The Triumph of Vulgarity: Rock Music in the Mirror of Romanticism [Hardcover]

Robert Pattison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 1987

The Triumph of Vulgarity in a thinker's guide to rock 'n' roll. Rock music mirrors the tradition of nineteenth-century Romaniticsm, Robert Patison says. Whitman's "barbaric yawp" can still be heard in the punk rock of the Ramones, and the spirit that inspired Poe's Eureka lives on in the lyrics of Talking Heads. Rock is vulgar, Pattison notes, and vulgarity is something that high culture has long despised but rarely bothered to define. This book is the first effort since John Ruskin and Aldous Huxley to describe in depth what vulgarity is, and how, with the help of ideas inherent in Romaniticism, it has slipped the constraints imposed on it by refined culture and established its own loud arts.
The book disassembles the various myths of rock: its roots in black and folk music; the primacy it accords to feeling and self; the sexual omnipotence of rock stars; the satanic predilictions of rock fans; and rock's high-voltage image of the modern Prometheus wielding an electric guitar. Pattison treats these myths as vulgar counterparts of their originals in refined Romantic art and offers a description and justification of rock's central place in the social and aesthetic structure of modern culture. At a time when rock lyrics have provoked parental outrage and senatorial hearings, The Triumph of Vulgarity is required reading for anyone interested in where rock comes from and how it works.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is a provocative, opinionated study about the origins of rock and about rock as an idea. The author sees rock as grounded in the ideology of the American Revolution and as an extension of 19th-century Romanticism. He finds rock foreshadowed in Shelley and in the pantheism of Whitman. At the same time, he dwells on the vulgarity of rock (and youth, democracy, and popular culture), though he admits rock brings intense pleasure to many. He considers rock devoid of logic and perceives the lyrics as "trite, obscene, and idiotic." Nevertheless he has produced a logical critical study, which, for all its paradoxes, many will find valid and stimulating. Recommended for academic collections. Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Inc. Amherst, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"This is the most brilliant study yet written of the modern phenomenon of rock music."--National Review

"An articulate elucidation of rock 'n' roll as the heir apparent to 19th-century romantic pantheism.... Makes a convincing case for rock as the central aesthetic manifestation of our culture.... Pattison writes amusingly and his rock 'n' roll fever is infectious."--Kirkus Reviews. "A provocative, opinionated study about the origins of rock and about rock as an idea."--Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 22, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195038762
• ISBN-13: 978-0195038767
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,491,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unknown classic of rock criticism, February 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Triumph of Vulgarity: Rock Music in the Mirror of Romanticism (Hardcover)

This is the best single book ever written on the general subject of rock and roll. It is free of the both the sloppy hype of trashy works on popular culture, and the ludicrously inappropriate jargon of high-toned academic treatments of the subject. Pattison demonstrates very convincingly rock's roots in nineteenth-century pantheism, and shows how, to a surprising extent, all of pop music's "rebels" conform to its tenets. The author is clearly a knowledgeable fan of rock but doesn't make outrageous claims for it; he shows amazing taste and discretion. A book as enjoyable and stimulating as it is neglected; I've never seen a reference to it in the rock press or met anyone else who has read it. It's definitely worth the effort to find it.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding But Strangely Flawed, June 12, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Tempe, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Triumph of Vulgarity: Rock Music in the Mirror of Romanticism (Hardcover)

One of the best and most eurudite studies of Rock music as a cultural phenomenon and sociology. Pattison is both a critic and fan of Rock music, but the latter function doesn't turn him into a sniveling sycophant full of pretentious drivel like the usual Rock music magazine writers. He hits the nail right on the head with his comparison to romanticism. Pattison doesn't take his study far enough, however, as he ignores his own glaring exposes of the neo-pagan/religious dimensions of Rock music. He performs an intensive study of why Rock music is such mindless, vulgar pagan "jungle music" that people react to without thinking, a powerful cultural force. But in the last few pages he tries to discount everything he has written and substantiated in his book! He cannot accept the very conclusion he has so devestatingly exposed! He realizes that he seems to have come too close to the stance of the Christian right (and most of traditional Christianity) in its attack on Rock-n- Roll as "devil's music." As a true Rock fan (no true "holy roller" Rock detractor could have as much crucial information about Rock music and its details as Pattison), Pattison doesn't want to push his argument to its logical conclusion and condemn the music he so loves, therefore he makes a pathetic jab at the Christian right at the end and chicken's out. He is docked a star for this. Nevertheless, this is the best, most intelligent and objective study of Rock music that I have read, I have read a hell of a lot on the subject--most of it is drivel.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one good angle on the direction of our culture, March 24, 2004

By 

Paul D. Baxter (Mebane, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Triumph of Vulgarity: Rock Music in the Mirror of Romanticism (Hardcover)

I read this book long ago when it was first published and found it fascinating. I found myself reflecting on it today as I was thinking about the slow death of "classical" music. The author makes the case that rock music is the product of the ideas of 19th century on democracy and individualism, the celebration of things common.

While there has always been a divide between the music of the upper and lower classes, I suppose it was not until late in the 19th century and continuing on that the "lower class" music began to be celebrated by the established musicians. I'm thinking specifically of the folk tune inspired works of composers like Brahms and Dvorak.

My reflection on Pattison's book now is that his thesis has been more than adequately proven with the continued growth of bottom-up trends in fashion and music. While rock and roll, as he argues, may have a mythical relationship to African music, modern hip-hop seems to have a very real relationship to current lower class culture. Other authors since then have dealt more generally with this theme I am sure (Theodore Dalrymple comes to mind), but I thought Pattison did great work showing how the ideas of the 19th century thinkers have influenced this development.