The emergence of Thatcherism around 1980, which ushered in a period of neo-liberalism in British politics that still resonates today, led musicians, like other artists, to respond to their context of production. This book uses the early work of one of these musicians, Elvis Costello, to explore the relationship between popular music and politics in one historical period. It is not a biography but an exploration of the interaction between a creative musician's works and their context of constraint and opportunity. Pilgrim and Ormrod unpack the political meaning of Thatcherism and deal with matters arising in that political context about Costello's life but which had resonance for many others at the time (and still do). These topics include the politics of race, class, gender and ageing, emphasising the recurring theme of nostalgia in modern and post-modern life. Throughout the book examples are provided of Costello's songs and how they work musically to illustrate or stimulate the contextual discussion. The book will be of significant interest to musicologists, sociologists and social psychologists.

Why is Elvis Presley's body of recorded work still so relevant nearly 60 years after he began recording? EElvis Music FAQE is for anyone who has been inspired by an Elvis Presley record. Following in the tradition of the FAQ series in EElvis Music FAQE a lot of rare information is woven together in one concise entertaining package.THThere are chapters about every year of Elvis's career including a look at his pioneering original record label Sun; insight on his management; the continued importance of television in his career; a summation of each Presley concert tour; the inside scoop about the role Elvis's band members and songwriters played in his sound; stories about the amusing musical oddities created by those trying to ride on the Elvis success train; details about the contentious role drugs played in his career; and finally a full review of every record the King ever issued.THOne might say that the only truths about Elvis Presley can be found in the grooves of his records where his natural talent and passion for music comes through always. EElvis Music FAQE aims to be the one essential companion that explains the reason why the voice heard over the speakers still carries such resonance. Dozens of rare images accompany this engaging text.

Like other major music genres, ska reflects, reveals, and reacts to the genesis and migration from its Afro-Caribbean roots and colonial origins to the shores of England and back across the Atlantic to the United States. Without ska music, there would be no reggae or Bob Marley, no British punk and pop blends, no American soundtrack to its various subcultures. In Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation, Heather Augustyn examines how ska music first emerged in Jamaica as a fusion of popular, traditional, and even classical musical forms. As a genre, it was a connection to Africa, a means of expression and protest, and a respite from the struggles of colonization and grinding poverty. Ska would later travel with West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom, where British youth embraced the music, blending it with punk and pop and working its origins as a music of protest and escape into their present lives. The fervor of the music matched the energy of the streets as racism, poverty, and violence ran rampant. But ska called for brotherhood and unity. As series editor and pop music scholar Scott Calhoun notes: "Like a cultural barometer, the rise of ska indicates when and where social, political, and economic institutions disappoint their people and push them to re-invent the process for making meaning out of life. When a people or group embark on this process, it becomes even more necessary to embrace expressive, liberating forms of art for help during the struggle. In its history as a music of freedom, ska has itself flowed freely to wherever people are celebrating the rhythms and sounds of hope." Ska: The Rhythm Liberation should appeal to fans and scholars alike-indeed, any enthusiast of popular music and Caribbean, American, and British history seeking to understand the fascinating relationship between indigenous popular music and cultural and political history. Devotees of reggae, jazz, pop, Latin music, hip hop, rock, techno, dance, and world beat will find their appreciation of this remarkable genre deepened by this survey of the origins and spread of ska.

Political Rock features luminary figures in rock music that have stood out not only for their performances, but also for their politics. The book opens with a comparative, cultural history of artists who have played important roles in social movements. Individual chapters are devoted to The Clash and Fugazi, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Sinead O'Connor, Peter Gabriel, Ani DiFranco, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Earle and Kim Gordon. These artists have been chosen for their status as rock musicians and connections to political moments, movements, and art. The artists and authors show that rock retains a critical strain, continuing a tradition of rock politics that matters to fans, activists, and movements alike.

