Microphone Fiends: Youth Music and Youth Culture [Paperback]

Tricia Rose (Editor), Andrew Ross (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 1994

Microphone Fiends, a collection of original essays and interviews, brings together some of the best known scholars, critics, journalists and performers to focus on the contemporary scene. It includes theoretical discussions of musical history along with social commentaries about genres like disco, metal and rap music, and case histories of specific movements like the Riot Grrls, funk clubbing in Rio de Janeiro, and the British rave scene.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The topics included in this collection of essays springing from a Princeton University conference range from black nationalism in the hip-hop community to the disco scene's vision of gay identity to hard-core rock and its evolving relationship to feminism. Among the many perceptive arguments advanced is Sarah Thornton's contention that youth subcultures enjoy negative media attention and provoke public "moral panic" as a marketing strategy. In assessing the role of culture in catalyzing social change, most of these writers see styles and rituals as means by which economically and socially marginalized youths claim public territory for themselves. Some suggest that the revolutionary rock of the '60s was more fantasy than reality; Robert Christgau notes the political ambivalence behind anthems such as the Beatles' "Revolution" and Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth." With its inclusion of club priestess Lady Kier Kirby's incantatory appreciation of the disc jockey, and co-editor Tricia Rose's probing interviews with vogue artist Willi Ninja and rap music industry executive Carmen Ashhurst-Watson, Microphone Fiends extends its appeal well beyond the academic. Moreover, the scholarly contributors, "some of them stretching into middle age" (as Andrew Ross notes in his introduction), strike a welcome balance between self-aware and self-conscious pronouncements on the next generation.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...[This book] is the screaming child demanding attention not only from scholars but from mainstream music journalists as well. The strength of this collection, which is primarily cultural criticism, lies in its various and often conflicting approaches and perspectives. -- American Music, Fall 1996
...everyone who contributes is bright, excited, and big with fruitful thoughts. -- Puncture
A huge, multilayered cacphonus conversation, involving styles of popular music ranging from hardcore rap to college rock to rave to Brazilian funk, represented by participants from all avenues of musical culture. The radical decision to include artists and members of the popular press alongside academics means that the voices included within Microphone Fiends don't conform to one language, they argue with each other and with themselves, unafraid of the rebel stance that has characterized youth culture from its rowdy, world-changing birth. Listening to each other, artists, culture workers, and scholars can uncover insights about the pop-cult ground they cultuivate that otherwise would have eluded them. -- Ann Powers, The Village Voice
Expression is what youth music and youth culture are all about, a mode of expression that has been lacking in a social perspective. The diversity of the book reflects the multiculturalism within, giving a precise sub-cultural analysis. The book's dedication to youth musical culture only makes Microphone Fiends better. Fortunately, it has matured to a point where it can report on itself competently. Microphone Fiends definitely represents the music behind its cultures.
I bet Microphone Fiends becomes required reading in musical history classes everywhere. This exhaustive dissertation of popular (and not so popular) music forms is basically a collection of articles, commentaries and discussions on everything from raves to riot grrls. -- Thrust,#23
. . .strike[s] a welcome balance between self-aware and self-concious pronouncements on the next generation. -- Publisher's Weekly
...[This book] is the screaming child demanding attention not only from scholars but from mainstream music journalists as well. The strength of this collection, which is primarily cultural criticism, lies in its various and often conflicting approaches and perspectives. -- American Music, Fall 1996

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (April 16, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415909082
• ISBN-13: 978-0415909082
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #679,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection, May 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Microphone Fiends: Youth Music and Youth Culture (Paperback)

This is an awesome collection of essays. If anyone is interested in popular culture, especially as it relates to music, then this book is for you. I attended the youth music and youth culture conference, and when I learned that Ross & Rose compiled the essays I was ecstatic.

The best essays in this collection belong to vogue dancer Willi Ninja, Lady Kier Kirby from Deee-Lite talking about voue dancing, and Tricia Rose's discussion on Hip-Hop origins.

IF you are interested in popular contemporary dance, check out the section on the dance continuum. THis is a good book that provides some incite into the world of contemporary culture. Enjoy.