Essays on the major American song lyricists who wrote for the Broadway theater, the Hollywood motion-picture musicals, and the sheet music and recording industry collectively known as Tin Pan Alley. The period surveyed is generally regarded as the golden age of American songwriting. Provides historical information on Broadway, movie musicals, "original cast" LP albums, and the movement toward integration of song and plot in the stage and screen musical....

"How did rap become the most popular genre in the United States, and what were the consequences of this subculture becoming part of the mainstream? In How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop, Amy Coddington examines the programming practices at commercial radio stations in the 1980s and early 1990s to uncover how this industry facilitated rap's introduction into the musical mainstream. Playing rap on the radio changed the sound of the genre, as artists negotiated...