American Popular Music

by Rubin, Rachel; Melnick, Jeffrey

• ISBN13: 9781558492684
• ISBN10: 1558492682
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Pr

Summary

Designed as a broad introductory survey, and written by experts in the field, this book examines the rise of American music over the past hundred years -- the period in which that music came into its own and achieved unprecedented popularity. Beginning with a look at music as a business, eleven essays explore a variety of popular musical genres, including Tin Pan Alley, blues, jazz, country, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, folk, rap, and Mexican American corridos. Reading these essays, we come to see that the forms created by one group often appeal to, and are in turn influenced by, other groups -- across lines of race, ethnicity, class, gender, region, and age.

The chapters speak to one another, arguing for the primacy of such concepts as minstrelsy, urbanization, hybridity, and crossover as the most powerful tools for understanding American popular music. Moving beyond outdated music-industry categories and misleading genre labels, while acknowledging the complexities of the market, the book recovers and reinforces the essential blackness of much p

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: The Work of Popular Music	1	(8)
Rachel Rubin
Jeffrey Melnick
They Work Hard for Their Money: The Business of Popular Music	9	(20)
David Sanjek
Tin Pan Alley and the Black-Jewish Nation	29	(18)
Jeffrey Melnick
How I Got to Memphis: The Blues and the Study of American Culture	47	(18)
James Smethurst
Listening to Jazz	65	(28)
Geoffrey Jacques
Sing Me Back Home: Nostalgia, Bakersfield, and Modern Country Music	93	(18)
Rachel Rubin
Off the Charts: Outrage and Exclusion in the Eruption of Rock and Roll	111	(16)
Reebee Garofalo
Another Man Is Beating My Time: Gender and Sexuality in Rhythm and Blues	127	(14)
Mark Anthony Neal
One Hundred Years of Black Gospel Quartet Singing	141	(32)
Kip Lornell
Contextualizing Rap	173	(20)
Gail Hilson Woldu
The Folk Revival: Beyond Child's Canon and Sharp's Song Catching	193	(18)
Millie Rahn
Polka Contrabandista: Mexican Ballads in the Modern Age	211	(20)
Elijah Wald
Works Cited	231	(18)
Notes on Contributors	249	(4)
Index	253