Rock Music in American Popular Culture II: More Rock 'N' Roll Resources [Hardcover]

Frank Hoffmann (Author), B Lee Cooper (Author), Wayne S Haney (Author), Beulah B Ramirez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 1997 | ISBN-10: 1560238771 | ISBN-13: 978-1560238775

From “Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)?” to a list of all song titles containing the word “werewolf,” Rock Music in American Popular Culture II: More Rock ’n’Roll Resources continues where 1995’s Volume I left off. Using references and illustrations drawn from contemporary lyrics and supported by historical and sociological research on popular cultural subjects, this collection of insightful essays and reviews assesses the involvement of musical imagery in personal issues, in social and political matters, and in key socialization activities. From marriage and sex to public schools and youth culture, readers discover how popular culture can be used to explore American values.

As Authors B. Lee Cooper and Wayne S. Haney prove that integrated popular culture is the product of commercial interaction with public interest and values rather than a random phenomena, they entertainingly and knowledgeably cover such topics as:

• answer songs--interchanges involving social events and lyrical commentaries as explored in response recordings
• horror films--translations and transformations of literary images and motion picture figures into popular song characters and tales
• public schools--images of formal educational practices and informal learning processes in popular song lyrics
• sex--suggestive tales and censorship challenges within the popular music realm
• war--examinations of persistent military and home front themes featured in wartime recordings
  
  Rock Music in American Popular Culture II: More Rock ‘n’Roll Resources is nontechnical, written in a clear and concise fashion, and explores each topic thoroughly, with ample discographic and bibliographic resources provided for additional research. Arranged alphabetically for quick and easy reference to specific topics, the book is equally enjoyable to read straight through. Rock music fans, teachers, popular culture professors, music instructors, public librarians, sound recording archivists, sociologists, social critics, and journalists can all learn something, as the book shows them the cross-pollination of music and social life in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A MUST FOR EVERY MUSICOLOGIST! Painstaking research combined with incisive insights about the critical role popular music has played in mirroring and expressing the development of American culture over the past half-century. . . . An outstanding companion to its predecessor. No serious music researcher or music library can do without either volume!" -- David A. Milberg, JD, Attorney at Law and Director of Marketing, Keck, Mahin & Cate, Chicago, Illinois

"Nobody beats the editors in their sane, clear presentation of titles and social contexts. They put a song in your heart and a title in your head. The volume is a beehive of activity. IT BELONGS IN EVERYBODY'S POCKET OR PURSE." -- Ray B. Browne, PhD, Secretary/Treasurer, Popular Culture Association

B. Lee Cooper is provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Great Falls in Montana. The Reverend Wayne S. Haney is rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Lapeer, Michigan. Together they have again captured the imagination of scholars, journalists, musicians, and students of rock music with an exciting blend of discography, bibliography, and historical-sociological musicology. Cooper and Haney also collaborate with William L. Schurk of Bowling Green State University in Ohio to coordinate issues of Library Science and Sound Recording. What is key to the unique and outstanding success of these volumes is the archival storehouse of knowledge of rock 'n roll combined with the historical legacy in choice of subject matter: answer songs; cars; cigarettes; disc jockeys; Halloween; horror films; legends; marriage; motion pictures; multiculturalism; railroads; regional music; rock journalism; sex; soul music; war; and women, among other topics. Many special books and articles are noted in reviews, largely by Cooper. Despite the magnitude of the study and reading material represented by the reviews, Cooper shows kindness and sensibility as he doesn't really "trash" any studies until page 268 where he writes of Jimmy Gutterman's volumes on the Best and Worst Rock 'n Roll of All Time as a "rock journalists hyperbole." Most important historically is the point made of racism in "race records" and the denigration of black music pre-1950's by the public at large via lack of media coverage and the then current social conditions. Even in the case of Chuck Berry, Irma Thomas, Jackie Wilson and others, those who continued to write and produce after "hits" didn't maintain the popularity of similar white artists. If there is one legacy from these volumes, it is the bibliographic and review detail that will properly place recording artists who didn't acquire major fame but produced outstanding music in proper historical perspective. For this we can thank Cooper, Haney, and Schurk, and rest assured that rock music in American popular culture is well, now and in the future. -- From Independent Publisher

Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (January 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560238771
• ISBN-13: 978-1560238775
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,966,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.