Staff Picks
History of Pop Music
- Sarah C.
- Monday, April 15, 2019
Collection
Explore the story of popular music in America from early roots to today's hits with these great reads!
50 Years of Rolling Stone
Published in 2017
"For the past fifty years, Rolling Stone has been a leading voice in journalism, cultural criticism, and--above all--music. This landmark book documents the magazine's rise to prominence as the voice of rock and roll and a leading showcase for era-defining photography. From the 1960s to the present day, the book offers a decade-by-decade exploration of American music and history. Interviews with rock legends--Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Kurt Cobain, Bruce Springsteen, and more--appear alongside iconic photographs by Baron Wolman, Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger, and other leading image-makers. With feature articles, excerpts, and exposés by such quintessential writers as Hunter S. Thompson, Matt Taibbi, and David Harris, this book is an irresistible and essential keepsake of the magazine that has defined American music for generations of readers" -- provided by publisher.
It's Bigger Than Hip-hop
The Rise of the Post-hip-hop Generation
Published in 2008
It's Bigger Than Hip Hop takes a bold look at the rise of a generation that sees beyond the smoke and mirrors of corporate-manufactured hip hop and is building a movement that will change not only the face of pop culture, but the world. M.K. Asante, Jr., a young firebrand poet, professor, filmmaker, and activist who represents this new movement, uses hip hop as a springboard for a larger discussion about the urgent social and political issues affecting the post-hip-hop generation, a new wave of youth searching for an understanding of itself outside the self-destructive, corporate hip-hop monopoly. Through insightful anecdotes, scholarship, personal encounters, and conversations with youth across the globe as well as icons such as Chuck D and Maya Angelou, Asante illuminates a shift that can be felt in the crowded spoken-word joints in post-Katrina New Orleans, seen in the rise of youth-led organizations committed to social justice, and heard around the world chanting "It's bigger than hip hop."
From Swing to Soul
An Illustrated History of African American Popular Music from 1930 to 1960
Published in 1994
We Gotta Get out of This Place
The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War
Published in 2015
For a Kentucky rifleman who spent his tour trudging through Vietnam's Central Highlands, it was Nancy Sinatra's ""These Boots Are Made for Walkin'."" For a ""tunnel rat"" who blew smoke into the Viet Cong's underground tunnels, it was Jimi Hendrix's ""Purple Haze."" For a black marine distraught over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., it was Aretha Franklin's ""Chain of Fools."" And for countless other Vietnam vets, it was ""I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die,"" ""Who'll Stop the Rain,"" or the song that gives this book its title. In We Gotta Get Out of This Place , Doug Bradley and Craig Werner place popular music at the heart of the American experience in Vietnam. They explore how and why U.S. troops turned to music as a way of connecting to each other and the World back home and of coping with the complexities of the war they had been sent to fight. They also demonstrate that music was important for every group of Vietnam veterans -- black and white, Latino and Native American, men and women, officers and ""grunts"" -- whose personal reflections drive the book's narrative. Many of the voices are those of ordinary soldiers, airmen, seamen, and marines. But there are also ""solo"" pieces by veterans whose writings have shaped our understanding of the war -- Karl Marlantes, Alfredo Vea, Yusef Komunyakaa, Bill Ehrhart, Arthur Flowers -- as well as songwriters and performers whose music influenced soldiers' lives, including Eric Burdon, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Country Joe McDonald, and John Fogerty. Together their testimony taps into memories -- individual and cultural -- that capture a central if often overlooked component of the American war in Vietnam. -- Provided by publisher.
Love for Sale
Pop Music in America
Published in 2016
From the age of song sheets in the late nineteenth century to the contemporary era of digital streaming, pop music has been our most influential laboratory for social and aesthetic experimentation, changing the world three minutes at a time. Hajdu shows how pop has done much more than peddle fantasies of love and sex to teenagers. Exhaustively researched and rich with fresh insights, Love for Sale details pop music from Eva Tanguay, who upended Victorian conceptions of feminine propriety, to Blondie, the scandal of disco; from Bessie Smith and the 'blues queens' of the 1920s to Jimmie Rodgers, a former blackface minstrel performer who created the country music sound. At every turn, Hajdu surprises and challenges readers to think about our most familiar art in unexpected ways. -- adapted from publisher website.
Never a Dull Moment
1971-- the Year That Rock Exploded
Published in 2016
"David Hepworth, an ardent music fan and well regarded critic, was twenty-one in '71, the same age as many of the legendary artists who arrived on the scene. Taking us on a tour of the major moments, the events and songs of this remarkable year, he shows how musicians came together to form the perfect storm of rock and roll greatness, starting a musical era that would last longer than anyone predicted. Those who joined bands to escape things that lasted found themselves in a new age, its colossal start being part of the genre's staying power"--Amazon.com.
American Pop
Hit Makers, Superstars, and Dance Revolutionaries
Published in 2013
Presents a history of popular music in the United States, profiles the most notable past and present stars, and features song and album suggestions.
A Fine Romance
Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
Published in 2009
"A look at the formation of the American songbook-the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies-and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews"-- Dust jacket.
American Epic
When Music Gave America Her Voice
Published in 2017
A companion book to the groundbreaking PBS and BBC documentary series celebrates the pioneers and artists of American roots music--blues, gospel, folk, Cajun, Appalachian, Hawaiian, and Native American--without which there would be no jazz, rock, country, R & B, or hip hop today.
Good Booty
Love and Sex, Black & White, Body and Soul in American Music
Published in 2017
"In this sweeping history of popular music in the United States, NPR's acclaimed music critic examines how popular music shapes fundamental American ideas and beliefs, allowing us to communicate difficult emotions and truths about our most fraught social issues, most notably sex and race."--Provided by publisher.
The Rap Year Book
The Most Important Rap Song from Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed
Published in 2015
This book "takes readers from 1979, widely regarded as the moment rap became recognized as part of the cultural and musical landscape, and comes right up to the present, with Shea Serrano ... discussing, debating, and deconstructing the most important rap song year by year. Serrano also examines the most important moments that surround the history and culture of rap music--from artists' backgrounds to issues of race, the rise of hip-hop, and the struggles among its major players--both personal and professional"--Amazon.com.
The House That George Built
With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty
Published in 2007
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll
An Alternative History of American Popular Music
Published in 2009