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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Contemporary popular music > Rock & pop
Bringing together the voices of scholars from Europe and North
America with those of key contest stakeholders, Performing the
'New' Europe: Identities, Feelings, and Politics in the Eurovision
Song Contest argues that this popular music competition is a
symbolic contact zone between European cultures: an arena for
European identification in which both national solidarity and
participation in a European identity are confirmed, and a site
where cultural struggles over the meanings, frontiers and limits of
Europe are enacted. This exciting collection explores the ways in
which European artists perform, disavow, and contest their racial,
national, and sexual identities in the Eurovision Song Contest
(ESC), and asks difficult questions about European inclusions and
exclusions the contest reflects. It suggests the ESC as an
ever-evolving network of peoples and places transcending both
historical and geographical boundaries of Europe that brings into
being new understandings of the relationship between culture,
space, and identities.
You can tell a lot about somebody in a minute. If you choose the
right minute. As a journalist (for Rolling Stone, the "New York
Times", and elsewhere) and bestselling author, Neil Strauss
considers it his job to hang around celebrities, rock gods, porn
queens, up-and-coming starlets, and iconic superstars long enough -
whether it takes moments or months - to find that minute, the one
when the curtain finally falls away and the real person is
revealed. In this new collection, Strauss offers up 120 of those
singular, hit-you-in-the guts, perception-altering, revolutionary
minutes, as only he can - with total honesty, deadpan wit, and
unmatched style. Among the game-changing moments collected here are
interviews with: Tom Cruise; Snoop Dogg; Madonna; Johnny Cash; Cher
and Dave Navarro; Oasis; Julian Casablancas of The Strokes; Brian
Wilson; Eric Clapton; and, Hugh Hefner. Wickedly illustrated
throughout with sketches by artist Sian Pattenden, Strauss'
first-ever collection of rock journalism is equally raw and
revealing (Tom Cruise on Scientology, Brian Wilson on drugs and
alcohol), hilarious (Snoop Dogg on record companies and baby
diapers), and deeply honest (Eric Clapton on the death of Kurt
Cobain and his own struggle with depression). "Everyone Loves You
When You're Dead" is Neil Strauss, cultural journalist, at his
finest.
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.
Exploring the interactions between Shakespeare and popular music,
this book links these seeming polar opposites, showing how
musicians have woven the Bard into their sounds. How have
Shakespearean characters, words, texts and iconography been
represented and reworked through popular music? Do all types of
popular music represent Shakespeare in the same ways? And how do
the links between Shakespeare and popular music challenge what we
think we know about both Shakespeare and popular music? One of the
enduring myths about how Shakespeare and popular music relate is
that they don't - after all the antagonism between high culture and
pop music could be considered mutual. In the first book of its
kind, Adam Hansen shows what happens to Shakespeare when he exists
in and becomes popular music, in all its diverse and glorious
forms. Exploring these interactions reveals as much about the
functions of the diverse genres of popular music as it does about
Shakespeare as a global cultural form. Discussing a wide range of
examples in a critically-informed but lively and accessible style,
this book brings something new to Shakespeare and popular music,
capturing the excitement and energy of both for its readers.
Pop music stars in many of the most exciting and successful British
films--from "Performance" to "Trainspotting," from "A Hard Day's
Night" to H"uman Traffic." Other films using pop music might be
more obscure but include many demonstrating a boldness and
imagination rarely matched in other areas of British cinema.
Pop artists (David Bowie, Cliff Richard, Spice Girls, Patsy Kensit,
Sex Pistols) could be said to be captured at their most iconic on
celluloid. And of course there are the rare but prized cameos from
a huge variety of other musicians and their songs in the most
unexpected of places. This book tells the story and records the
facts of the pop-film relationship decade by decade. It is the most
systematic guide to where and how pop appears in British
cinema.
"Pop in British Cinema" includes:
* Decade by decade commentary and systematic listings of films with
pop music
* Comprehensive referencing of all British feature films using
music from the 50s to the end of the century
* Illustrations and descriptions of the changing ways of using pop
in British film
* Listings of "band" movies and indexes to musicians, directors,
and film titles
For researchers and the curious alike this is an easy and
fascinating reference source. It represents both a first history of
pop music in British cinema and a mine of trivia questions for
music and film buffs of all descriptions.
