Rock Over the Edge: Transformations in Popular Music Culture - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822329158 ISBN 13: 9780822329152

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2002

Synopsis

This collection brings new voices and new perspectives to the study of popular—and particularly rock—music. Focusing on a variety of artists and music forms, Rock Over the Edge asks what happens to rock criticism when rock is no longer a coherent concept. To work toward an answer, contributors investigate previously neglected genres and styles, such as “lo fi,” alternative country, and “rock en español,” while offering a fresh look at such familiar figures as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Kurt Cobain.
Bridging the disciplines of musicology and cultural studies, the collection has two primary goals: to seek out a language for talking about music culture and to look at the relationship of music to culture in general. The editors’ introduction provides a backward glance at recent rock criticism and also looks to the future of the rapidly expanding discipline of popular music studies. Taking seriously the implications of critical theory for the study of non-literary aesthetic endeavors, the volume also addresses such issues as the affective power of popular music and the psychic construction of fandom.
Rock Over the Edge will appeal to scholars and students in popular music studies and American Studies as well as general readers interested in popular music.

Contributors. Ian Balfour, Roger Beebe, Michael Coyle, Robert Fink, Denise Fulbrook, Tony Grajeda, Lawrence Grossberg, Trent Hill, Josh Kun, Jason Middleton, Lisa Ann Parks, Ben Saunders, John J. Sheinbaum, Gayle Wald, Warren Zanes

About this title

From the Publisher:

"Well written and engaging, these essays combine high levels of scholarship with a much more intimate familiarity with popular musical culture than is common within popular music studies. The range of styles makes for a lively and even endearing collection."—Will Straw, McGill University

"Smart, provocative, contradictory, suggestive, irritating, inspiring, exhaustive, exhausting and over the top—Rock Over the Edge takes the imperative of its title seriously, though often with a welcome sense of humor. Anyone who cares about popular music will find much in here to react to—either by shouting out in affirmation, or hurling the damn thing against the wall."—Anthony DeCurtis, author of Rocking My Life Away: Writing About Music and Other Matters

"A collection of highly spirited and innovative essays by a new generation of popular music scholars."— Bernard L. Gendron, University of Wisconsin, Madison

From the Back Cover:

"Smart, provocative, contradictory, suggestive, irritating, inspiring, exhaustive, exhausting and over the top--"Rock Over the Edge" takes the imperative of its title seriously, though often with a welcome sense of humor. Anyone who cares about popular music will find much in here to react to--either by shouting out in affirmation, or hurling the damn thing against the wall."--Anthony DeCurtis, author of "Rocking My Life Away: Writing About Music and Other Matters"

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0822329158
• ISBN 13: 9780822329152
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Roger Beebe, Denise Fulbrook, Ben Saunders