About the Book
KEY BENEFIT Rockin' Out: Popular Music In the U.S.A. analyzes the music and business of rock 'n' roll. Covering topics such as the rise of television idols, the proliferation of alternative sounds, and the influence of digital production techniques, this comprehensive, introductory text takes readers from the invention of the phonograph to the promise of the Internet. Joining longtime author Reebee Garofalo for the Sixth Edition, co-author Steve Waksman -- professor at Smith College and heavily published rock scholar -- has thoroughly revised each chapter to include new research and more current literature.
KEY TOPICS Introduction: Definitions, Themes, and Issues; Constructing Tin Pan Alley: From Minstrelsy to Mass Culture; Blues, Jazz, and Country: The Segregation of Popular Music; "Good Rockin' Tonight" The Rise of Rhythm and Blues; Crossing Cultures: The Eruption of Rock 'n' Roll; The Empire Strikes Back: The Reaction to Rock 'n' Roll; Popular Music and Political Culture: The Sixties; Music Versus Markets: The Fragmentation of Pop; Punk and Disco: The Poles of Pop; Are We the World?: Music Videos, Superstars, and Mega-Events; Rap and Metal: The Voices of Youth Culture; Repackaging Pop: The Changing Mainstream; Changing Channels: Music and Media in the New Millennium
MARKET For readers seeking an up-to-date overview of the music and business of rock 'n' roll
About the Author:
Reebee Garofalo is Professor Emeritus at UMass Boston, where he taught for 33 years. His most recent book is
Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA. He has written numerous articles on popular music for popular as well as scholarly publications and has lectured internationally on a broad range of subjects relating to the operations of the music industry. Garofalo has been active in promoting popular music studies internationally, as a member of the Executive Committee and past Chairperson of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US, and an editor for several popular music journals, including the
Journal of Popular Music Studies. At the local level, Garofalo serves on the organizing committee for the HONK! Festival, an annual gathering of activist street bands. For relaxation, he enjoys drumming and singing with the Blue Suede Boppers, a fifties rock 'n' roll band, and marching with the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, an activist New Orleans-style brass band.
Steve Waksman has turned a lifelong involvement with music as a player and listener into a career as a scholar of rock and pop. Professor of Music and American Studies at Smith College, his works include the books
Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience, and the award-winning
This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk. He has contributed essays to several journals and edited collections, including the
Cambridge Companion to the Guitar, the
Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World,
Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop, and
Metal Rules the Globe. In 2008, Waksman was the keynote speaker at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's American Music Masters event honoring the legacy of musician and inventor Les Paul. He is co-editor of the
Sage Handbook of Popular Music with Andy Bennett, and is currently researching a new book on the cultural history of live music and performance in the U.S. from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
