"From celebrated music writer Dan Ozzi comes a comprehensive chronicle of the punk music scene's evolution from the early nineties to the mid-aughts, following eleven bands as they dissolved, "sold out," and rose to surprise stardom"-- "From celebrated music writer Dan Ozzi comes a comprehensive chronicle of the punk music scene's evolution from the early nineties to the mid-aughts, following eleven bands as they dissolved, "sold out," and rose to...

One of the music world's pre-eminent critics takes a fresh and much-needed look at the day Dylan "went electric" at the Newport Folk Festival, timed to coincide with the event's fiftieth anniversary. On the evening of July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at Newport Folk Festival, backed by an electric band, and roared into his new rock hit, Like a Rolling Stone. The audience of committed folk purists and political activists who had hailed him...

Traces the origins of blues music, its evolution in the United States, and its influence on jazz and rock and roll.

In order to analyze how transformative musical works are culturally understood, this book examines how mainstream press discourse talks about them. According to professional journalistic norms, press discussion is supposed to be neutral and balanced. This is, of course, a fiction, because press is to study social power relations, this is a benefit, not a drawback. In particular, norms of explaining "both sides" of an issue mean that a cross section...

""Not since the late Leonard Bernstein has classical music had a combination salesman-teacher as irresistible as Kapilow." -Kansas City Star. Few people in recent memory have dedicated themselves as devotedly to the story of twentieth- century American music as Rob Kapilow, the composer, conductor, and host of the hit NPR music radio program, What Makes It Great? Now, in Listening for America, he turns his keen ear to the Great American Songbook,...

"Johnny Cash was an American icon, known for his level bass-baritone voice and somber demeanor, for huge hits like 'Ring of Fire' and 'I Walk the Line.' He's one of the best-selling musicians of all time, and his crossover appeal earned him inductions into the Country Music, Gospel Music, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. But he was also the most prominent political artist in the United States, even if he wasn't recognized for it in his own lifetime,...

Hip-Hop was created by urban youth of color more than 30 years ago amid racial oppression and economic marginalization. It has moved beyond that specific community and embraced by young people worldwide, elevating it to a global youth culture. The ambitious and hard-hitting documentary Blacking Up: Hip-Hops Remix of Race and Identity looks at the popularity of hip-hop among Americas white youth. It asks whether white identification is rooted in admiration...