Original essays by leading scholars in the field of popular music studies map the competing perspectives on the key terms of contemporary debates on popular music and culture. Each essay describes the history of continuities and conflicts in a term's meaning, situating the writer's own position on the term in that history of debate.

Providing a invaluable overview of the current state of popular music discourse, the collection will be useful both to those new to the study of popular music and those already well-versed in popular music and cultural studies.

About the Author
Bruce Horner has degrees in both music and English. His essays on song criticism have appeared in such journals as Mosaic, Writing on the Edge, and the Journal of Musicology. He is Associate Professor of English at Drake University, where he teaches courses on song criticism.

Thomas Swiss has had essays published in Popular Music, Postmodern Culture, New England Review, and The New York Times Book Review. His most recent books are Rough Cut, a collection of poems (1997), and the co-edited Mapping the Beat: Popular Music and Contemporary Theory (Blackwell, 1997). He teaches courses on music and contemporary culture at Drake University, where he is Center for the Humanities Professor.

Reviews
"The book features an excellent roster of authors and will make a valuable companion to popular-music studies, histories and surveys" CHOICE



Book Information
ISBN 9780631212645
Author Thom Swiss
Format Paperback
Page Count 274
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 417g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 154mm * 20mm