Making Popular Music

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340652233 ISBN 13: 9780340652237

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2000

*Nominated for the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Book Prize*
Partly
because they are the objects of such intense adulation by fans popular
musicians remain strangely enigmatic figures, shrouded in mythology.
This book looks beyond the myth and examines the diverse roles music
makers have had to adopt in order to go about their work: designer,
ventriloquist, star, delegate of the people. The musician is a divided
subject and jack of all trades
However the story does
not end here. Arguing against that strand in cultural studies which
deconstructs all claims for authorship by the individual artist, Jason
Toynbee suggests that creativity should be reconceived rather than
abandoned. He argues that what is needed is a sense of 'the radius of
creativity' within which musicians work, an approach that takes into
account both the embedded collectivism of popular music practice and the
institutional power of the music industries.
Drawing on a
wide range of theoretical positions, as well as examining musical texts
from across the history of twentieth-century pop,this groundbreaking
book develops a powerful case for the importance of production in
contemporary culture. Students of cultural and media studies, music and
the performing arts will find this book an invaluable resource.

About the Author:

Jason Toynbee is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at The Open University, UK.

Review:

“An important book ... Toynbee deals directly with the most interesting of all cultural studies questions: what is creativity?” ―Simon Firth, University of Stirling, UK