Considering the work of such artists as Madonna, George Clinton,
U2, Elvis Costello, and Nirvana, the contributors deftly combine
the rigors of scholarship with the energy of rock journalism to
provide an analysis at once critical, contextualized, and
enthusiastic. While a number of scholars have recently turned their
attention to rock and pop music, most of their work has focused on
providing sweeping cultural contexts for its popularity rather than
exploring the music itself. Now, in "Reading Rock and Roll, " Kevin
Dettmar and William Richey have gathered a wealth of erudite,
original, and clever writings that perform close readings of rock
music -- often with surprising results.
The authors in this volume view rock and roll as having had
affinities with postmodernism from its inception. With its mongrel
pedigree -- drawing on blues, folk, R and B, and bluegrass -- and
its relation to mass media and high-tech modes of production, rock
music has been self-conscious and full of irony from the beginning.
These essays regularly call attention to the allusiveness and
intertextuality of rock and roll, whether it is Kurt Cobain
undermining the Beatles, M. C. Hammer stealing from Rick James's
"Super Freak," or U2's use of Johnny Cash's legendary voice.
From a careful examination of the roles of addictions and female
sexuality in the remakings of Courtney Love and Madonna, to the
politics of George Clinton's uses and abuses of language, to the
referencing of Elvis Costello in two recent novels and the use of
1970s rock in several recent film soundtracks, these essays are as
varied as the artists they consider. Informal and theoretically
informed, "Reading Rock and Roll" is an important investigation of
the music that more than any other has defined our century.
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