In Crossing Traditions: American Popular Music in Local and Global Contexts, a wide range of scholarly contributions on the local and global significance of American popular music examines the connections between selected American blues, rock and roll, and hip-hop music and their equivalents from Senegal, Nigeria, England, India, and Mexico. Contributors show how American popular music promotes local and global awareness of such key issues as economic inequality and social marginalization while inspiring cross-cultural and interethnic influences among regional and transnational communities. Specifically, Crossing Traditions highlights the impact of American popular music on the spread of sounds, rhythms, styles, and ideas about freedom, justice, love, and sexuality among local and global communities, all of which share the same desires, hopes, and concerns despite geographic differences. Contributors look at the local contexts of Chicago blues, early rock and roll, white Christian rap, and Frank Zappa alongside the global influence of Mahalia Jackson on Senegalese blues, the transatlantic character of the British Invasion's relationship to African American rock, and the impact of Latin house music, global hip-hop, and Bhangra in cross-cultural settings. Essays also draw on a broad range of disciplines in their analyses: American studies, popular culture studies, transnational studies, history, musicology, ethnic studies, literature and media studies, and critical theory. Crossing Traditions will appeal to a wide range of readers, including college and university professors, undergraduate and graduate students, and music scholars in general.

Lady Gaga represents both the height of celebrity and a disruption of the norms surrounding the social position. This book charts the way the pop star manages the celebrity persona in her relationships with her fans, the development of her gender identity, her parodying of other celebrities, and her navigation of the legal and economic system that make up the music industry. Much of Gaga's ability to maintain ownership of her identity comes from her early decisions to characterise herself as a performance artist. For Gaga, treating celebrity as performance art means living the persona 24 hours a day. That includes sleeping in wigs and making a commitment to never letting anyone see her in sweatpants. Lady Gaga mimicks celebrity life in a self-conscious way that makes the mimicry apparent. Her performance of celebrity is an on-going project - despite what she may claim, she was not born this way. The excess of her celebrity is magnified by her title: Mother Monster. Historically, media narratives of celebrities, monsters, and mothers have centered around uncontrolled excesses that must be contained. Lady Gaga adopts these personas, but refuses to submit to the containment that comes with each of these social positions.

E 1-2-3-4! ETHWith that quick count-off four hoppin' cretins from Queens who called themselves the Ramones launched the 1970s musical revolution known as punk rock. And ever since popular music hasn't been the same. Perhaps the most imitated band of all time the Ramones stripped rock 'n' roll down to its bare bones and beating heart and handed it back to the people making it fun again and reminding everyone that hey they could do this too.THBut da brudders didn't just influence their key comrades in the original punk explosion. Their raw tough sound and divine gift of enduring melodic songcraft has power-drilled its way into musical styles as divergent as college rock power pop hardcore punk thrash metal grunge and the avant-garde and continues to be felt in newer waves of young acts. And what about the music that influenced the Ramones themselves a early rock 'n' roll surf rock British Invasion sounds garage rock girl groups hard rock bubblegum proto-punk and glam rock? Or the nonmusical stuff that also warped the skulls beneath those trademark bowl haircuts a weird movies cartoons trashy TV shows comic books and other cultural jetsam? It's all here just waiting for you to discover and dig. Hey Ho Let's Go!

Counting Down is a unique series of titles designed to select the best songs or musical works from major performance artists and composers in an age of design-your-own playlists. Contributors offer readers the reasons why some works stand out from others. It is the ideal companion for music lovers. For fifty years, Bob Dylan s music has been a source of wonder to his fans and endless fodder for analysis by music critics. In Counting Down Bob Dylan, rock journalist Jim Beviglia dares to rank these songs in descending order from Dylan s 100th best to his #1 song. Surveying the near six-decade career of this musical legend, Beviglia offers insightful analyses into the music and lyrics and dishes out important historical information and fascinating trivia to explain why these 100 rank among Dylan s best to date. At the same time, a portrait of the seemingly inscrutable Dylan emerges through the words of his finest songs, providing both the perfect introduction to his work and a comprehensive new take on this master of American songwriting. This work will appeal to the legions of Bob Dylan fans who have taken to analyzing his music. Unlike other Dylan books, which vary between the academic and the journalistic, Counting Down Bob Dylan uniquely renders Dylan s music approachable to new fans by highlighting the powerful emotional forces that fuel his dazzling lyrics."

