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Rock Over the Edge
Transformations in Popular Music Culture
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Edited by Roger Beebe, Denise Fulbrook and Ben Saunders
Duke University Press
Due/Published
June 2002, 392 pages,
paper
ISBN
0822329158
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 españ:ol," 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 confronts two primary issues: how best to speak of what we hear, and whether hearing itself can be understood as both a cultural contingent and a creative activity. 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 also volume addresses such issues as the affective power of popular music and the psychic construction of fandom. 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 "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 take 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 |
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