Popular Music and Youth Culture [Paperback]

Andrew Bennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2000

Music- and style-centred youth cultures are now a familiar aspect of everyday life in countries as far apart around the globe as Nepal and Jamaica, Hong Kong and Israel, Denmark and Australia. This lucid and original text provides a lively and wide-ranging account of the relationship between popular music and youth culture within the context of debates about the spatial dimensions of identity. It begins with a clear and comprehensive survey, and critical evaluation, of the existing body of literature on youth culture and popular music developed by sociologists and cultural and media theorists. It then develops a fresh perspective on the ways in which popular music is appropriated as a cultural resource by young people, using as a springboard a series of original ethnographic studies of dance music, rap, bhangra and rock. Bennett's original research material is carefully contextualised within a wider international literature on youth styles, local spaces and popular music but it serves to illustrate graphically how styles of music and their attendant stylistic innovations are appropriated and 'lived out' by young people in particular social spaces. Music, Bennett argues, is produced and consumed by young people in ways that both inform their sense of self and also serve to construct the social world in which their identities operate. With its comprehensive coverage of youth and music studies and its important new insights, Popular Music and Youth Culture is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students in sociology, cultural studies, media studies and popular music studies. Dr ANDY BENNETT is lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He has published articles on aspects of youth culture, popular music, local identity and music and ethnicity in a number of journals, including Sociological Review, Media Culture and Society and Popular Music. He is currently co-editing a book on guitar cultures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The book as a whole is well informed and neatly accomplished, amply fulfilling the three vital Cs of clarity, concision and coherence. Media and cultural studies students, along with those from sociology, cultural geography and popular music studies, will find this a very welcome addition to the growing literature on music and the local.' - European Journal of Communication 'A balanced, thoughtful overview.' - Alan Burton, De Montfort University

About the Author

ANDY BENNETT is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Surrey. Prior to studying for his Ph.D at Durham University between October 1993 and October 1996 he spent two years in Germany working as a music teacher with the Frankfurt Rockmobil project. He has published articles on aspects of youth culture, popular music, local identity and music and ethnicity in a number of journals, including Sociological Review, Media Culture and Society and Popular Music. He is currently co-editing a book on guitar cultures.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave MD (February 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333732294
• ISBN-13: 978-0333732298
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,052,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars good perspective on raves, punk rock and rap/hip hop, April 23, 2009

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W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, Identity and Place (Hardcover)

The author gives a British perspective on popular music culture in recent decades. He traces it from the end of World War 2. With salient events like the rise of the urban dance music scene in Britain. This is recent vintage, from 1987, as raves started. Indeed, if you are a raver, here is a good analysis of your own cultural background, which perhaps many ravers are only dimly aware. The book shows how as raves grew popular in the 90s, the rising media attention also led to a new "moral panic". Not unlike that seen in the 1950s with the new rock and roll, or with the punk rock, rap or hip hop that started in the 80s.

That is the striking commonality. A sequence of events that has played out before. The reader benefits from gaining this perspective.

The only unfortunate thing about this book is its price. Palgrave often does this with their specialised texts. The probable effect is to restrict the audience and ensure that this book remains specialised.