[iv]  And they add to life’s purpose through their interpretations of Margaritaville.

The phenomenon of Buffett-ism proves to be complex as it contains significant elements indicating that hegemonic incorporation through Buffett-ism, while interesting and compelling, only partially explains its effects on the world and in people’s experience of it.  As such, the example of Buffett-ism offers a demonstration of the value of a balanced holistic analysis of popular culture highlighting the importance of granting, in one’s analysis, the audience a degree of agency and capacity for resistance while not discounting the effects of structural forms of production and distribution nor the role popular culture plays in cultural dominance. 

Thus, even as Buffett-ism bolsters “corporitaville,” it simultaneously fuels resistance in the contested ground of cultural formation.  It does so through appealing to the need for escape among the American masses with its Margaritaville imagery (of course heavily mediated by the hegemonic model of consumption).   The audience analysis reveals that Buffett-ism spawns a subculture that, in limited sphere, contrasts with dominant culture and provides the subsequent terrain for the Coral Rift’s critique of capitalism.  The Coral Rift points to both the meaning-making practice of the audience and the enduring function of some popular culture to contain and expose subversive messages, alternative ideas, and alternative cultural forms.  The internal critique of commercialism is, by extension, a critique, alive, well, and distributed among the masses, of the broader dominant culture of the contemporary United States. 

Finally, Margaritaville imagery provides subversive/alternative content through the “transformation of tradition.”  Buffett-ism, and the image of Margaritaville, represents a contemporary expression of “traditional” cultural forms in which community, leisure, and celebration are not overwhelmed by consumption or eliminated from everyday experience by the “rat race.”  The deeper analyses of the significations in Margaritaville imagery illuminates their promise for encoding and reinvigorating once well-established but hegemonically eradicated working class daily patterns of work-endurance-celebration.  

Although Parrotheads are a relative minority of the contemporary U. S. population, an in-depth look at their practice and conditions illuminate cultural practices and conditions many of us experience and participate in.  Buffett-ism, to some degree, represents many of us and the society to which we give our consent in our daily practice.  My hope is that explorations into possibilities and alternative articulations and critique can enable us, as a collective society, to construct the Margaritaville that many of us, somehow, feel is possible.  It is a state of mind, to be sure, but it is a state that must be, and can be, fostered by the structure of our society and our collective cultural practice.  Phins up!