On an idyllic Greek island, the garden of sixties icon Leonard
Cohen inspires a poet to question and ultimately celebrate the
meaning of his own life. English poet Roger Green left the safety
of God, country, and whiskey to immerse himself in an austere and
sober life on the Greek Island of Hydra. But when Green discovered
that his terrace overlooked the garden of sixties balladeer Leonard
Cohen, he became obsessed with Cohen's songs, wives, and banana
tree. Hydra starts with a poem the author wrote and recited for his
fifty-seventh birthday (borrowing the meter of Cohen's Suzanne, and
ripe with references to the song), with Cohen's ex-partner Suzanne,
who may or may not be the subject of Cohen's song, in the audience.
By turns playful and philosophic, Green's unconventional memoir
tells the story of his journey down the rabbit hole of obsession,
as he confronts the meaning of poetry, history, and his own life.
Beginning as a poetic meditation upon Leonard Cohen's bananas,
Green's bardic pilgrimage takes the reader on various twists and
turns until, at last, the poet accepts the joy of accepting his
fate.
On their debut, The Clash famously claimed to be "bored with the
USA," but The Clash wasn't a parochial record. Mick Jones' licks on
songs such as "Hate and War" were heavily influenced by classic
American rock and roll, and the cover of Junior Murvin's reggae hit
"Police and Thieves" showed that the band's musical influences were
already wide-ranging. Later albums such as Sandinista! and Combat
Rock saw them experimenting with a huge range of musical genres,
lyrical themes and visual aesthetics. The Clash Takes on the World
explores the transnational aspects of The Clash's music, lyrics and
politics, and it does so from a truly transnational perspective. It
brings together literary scholars, historians, media theorists,
musicologists, social activists and geographers from Europe and the
US, and applies a range of critical approaches to The Clash's work
in order to tackle a number of key questions: How should we
interpret their negotiations with reggae music and culture? How did
The Clash respond to the specific socio-political issues of their
time, such as the economic recession, the Reagan-Thatcher era and
burgeoning neoliberalism, and international conflicts in Nicaragua
and the Falkland Islands? How did they reconcile their
anti-capitalist stance with their own success and status as a
global commodity? And how did their avowedly inclusive,
multicultural stance, reflected in their musical diversity, square
with the experience of watching the band in performance? The Clash
Takes on the World is essential reading for scholars, students and
general readers interested in a band whose popularity endures.
Through rap and hip hop, entertainers have provided a voice
questioning and challenging the sanctioned view of society.
Examining the moral and social implications of Kanye West's art in
the context of Western civilization's preconceived ideas, the
contributors consider how West both challenges religious and moral
norms and propagates them.
"Yungblud is like nothing you've seen before. That is, unless
you've seen a smiley punk/alt rocker from Doncaster, UK who wears
pink socks, black-lipstick, and a skirt, plays a mean guitar, has
an endless amount of energy, and an interesting aura of sex appeal.
Then, and only then, can you say you've seen someone like
Yungblud." - musicinminnesota.com YUNGBLUD. A striking new musical
voice has emerged for Gen-Z. Political, provocative and
impassioned, Yungblud has in the space of three years become one of
the UK's most recognisable artists through his unique blend of pop,
punk and emo music - gaining one of the most die-hard fanbases on
the planet in the process. From 21st Century Liability, where
nothing was sacred - gun violence, psychosis, sex, drugs and
suicide - to his sophomore album Weird!, an exploration of oddity
and self-acceptance, YUNGBLUD challenges our zeitgeist as much as
he channels it. This is the first fully authorised book, featuring
photographs by his friend and closest collaborator Tom Pallant.
Featuring an amazing selection of rare and unseen photographs, All
My Friends Have Deserted charts Yungblud's journey from late 2019
as he toured his debut album across the world, right through
releasing his second album during a global pandemic, scoring his
first UK #1, returning triumphantly to Reading and Leeds festival
mainstage and culminating in his biggest ever headline show, a
sold-out Alexandra Palace in London. All My Friends Have Deserted
shows YUNGBLUD as a man of multitudes: dominating the stage,
screaming into the mic, laughing behind-the-scenes, enjoying quiet
creative moments and pulling faces at the camera. The vicious
energy of his performances carries onto the page. The result is a
rollercoaster of a photo-essay that carries readers on a journey
through the highs and lows of Gen-Z's most essential new rock star.
