Discographies: Dance, Music, Culture and the Politics of Sound [Paperback]

Jeremy Gilbert (Author), Ewan Pearson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415170338 | ISBN-13: 978-0415170338 | Publication Date: September 19, 1999 | Edition: First Paperback Edition

Experiencing disco, hip hop, house, techno, drum 'n' bass and garage, Discographies plots a course through the transatlantic dance scene of the last last twenty-five years. It discusses the problems posed by contemporary dance culture of both academic and cultural study and finds these origins in the history of opposition to music as a source of sensory pleasure.
Discussing such issues as technology, club space. drugs, the musical body, gender, sexuality and pleasure, Discographies explores the ecstatic experiences at the heart of contemporary dance culture. It suggests why politicians and agencies as diverse as the independent music press and public broadcasting should be so hostile to this cultural phenomenon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In this fascinating study of dance music's formal, aesthetic and political properties, Jeremy Gilbert and Ewan Pearson team up to provide an authentic account of dance music. This is essential reading for anyone who considers dance music their lifestyle of choice.
–URB Magazine

Gilbert and Pearson provide a fascinating, complex, and well-written analysis...the chapters on gender and sexuality and on technology are superb...it is sophisticated and important. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
–Choice, April 2000

This is a lucid, informative, engagingly written and stimulating work. It admirably covers a variety of different theoretical issues and takes off from dance to raise all sorts of questions about the treatment of music in cultural studies.
–Simon Frith, University of Stirling

...contemporary, committed and compelling.
–Will Straw, McGill University

About the Author

Jeremy Gilbert is currently teaching in the Media and Cultural Studies at the University of East London. He is contributor to Living Through Pop and The Moderniser's Dilemma. Ewan Pearson has been a visiting lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of East London. He is now a full-time musician and has recorded for several Uk dance labels including Glasgow's Soma recordings.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; First Paperback Edition edition (September 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415170338
• ISBN-13: 978-0415170338
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,892,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Gilbert

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A World of Music, Drugs and Pacifiers., March 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Discographies: Dance, Music, Culture and the Politics of Sound (Paperback)

This book was required for my Audio Visual Arts class at LSU. I had know idea there was such a book. Discographies catagorizes each type of dance music, (ie: House,Jungle,Trance), describing its roots and history.
I highly recommend this book for the avid music listener. This book is great addition to anyones library. It may come in handy someday when you explain to your children, why you are messed up in the head.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DEEPER THAN ONE WOULD THINK., September 18, 2000

By 

Rich Fuester - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Discographies: Dance, Music, Culture and the Politics of Sound (Paperback)

Think Sociological text. This book discusses many of the finer aspects of dance culture in an almost clinical manor by someone intigrated in the culture. However this book will take some time to read unless you read a great deal at college level. This book has the ability to not only converse but help define and expound on the intangables derived by the activities associated with dance/raving. A very good book however for me a somewhat slow read. The bibleographies after each chapter is probably worth the cost of the book alone. Keep Movin'!

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" book for those who love music and sociology., May 2, 2009

By 

AGUIRRE Juan Manuel "JM Aguirre" (Argentina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Discographies: Dance, Music, Culture and the Politics of Sound (Paperback)

This book is a "must read" book for those who love music and sociology. And by the way, also love electronic alternatives cultures and the history of modern music BEYOND ROCK.
Music, sociology, philosofy, history, culture and constant revolution.
A deep book that you will probably read twice if you like deeep analisys of music and people.