Customer Reviews

The Rise and Fall of Popular Music: A Narrative History from the Renaissance to Rock 'n' Roll

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not a bad overview of American popular music. Mr. Clarke is clearly a jazz fan who regards the days of Lester Young, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, et al. as the high point from which we have declined, and sees the present state of commercial popular music as a "culture of musical impoverishment." The career of A&R man Mitch Miller, the evil genius whose venality and lack of taste was a landmark in adult pop's precipitous decline in the 1950s, is touchingly portrayed. I think Clarke's conclusions are correct; however, this is a matter of taste to some degree. Many will think differently, no doubt. Read it anyway, along with Will Friedwald's history of Jazz Singing.

This is a fascinating book going back to the origins of popular music forms, going through jazz and blues and getting to today's pop music.
A main theme of the book appears to be that the further the music gets away from its roots, the less musical value it has. And then today too much music has just become product to sell with little musical value.
Sometimes a bit too opinionated, but mainly an excellent analysis of the of the fall of pop music.

I particularly liked the start of this book that gave the origins of popular music from Europe.
The author dwells a bit too much on the details of Jazz but his premise is well taken and he shows how and why pop music has become grunge, rap and muzak. He recognizes the originality in performers like the early Elvis and Hank Williams even though he regrets the decline of the real learned Jazz musicians. He shows how the corporate entities and listener surveys have destroyed a promising genre if it can be called that.
Interesting that the Internet seems to be allowingl real musicians to connect with the public directly without needing the middle corporate ground.

All good books should tell a good story, but regrettably this one doesn't. While this tome is encyclopedic in its breadth it's lacking in depth or heart and reads like a graduate student's thesis. I was disappointed.

The premise of this book was largely in editorial fashion. I accept this as his perogative however his views were often weakly supported and as a result unfounded. For example he lunches into a discussion about the racial struggles in the music industry. At the end of this section on rap music the reader only comes away with the taste of prejudism in her mouth (and I don't even advocate ganster rap music). The two stars I gave in the rating above were for the presentation of a comprehensive history which I respect. This book is required for a class of mine at the University of Toronto but the material is much too slanted for use as an introduction to the history of popular music. Therefore if you already have a good knowledge in this area and are intersted in new perspectives then this would be the book for you. Otherwise, I would reccomend you read something else first.