Although academic study of the Grateful Dead began shortly after the group's formation, the dramatic growth of scholarly literature only occurred after the band's formal retirement of the name in 1995. One major incubator of much of this work has been the Grateful Dead area of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association. Inaugurated as a separate section in 1998 and nicknamed the Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus, it has produced almost three hundred papers over fifteen years, nearly a third of which have been revised for publication. Caucus presenters have also edited a dozen books and periodical volumes, all of which have drawn on Caucus presentations, some almost exclusively. Studying the Dead: The Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus provides an informal history of the Caucus and sketches its significance as a scholarly community, focusing on its increasing self-awareness, its ability to span diverse disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, and most of all, its contribution to our understanding of the Grateful Dead phenomenon. For the academy as a whole, the Caucus is a fascinating model for the development of discourse communities, from the role of orality to its interrogation of the texts that are derived from them. Remarkable for its interdisciplinary dialogue, the Caucus demonstrates how the nature of the art-and the phenomenon that it studies-can shape these discourses. Though ostensibly aimed at scholars of the Grateful Dead, others who will find this book of interest include students and teachers of popular culture, as well as fans of the band.

Invisible Now describes Bob Dylan's transformative inspiration as artist and cultural figure in the 1960s. Hughes identifies Dylan's creativity with an essential imaginative dynamic, as the singer perpetually departs from a former state of inexpression in pursuit of new, as yet unknown, powers of self-renewal. This motif of temporal self-division is taken as corresponding to what Dylan later referred to as an artistic project of 'continual becoming', and is explored in the book as a creative and ethical principle that underlies many facets of Dylan's appeal. Accordingly, the book combines close discussions of Dylan's mercurial art with related discussions of his humour, voice, photographs, and self-presentation, as well as with the singularities of particular performances. The result is a nuanced account of Dylan's creativity that allows us to understand more closely the nature of Dylan's art, and its links with American culture.

As far as legendary rock bands go, The Who ranks alongside the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Penning the Who's enduring rock anthems and bringing those songs to life with some of the most frenetic and destructive guitar performances ever witnessed, Pete Townshend proved that his excess matched his talent, and left in his wake bottles, syringes, groupies, and trashed hotel rooms as his band brought their music to an equally energized generation. Biographer Giuliano spills the beans on Townshend's childhood, his battles with band members during the Who's glory days as mod gods, his strange devotion to the Indian mystic Meher Baba, and the many unexpected turns his creative activities have taken in between the band's several break-ups and reunions.

In 1986, when Bon Jovi's third studio album, Slippery When Wet, was released, America had found its next superband. In Bon Jovi: America's Ultimate Band, Margaret Olson chronicles the history and music of the band from its inception to present day. She closely examines Bon Jovi's musical and social relevance to listeners past and present, exploring the remarkable ways the band has emerged as the expression and product of deep cultural needs and how, within a few years of commercial success, it has made a lasting impact on Generation X, the music business, and American culture. Through opportunities offered by cable television (particularly MTV), Hollywood, and corporate brands, Bon Jovi has been able to influence not only the music, film, and television industries but also the worlds of fashion, musical theater, art, philanthropy, and politics. Like any megaband, its members have struggled with addiction, the demands of fame, and a lack of critical respect. They have persevered, however, to become one of the United States' world's best-selling touring bands. Bon Jovi is a testament to the way modern culture and entertainment can become intertwined, and its success underscores the length of the band's career, the professionalism of its management, the recognition of what audiences want, and the unique way the music-more than anything else-both reflects and shapes the social and musical American landscape it inhabits. Titles in the Tempo series are ideal introductions to major pop and rock artists, the music they produce, and their cultural and musical impact on society. Bon Jovi: America's Ultimate Band should interest fans, students, and scholars alike.

The Rolling Stones: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Helmut Staubmann, draws from a broad spectrum of sociological perspectives to contribute both to the understanding of the phenomenon of the Rolling Stones and to an in-depth analysis of contemporary society and culture that takes The Stones a starting point. Contributors approach The Rolling Stones from a range of social science perspectives including cultural studies, communication and film studies, gender studies, and the sociology of popular music. The essays in this volume focus on the question of how the worldwide success of The Rolling Stones over the course of more than half a century reflects society and the transformation of popular culture.

Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos explores the many-layered relationships female fans build with feminist musicians in general and with Tori Amos, in particular. Using original interview research with more than forty fans of Tori Amos, multiple observer-participant experiences at Amos's concerts, and critical content analysis of Amos's lyrics and larger body of work, Adrienne Trier-Bieniek utilizes a combination of gender, emotions, music, and activism to unravel the typecasts plaguing female fans. Trier-Bieniek aggressively challenges the popular culture stereotypes that have painted all female fans as screaming, crying teenage girls who are unable to control themselves when a favorite (generally male) performer occupies the stage. In stunning contrast, admirers of Tori Amos comprise a more introspective category of fan. Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman examines the wide range of stories from these listeners, exploring how Amos's female fans are unique because Amos places the experiences of women at the center of her music. Tori Amos's fan base is considered devoted because of the deeply emotional, often healing, connection they have to her music, an aspect that has been overlooked, particularly in sociological and cultural research on gender, emotions and music. Tori Amos's female fans as a social phenomenon are vital for understanding the multi-layered relationships women can have with female singer/songwriters. At a time when superficial women dominate public media presentations, from the Kardashians to the "Real Housewives," the relationship between Tori Amos and her fans illustrates the continuous search by women for female performers who challenge patriarchal standards in popular culture. Trier-Bieniek's research serves as a springboard for further study of women in pop culture whose purpose is to empower and provoke their fans, as well as change society.

The Rolling Stones: Sociological Perspectives, edited by Helmut Staubmann, draws from a broad spectrum of sociological perspectives to contribute both to the understanding of the phenomenon Rolling Stones and to an in-depth analysis of contemporary society and culture that takes The Stones a starting point. Contributors approach The Rolling Stones from a range of social science perspectives including cultural studies, communication and film studies, gender studies, and the sociology of popular music. The essays in this volume focus on the question of how the worldwide success of The Rolling Stones over the course of more than half a century reflects society and the transformation of popular culture.

BTS are a global phenomenon. This fully revised and updated biography covers their journey from their debut to their latest album, Map of the Soul: 7 (released 21 February 2020), and looks at how this group of boys from South Korea have taken over the world. These seven incredibly talented, handsome men can dance, sing and rap, and write their own songs too. Their music has earned them an incredibly dedicated fanbase, called ARMY, who sell out stadium tours and break all kinds of records, from streaming to physical album sales. With a string of #1 singles and albums in charts all over the world, BTS have truly broken down the barriers facing K-pop and achieved huge success in the US, the UK, all across Europe and South America, as well as Asia. - 'Map of the Soul: 7' went to #1 on the UK Album Chart and the US Billboard 200 - their second UK #1 album and fourth US #1 album. In 2019 they became the first band since The Beatles to have three #1 albums in the US within one year. - The latest music video 'ON' broke the record for the biggest YouTube premiere of all time. -'Boy With Luv' broke YouTube streaming records, hitting 74.6 million views in 24 hours and becoming the fastest music video to reach 100 million views, shattering the record previously held by Ariana Grande. -They have over 24 million followers on Twitter. -They have appeared on the cover of TIME, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Paper and Entertainment Weekly. -They have spoken at the UN as part of their UNICEF campaign to end violence against children and young people. -They sold out two nights at London's Wembley Stadium in June 2019, putting them in the company of Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Beyonce. Extensively researched, and written in an upbeat and accessible style, this book interweaves the backstories of each of the members with the narrative of the band as a whole, their humble beginnings and their astonishing rise to fame in their home country and beyond. It also includes 16 pages of full colour photographs of the band performing, posing and having fun.

Despite the musical and social roles they play in many parts of the world, wind bands have not attracted much interest from sociologists. The Sociology of Wind Bands seeks to fill this gap in research by providing a sociological account of this musical universe as it stands now. Based on a qualitative and quantitative survey conducted in northeastern France, the authors present a vivid description of the orchestras, the backgrounds and practices of their musicians, and the repertoires they play. Their multi-level analysis, ranging from the cultural field to the wind music subfield and to everyday life relationships within bands and local communities, sheds new light on the social organisation, meanings and functions of a type of music that is all too often taken for granted. Yet they go further than merely portraying a musical genre. As wind music is routinely neglected and socially defined in terms of its poor musical quality or even bad taste, the book addresses the thorny issue of the effects of cultural hierarchy and domination. It proposes an imaginative and balanced framework which, beyond the specific case of wind music, is an innovative contribution to the sociology of lowbrow culture.