"My generation is over being divided. Being divided is an old
concept that is rapidly becoming obsolete. We are opinionated. We
are full of contradictions. That's the beauty of it. Our intention
is to make this world equal. No matter what size you are, what
shape you are, what colour you are, what sexuality you are..."
Underpinning it all is the message of empathy. Those who his lyrics
resonate with are not alone. Authentic and electric, rebellious and
irreverent, yet still utterly human, YUNGBLUD is the new face of
punk. Here he presents himself through a series of exclusive and
unseen photographs, taken by his friend and closest collaborator,
photographer Tom Pallant.
Thirty years after the Fab Four disbanded, Beatlemania is again in
full swing. Their new CD 1 is the fasting-selling record in history
and their biography ANTHOLOGY topped the bestseller lists around
the world. How did four scruffy teens become international
superstars, along the way creating a living legacy of spirit,
elegance and joy? Anyone who has ever loved the Beatles knows they
were personally excellent at their craft. But there was more to
them than that great music. They were model citizens of how to get
what you want, have fun and practice peace in life. Larry Lange has
mined the Beatle archives and arrived at seven fab axioms that show
us how to live the life we'd love to live.
Music has always been central to the cultures that young people
create, follow, and embrace. In the 1960s, young hippie kids sang
along about peace with the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and
tried to change the world. In the 1970s, many young people ended up
coming home in body bags from Vietnam, and the music scene changed,
embracing punk and bands like The Sex Pistols. In Sells Like Teen
Spirit, Ryan Moore tells the story of how music and youth culture
have changed along with the economic, political, and cultural
transformations of American society in the last four decades. By
attending concerts, hanging out in dance clubs and after-hour bars,
and examining the do-it-yourself music scene, Moore gives a
riveting, first-hand account of the sights, sounds, and smells of
"teen spirit."
Moore traces the histories of punk, hardcore, heavy metal, glam,
thrash, alternative rock, grunge, and riot grrrl music, and relates
them to wider social changes that have taken place. Alongside the
thirty images of concert photos, zines, flyers, and album covers in
the book, Moore offers original interpretations of the music of a
wide range of bands including Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Metallica,
Nirvana, and Sleater-Kinney. Written in a lively, engaging, and
witty style, Sells Like Teen Spirit suggests a more hopeful
attitude about the ways that music can be used as a counter to an
overly commercialized culture, showcasing recent musical
innovations by youth that emphasize democratic participation and
creative self-expression--even at the cost of potential copyright
infringement.
Contributions by Alberto Brodesco, James Cody, Andrea Cossu, Anne
Margaret Daniel, Jesper Doolard, Nina Goss, Jonathan Hodgers, Jamie
Lorentzen, Fahri OE z, Nick Smart, and Thad Williamson Bob Dylan is
many things to many people. Folk prodigy. Rock poet. Quiet
gentleman. Dionysian impresario. Cotton Mather. Stage hog. Each of
these Dylan creations comes with its own accessories, including a
costume, a hairstyle, a voice, a lyrical register, a metaphysics,
an audience, and a library of commentary. Each Bob Dylan joins a
collective cast that has made up his persona for over fifty years.
No version of Dylan turns out uncomplicated, but the postmillennial
manifestation seems peculiarly contrary-a tireless and enterprising
antiquarian; a creator of singular texts and sounds through
promiscuous poaching; an artist of innovation and uncanny renewal.
This is a Dylan of persistent surrender from and engagement with a
world he perceives as broken and enduring, addressing us from a
past that is lost and yet forever present. Tearing the World Apart
participates in the creation of the postmillennial Bob Dylan by
exploring three central records of the twenty-first century-"Love
and Theft" (2001), Modern Times (2006), and Tempest (2012)-along
with the 2003 film Masked and Anonymous, which Dylan helped write
and in which he appears as an actor and musical performer. The
collection of essays does justice to this difficult Bob Dylan by
examining his method and effects through a disparate set of
viewpoints. Readers will find a variety of critical contexts and
cultural perspectives as well as a range of experiences as members
of Dylan's audience. The essays in Tearing the World Apart
illuminate, as a prism might, its intransigent subject from
enticing and intersecting angles.
