Author: Edward Macan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199880093
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 321
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Book Description
Few styles of popular music have generated as much controversy as progressive rock, a musical genre best remembered today for its gargantuan stage shows, its fascination with epic subject matter drawn from science fiction, mythology, and fantasy literature, and above all for its attempts to combine classical music's sense of space and monumental scope with rock's raw power and energy. Its dazzling virtuosity and spectacular live concerts made it hugely popular with fans during the 1970s, who saw bands such as King Crimson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull bring a new level of depth and sophistication to rock. On the other hand, critics branded the elaborate concerts of these bands as self- indulgent and materialistic. They viewed progressive rock's classical/rock fusion attempts as elitist, a betrayal of rock's populist origins. In Rocking the Classics, the first comprehensive study of progressive rock history, Edward Macan draws together cultural theory, musicology, and music criticism, illuminating how progressive rock served as a vital expression of the counterculture of the late 1960s and 1970s. Beginning with a description of the cultural conditions which gave birth to the progressive rock style, he examines how the hippies' fondness for hallucinogens, their contempt for Establishment-approved pop music, and their fascination with the music, art, and literature of high culture contributed to this exciting new genre. Covering a decade of music, Macan traces progressive rock's development from the mid- to late-sixties, when psychedelic bands such as the Moody Blues, Procol Harum, the Nice, and Pink Floyd laid the foundation of the progressive rock style, and proceeds to the emergence of the mature progressive rock style marked by the 1969 release of King Crimson's album In the Court of the Crimson King. This "golden age" reached its artistic and commercial zenith between 1970 and 1975 in the music of bands such as Jethro Tull, Yes, Genesis, ELP, Gentle Giant, Van der Graaf Generator, and Curved Air. In turn, Macan explores the conventions that govern progressive rock, including the visual dimensions of album cover art and concerts, lyrics and conceptual themes, and the importance of combining music, visual motif, and verbal expression to convey a coherent artistic vision. He examines the cultural history of progressive rock, considering its roots in a bohemian English subculture and its meteoric rise in popularity among a legion of fans in North America and continental Europe. Finally, he addresses issues of critical reception, arguing that the critics' largely negative reaction to progressive rock says far more about their own ambivalence to the legacy of the counterculture than it does about the music itself. An exciting tour through an era of extravagant, mind-bending, and culturally explosive music, Rocking the Classics sheds new light on the largely misunderstood genre of progressive rock.
Author: Deena Weinstein
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0786751037
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 370
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Book Description
Few forms of music elicit such strong reactions as does heavy metal. Embraced by millions of fans, it has also attracted a chorus of critics, who have denounced it as a corrupter of youth—even blamed it for tragedies like the murders at Columbine. Deena Weinstein argues that these fears stem from a deep misunderstanding of the energetic, rebellious culture of metal, which she analyzes, explains, and defends. She interprets all aspects of the metal world—the music and its makers, its fans, its dress code, its lyrics—and in the process unravels the myths, misconceptions, and truths about an irreverent subculture that has endured and evolved for twenty years.
Author: Pete Prown
Publisher: Motorbooks International
ISBN: 0760377758
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 197
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Book Description
Ultimate Heavy Metal Guitars profiles 80+ heavy metal guitarists from the 1970s to today, featuring performance photography and an authoritative text detailing the careers and gear of each.
Author: William Phillips
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313348014
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
It has been reviled, dismissed, attacked, and occasionally been the subject of Congressional hearings, but still, the genre of music known as heavy metal maintains not only its market share in the recording and downloading industry, but also as a cultural force that has united millions of young and old fans across the globe. Characterized by blaring distorted guitars, drum solos, and dramatic vibrato, the heavy metal movement headbanged its way to the popular culture landscape with bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath the 1970s. Motley Crue and Metallica made metal a music phenomenon in the 1980s. Heavy metal continues to evolve today with bands like Mastodon and Lamb of God. Providing an extensive overview of the music, fashion, films, and philosophies behind the movement, this inclusive encyclopedia chronicles the history and development of heavy metal, including sub-movements such as death metal, speed metal, grindcore, and hair metal. Essential and highly entertaining reading for high school and undergraduate courses in popular music studies, communications, media studies, and cultural studies, the Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music and Culture offers a guide to the ultimate underground music, exploring its rich cultural diversity, resilience, and adaptability. Entries for musicians include a discography for those wanting to start or develop their music collections.
Author: Maureen Mahon
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822386135
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 331
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Book Description
The original architects of rock ’n’ roll were black musicians including Little Richard, Etta James, and Chuck Berry. Jimi Hendrix electrified rock with his explosive guitar in the late 1960s. Yet by the 1980s, rock music produced by African Americans no longer seemed to be “authentically black.” Particularly within the music industry, the prevailing view was that no one—not black audiences, not white audiences, and not black musicians—had an interest in black rock. In 1985 New York-based black musicians and writers formed the Black Rock Coalition (brc) to challenge that notion and create outlets for black rock music. A second branch of the coalition started in Los Angeles in 1989. Under the auspices of the brc, musicians organized performances and produced recordings and radio and television shows featuring black rock. The first book to focus on the brc, Right to Rock is, like the coalition itself, about the connections between race and music, identity and authenticity, art and politics, and power and change. Maureen Mahon observed and participated in brc activities in New York and Los Angeles, and she conducted interviews with more than two dozen brc members. In Right to Rock she offers an in-depth account of how, for nearly twenty years, members of the brc have broadened understandings of black identity and black culture through rock music.
Author: Vladimir Bogdanov
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 9780879306533
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 1430
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Book Description
This fun-to-read, easy-to-use reference has been completely updated, expanded, and revised with reviews of over 12,000 great albums by over 2,000 artists and groups in all rock genres. 50 charts.
Author: Kevin Holm-Hudson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135710228
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
In this book, the glory days of progressive rock are relived in a series of insightful essays about the key bands, songwriters and songs that made prog-rock such an innovative style.
Author: Mark Mussari
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 1608709272
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 120
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Book Description
Series consultant and author Mark Mussari takes readers on a journey from the beginnings of rock and roll and the nascent youth culture of the 1950s and 1960s through the materialistic years of the 1980s into the still-being-defined early twenty-first century. In this fascinating book, this record of the ever-changing world of American culture is highlighted with a fabulous variety of photographs from the last six decades.
Author: Laura S. Jeffrey
Publisher: Enslow Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 9780766032347
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 120
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Book Description
"A biography of British rock band Def Leppard"--Provided by publisher.
Author: Jennifer Grayer Moore
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1440844623
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 394
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Book Description
A comprehensive resource that will prove invaluable to fashion historians, this book presents a detailed exploration of the breadth of visually arresting, consumer-driven styles that have emerged in America since the 20th century. What are the origins of highly specific denim fashions, such as bell bottoms, skinny jeans, and ripped jeans? How do mass media and popular culture influence today's street fashion? When did American fashion sensibilities shift from conformity as an ideal to youth-oriented standards where clothing could boldly express independence and self-expression? Street Style in America: An Exploration addresses questions like these and many others related to the historical and sociocultural context of street style, supplying both A–Z entries that document specific American street styles and illustrations with accompanying commentary. This book provides a detailed analysis of American street and subcultural styles, from the earliest example reaching back to the early 20th century to contemporary times. It reviews all aspects of dress that were part of a look, considering variations over time and connecting these innovations to fashionable dress practices that emerged in the wakes of these sartorial rebellions. The text presents detailed examinations of specific dress styles and also interrogates the manifold meanings of dress practices that break from the mainstream. This book is a comprehensive resource that will prove invaluable to fashion historians and provide fascinating reading for students and general audiences.