Austin City Limits is the longest running musical showcase in the history of television, and it still captivates audiences forty years after its debut on the air. From Willie Nelson's legendary pilot show and his fourteen magical episodes running through the years to Season 35, to mythical performances of BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughn, to repeat appearances from Chet Atkins, Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles, and recent shows with Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire and The Decemberists, the show has defined popular roots music and indie rock. This is why country rocker Miranda Lambert - relatively unknown when she taped a show almost a decade ago - gushed to the studio audience, "Now I know I have arrived!" Austin City Limits: A History tells this remarkable story. With unprecedented access behind the scenes at the tapings of shows with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Mos Def, Wilco, and many more, author Tracey Laird tells the story of this landmark musical showcase whose history spans dramatic changes in the world of television, the expansion of digital media, and the ways in which we experience music. Beginning as a simple weekly broadcast, it is today a multifaceted "brand" in contemporary popular music, existing simultaneously as a program available for streaming, a presence on Twitter and other social media, a major music festival, and a state-of-the-art performance venue. Laird explores the ways in which the show's evolution has driven, and been driven by, both that of Austin as the "Live Music Capital of the World," and of U.S. public media as a major player in the dissemination and sponsorship of music and culture. Engagingly written and packed with anecdotes and insights from everyone from the show's producers and production staff to the musicians themselves, Austin City Limits: A History gives us the best seat in the house for this illuminating look at a singular presence in American popular music. Timed to publish with the airing of Austin City Limits 2014 - the 40th anniversary celebratory broadcast featuring an all-star lineup of musicians including the Foo Fighters, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, and others - here is a book for all fans of this beloved music institution.

From the ragtime one-step of the early twentieth century to the contemporary practices of youth club cultures, popular dance and music are inextricably linked. This collection reveals the intimate connections between the corporeal and the sonic in the creation, transmission and reception of popular dance and music, which is imagined here as 'bodies of sound'. The volume provokes a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary conversation that includes scholarship from Asia, Europe and the United States, which explores topics from the nineteenth century through to the present day and engages with practices at local, national and transnational levels. In Part I: Constructing the Popular, the authors explore how categories of popular music and dance are constructed and de-stabilized, and their proclivity to appropriate and re-imagine cultural forms and meanings. In Part II: Authenticity, Revival and Reinvention, the authors examine how popular forms produce and manipulate identities and meanings through their attraction to and departure from cultural traditions. In Part III: (Re)Framing Value, the authors interrogate how values are inscribed, silenced, rearticulated and capitalized through popular music and dance. And in Part IV: Politics of the Popular, the authors read the popular as a site of political negotiation and transformation.

Song & Social Change in Latin America offers seven essays from a diverse group of scholars on the topic of music as a reflection of the many social-political upheavals throughout Latin America from the 20th century to the present. Topics covered include: the Tropicalia movement in Brazil, the Nueva Cancion in Central America, Rock in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Peru, the Vallenato in Colombia, Trova in Cuba, and urban music of Puerto Rico in the mid-20th century. The collection also includes five interviews from prominent and up-and-coming musicians -Ruben Blades, Roy Brown, Habana Abierta, Ana Tijoux, and Mare- representing a variety of musical genres and political issues in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Mexico.

The Hip Hop Movement offers a critical theory and alternative history of rap music and hip hop culture by examining their roots in the popular musics and popular cultures of the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement. Connecting classic rhythm & blues and rock & roll to the Civil Rights Movement, and classic soul and funk to the Black Power Movement, The Hip Hop Movement explores what each of these musics and movements contributed to rap, neo-soul, hip hop culture, and the broader Hip Hop Movement. Ultimately, this book's remixes (as opposed to chapters) reveal that black popular music and black popular culture have always been more than merely "popular music" and "popular culture" in the conventional sense and reflect a broader social, political, and cultural movement. With this in mind, sociologist and musicologist Reiland Rabaka critically reinterprets rap and neo-soul as popular expressions of the politics, social visions, and cultural values of a contemporary multi-issue movement: the Hip Hop Movement. Rabaka argues that rap music, hip hop culture, and the Hip Hop Movement are as deserving of critical scholarly inquiry as previous black popular musics, such as the spirituals, blues, ragtime, jazz, rhythm & blues, rock & roll, soul, and funk, and previous black popular movements, such as the Black Women's Club Movement, New Negro Movement, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Movement, Black Arts Movement, and Black Women's Liberation Movement. This volume, equal parts alternative history of hip hop and critical theory of hip hop, challenges those scholars, critics, and fans of hip hop who lopsidedly over-focus on commercial rap, pop rap, and gangsta rap while failing to acknowledge that there are more than three dozen genres of rap music and many other socially and politically progressive forms of hip hop culture beyond DJing, MCing, rapping, beat-making, break-dancing, and graffiti-writing.