Hailing from Manchester, England, sophisticated pop purveyors 10cc
hit the ground running with their 1972 debut single, 'Donna'. Their
pedigree reached back to bassist Graham Gouldman's '60s' song
writing successes including The Yardbirds' `For Your Love' and The
Hollies' 'Bus Stop'. Guitarist and recording engineer, Eric
Stewart, was already a bonafide pop star having sung the global
1966 hit, 'Groovy Kind of Love', for his group The Mindbenders.
When the pair teamed up with drummer/singer Kevin Godley and
multi-instrumentalist/singer, Lol Creme, the combination wrought a
legacy of four albums. They included the ambitious The Original
Soundtrack and ten hit singles, including the ground-breaking 'I'm
Not In Love,' that were rich in eclectic boundary-pushing pop that
earned 10cc comparisons to The Beatles while still occupying a
unique position in music. Departing in 1976, Godley and Creme moved
on to create genre-defying experimental albums, while Gouldman and
Stewart continued their run of hit singles and albums with a new
10cc line-up. Their final album was 1995's, Mirror Mirror, a highly
respectable full stop on the influential band's colourful and
innovative discography. This book examines every released recording
by both Godley & Creme and 10cc, including the band's debut
album under their early name, Hotlegs.
Falco and Beyond is devoted to the most popular Austrian
song-writer, singer and rapper of the twentieth century and one of
the most successful European singers of all time. Falco was born in
1957, reached the peak of his popularity in the 1980s with songs
such as "Der Kommissar," "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Jeanny," with mixed
luck attempted to revive his career in the 1990s and died in a car
crash in 1998. He sold over 30 million records worldwide and
remains a successful posthumous artist. The book attempts to
identify the most salient and contradictory features of Falco's
art, such as linguistic inventiveness and dexterity, rapping and
adopting a posture of a romantic artist. It argues that Falco's
songs betray an apocalyptic imagination, picturing the image of an
exhausted and unhappy world. It looks at Falco's career and his
phenomenon in the context of international and Austrian music
business and politics, and investigates how his popularity has been
maintained after his death, by means such as records released
posthumously, cover versions of his songs, mashup songs and videos,
biographies and Falco fandom.
'If you stay alive long enough, people eventually catch up' Born in
rural Georgia in 1947, Jayne moved to New York and became part of
the 60s art scene surrounding Andy Warhol's Factory. Jayne's story
follows the arc of LGBT liberation in the US - she came of age
living hand-to-mouth, faced off against police at Stonewall and
came out as a trans woman while she was touring Europe with her
band. She went everywhere and met everyone and lived to tell the
tale. Man Enough to Be a Woman is the funny, fierce memoir of
Jayne's extraordinary journey, now including a new epilogue where
she reflects on how the world has (almost) caught up with her.
Heavy Metal Youth Identities critically examines the significance
of heavy metal music and culture in the everyday lives of metal
youth. Historically, young metal fans have been portrayed in
popular and academic literature as delinquent, mentally unwell,
demotivated, and destined for low-achieving futures and poor
educational outcomes. So why would young people sign up for this?
What's the specific appeal of metal, and why start embodying a
metal identity that others can see and know? And is metal really
such a problem for youth development, as some have speculated? To
explore these questions, this book draws on narrative research with
metal youth that invited them to reflect, in their own words, on
the role of metal in their everyday lives. They share their early
memories of forming a metal identity during high school years and
ways that metal helped them cope with things like bullying,
bereavement and challenging family circumstances. They also give us
rare insight into ways that metal influenced (and even assisted)
their transitions through education and career paths post-school.
This book highlights ways that youth workers, educators and parents
can work positively to support young people forming subcultural
identities and capitalise on their unique strengths and skill-sets.
As the globalisation of youth cultures continues to expand against
the backdrop of a changing workforce, it is crucial that we learn
how to better facilitate the preferred pathways of young people
with interests that might be considered 'against the grain' by
normative standards. This book takes us a step forward in that
direction.
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