Understanding Popular Music Culture - Softcover

Shuker, Roy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415419069 ISBN 13: 9780415419062

Publisher: Routledge, 2007

Synopsis

Written specifically for students, this introductory textbook explores the history and meaning of rock and popular music. Roy Shuker's study provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the production, distribution, consumption and meaning of popular music and examines the difficulties and debates which surround the analysis of popular culture and popular music.

This heavily revised and updated third edition includes:

• new case studies on the iPod, downloading, and copyright
• the impact of technologies, including on-line delivery and the debates over MP3 and Napster
• new chapters on music genres, cover songs and the album canon as well as music retail, radio and the charts
• case studies and lyrics of artists such as Robert Johnson, The Who, Fat Boy Slim and The Spice Girls
• a comprehensive discography, suggestions for further reading, listening and viewing and a directory of useful websites.

With chapter related guides to further reading, listening and viewing, a glossary, and a timeline, this textbook is the ideal introduction for students.

About this title

About the Author

Roy Shuker is Associate Professor in Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.  His previous publications include Understanding Popular Music (2nd Edition, 2001) and Popular Music: The Key Concepts (2nd Edition, 2005).

 

From Library Journal

Presented in the larger context of cultural studies, Understanding Popular Music is a commendably comprehensive analysis not only of 20th-century popular music itself but also of its major cultural theorists. Shuker (media studies, Massey Univ., New Zealand) knowledgeably traces and treats almost every aspect of popular music, among them performance and recording technologies, the music industry, the music press, gender implications, political implications; and visual representations, both pre- and post-MTV. This substantially revamped work, first published in 1994, addresses newer artists, genres, and technologies and also reconsiders initial evaluations of many theories and theorists. As with most studies to date in this area, Shuker's is rigidly and regrettably confined to Anglo-American popular music; collections seeking an appropriate balance should consider World Music: The Rough Guide (LJ 12/89). Nevertheless, this book's sophistication and theoretical bent make it a superb choice for academic libraries. Public libraries should consider more accessible works like Nick Johnstone's Melody Maker History of 20th-Century Popular Music (LJ 3/15/00). Bill Piekarski, Lackawanna, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0415419069
• ISBN 13: 9780415419062
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 328