Tag: Music history

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Book Review: Rock & Roll in Kennedy’s America, A Cultural History of the Early 1960s by Richard Aquila.

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Richard Aquila asserts that the music of this era showcases the optimism of Kennedy’s America in the throes of social change, his analysis is painted with broad brush strokes. If anything, the connections made between popular culture and the political status quo are so engaging that the reader is left yearning for more. Continue reading

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The State of the Discipline Series: Part I: Book Review: Noise Uprising by Michael Denning

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As Benedict Anderson’s concept of nationalism relies on the omnipresence of ‘print capitalism’, so Michael Denning here argues that decolonisation depended on an era of ‘sound capitalism’ – a new, urban, plebeian music that circled the world. In this sense, then, while there is no clear moment when the ear was ‘decolonised’, the battle over sound and music was central to the struggle over colonialism. Continue reading