Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA

This book proceeds from the assumption that music is always a social indicator; that is, it tells us something about the world around us. It responds to, mirrors, and influences the society in which we live. This is the only book that covers the total range of US popular music in the 20th century, locates them in their social context, and provides an interdisciplinary analysis of their significance. This comprehensive social history is organized chronologically around themes and issues which explicate the connection between music and other social processes. These include the multicultural influences in US popular music, the impact of technological advances, the significance of class, race, gender, ethnicity, and region, the importance of political context, and the power of consumer preferences. This book is necessarily encyclopedic; still, it balances information with analysis. Divided into two sections, “Historical Background” and “The Contemporary Era,” the book begins with the invention of sound recording and the rise of Tin Pan Alley, and proceeds through discussions of blues, country, and rhythm and blues as historical background, then discusses rock and soul, punk and disco, rap and metal, and alternative music as well as all of the sub-genres and stylistic variants of these sounds.