Explores lyrics from the history of pop music to determine what makes a song so memorable it becomes pop music. Includes a glossary, a text-related activity, and resources for further information.

Explores pop music lyrics, from the history of pop music to what makes a song so memorable it becomes pop music. Includes a glossary, resources for further information, a text-related activity, and resources for further information.

This is a book only Questlove could have written: a perceptive and personal reflection on the first half-century of hip-hop.
When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasn't expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even

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With the advent of recording technology, LGBT messages were for the first time brought to the forefront of popular music. Bullock covers the history of recorded music by and for the LGBT community, and shows how those records influenced the evolution of the music we listen to today. He discusses how gay, lesbian, and bisexual performers influenced jazz and blues; examines the almost forgotten Pansy Craze in the years between the two World Wars; chronicles...

"A popular fascination with fame and stardom has existed in Western culture since the late eighteenth century; a fascination that, in the twenty-first century, reaches into almost every facet of public life. The pervasive nature of stardom in modern society demands study from the perspectives of a range of distinct but thematically connected disciplines. The exploration of intersections between broader considerations of stardom and the discourses...

What do your musical choices say about you? Music opinions bring out passionate debate in people, and Hyden focuses on pop music rivalries, from the classic to the very recent, and draws connections to the larger forces surrounding the pairing. Along the way he explores burning out and fading away, gives readers a glimpse into the perennial battle between old and young-- and just may prompt you to give your least favorite band another chance.

"The entire history of popular music over the past fifty years refracted through the big genres that have defined and dominated it-including rock, country, punk, R&B, dance and hip-hop-woven together into a cosmic reckoning with music's evolution as a popular art form, as a huge cultural and economic force, and as an essential component to our identities, from Black Sabbath to Black Flag to Beyoncé, and beyond"--