The Hip Hop Movement contains five remixes (as opposed to chapters) that offer a critical theory and alternative history of rap music and hip hop culture by examining their roots in the popular musics and popular cultures of the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement. Connecting classic rhythm & blues and rock & roll to the Civil Rights Movement, and classic soul and funk to the Black Power Movement, The Hip Hop Movement critically explores what each of these musics and movements' contributed to rap, neo-soul, hip hop culture, and the broader Hip Hop Movement. Ultimately, The Hip Hop Movement's remixes reveal that black popular music and black popular culture have always been more than merely popular music and popular culture in the conventional sense and most often reflect a broader social, political, and cultural movement. With this in mind, The Hip Hop Movement critically reinterprets rap and neo-soul as popular expressions of the politics, social visions, and cultural values of a contemporary multi-issue movement: the Hip Hop Movement.It is hip hop's supporters and detractors belief in its ability to inspire both self transformation and social transformation that speaks volumes about the ways in which what has been generally called the Hip Hop Generation or the Hip Hop Nation has evolved into a distinct movement that embodies the musical, spiritual, intellectual, cultural, social, and political, among other, views and values of the post-Civil Rights Movement and post-Black Power Movement generation. Throughout The Hip Hop Movement sociologist and musicologist Reiland Rabaka argues that rap music, hip hop culture, and the Hip Hop Movement are as deserving of critical scholarly inquiry as previous black popular musics, such as the spirituals, blues, ragtime, jazz, rhythm & blues, rock & roll, soul, and funk, and previous black popular movements, such as the Black Women's Club Movement, New Negro Movement, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Movement, Black Arts Movement, and Black Women's Liberation Movement.In equal parts an alternative history of hip hop and a critical theory of hip hop, this volume challenges those scholars, critics, and fans of hip hop who lopsidedly over-focus on commercial rap, pop rap, and gangsta rap while failing to acknowledge, as the remixes here reveal, that there are more than three dozen genres of rap music and many other socially and politically progressive forms of hip hop culture beyond DJing, MCing, rapping, beat-making, break-dancing, and graffiti-writing.

Northern Soul is a cultural phenomenon twice removed from its original source in Britain in the late 1960s. Rooted in gospel and rhythm and blues music, with pounding "four-to-the floor" beats, it is often accompanied by swirling strings, vibraphone flourishes, and infectious clapping. Since the 1960s Northern Soul has spread globally, via the Internet and migration, to such unlikely places as Medellin in Colombia. By giving voice to the members of this scene, this book explores theories about how identity and cultural literacy evolve through engagement with popular culture. It seeks to contribute to understandings about patterns of economic and media consumption, informal learning, intercultural communication, and about how migrants perceive themselves and form connections with others.

ERush FAQE documents the amazing story of the world's greatest Canadian prog rock power trio from its origins in a church basement in Willowdale Ontario to its induction ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Covering 40 albums 10 DVDs thousands of mesmerizing live shows and millions of rock's most loyal fans the story of Rush is as epic and unique as its music. Rush has been maligned by the press for decades and misunderstood by a legion of mainstream rock fans and rock glitterati. And yet only the Beatles and Rolling Stones have earned more gold and platinum records. Few artists if any have been as influential as Rush's three virtuoso a bassist-keyboardist-vocalist Geddy Lee guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer-lyricist Neil Peart.THRush's focus has always been about its muse and its music. As such ERush FAQE studies the evolution of the band's sound from the early days of Zeppelin-esque blues-rock to complex synth-laden opuses to the return of concept-album bombast with the critically acclaimed EClockwork AngelsE.THWith wit humor and authority music industry veteran and unabashed Rush geek Max Mobley examines the music gear personalities and trials and tribulations of one of rock and roll's truly legendary acts. It is a story Rush fans will treasure and rock and roll fans will admire.

The Music Documentary offers a wide-range of approaches, across key moments in the history of popular music, in order to define and interrogate this prominent genre of film-making. The writers in this volume argue persuasively that the music documentary must be considered as an essential cultural artefact in documenting stars and icons, and musicians and their times - particularly for those figures whose fame was achieved posthumously. In this collection of fifteen essays, the reader will find comprehensive discussions of the history of music documentaries, insights in their production and promotion, close studies of documentaries relating to favourite bands or performers, and approaches to questions of music documentary and form, from the celluloid to the digital age.