Rhythm and Resistance: Explorations in the Political Uses of Popular Music (Media and Society Series) (Hardcover)

by Ray Pratt (Author) "Three seemingly isolated incidents of cultural practice illuminate the political problems raised by popular music in the late 1980s..." (more)
Key Phrases: substitute imagery, black popular music, subjective competence, New York, United States, Woody Guthrie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Pratt's subject is the creation and use of popular music by Arfican-Americans, women, the poor, and the variously dipossessed in American life. Spirituals, blues, gospel, folk, and rock are considered expressions of hope, reflections of disillusioment, and a vehicle for promoting sociopolitical change. Although Pratt questions the political success of this music, particularly that of the hypercommerical rock scene, he believes that 'Popular culture...remains the primary means of resistance and the most widely used channel for expression of emancipatory political perspectives.' Without comments on their purely musical abilities, Pratt finds Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen the most provocative songwriter-performers. Copiously researched and well documented, this book is strongest on African-American music and weakest on rock, with no coverage of punk, the most blatanly antisocial of all pop genres. Pratt eschews the polemics that too often obscure the real issues in books on this topic and focuses instead on the experiences of the performers and their audiences. Primarily for undergraduate students of social science and the general reader." -- Choice

Review
“Pratt's subject is the creation and use of popular music by Arfican-Americans, women, the poor, and the variously dipossessed in American life. Spirituals, blues, gospel, folk, and rock are considered expressions of hope, reflections of disillusioment, and a vehicle for promoting sociopolitical change. Although Pratt questions the political success of this music, particularly that of the hypercommerical rock scene, he believes that 'Popular culture...remains the primary means of resistance and the most widely used channel for expression of emancipatory political perspectives.' Without comments on their purely musical abilities, Pratt finds Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen the most provocative songwriter-performers. Copiously researched and well documented, this book is strongest on African-American music and weakest on rock, with no coverage of punk, the most blatanly antisocial of all pop genres. Pratt eschews the polemics that too often obscure the real issues in books on this topic and focuses instead on the experiences of the performers and their audiences. Primarily for undergraduate students of social science and the general reader.”–Choice

“. . . this well-documented book has much to offer. Pratt has achieved his aim of writing a reference work for `students and scholars of musicology, sociology, popular culture, and politics.'”–Jazztimes

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (May 23, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275926249
• ISBN-13: 978-0275926243
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,156,141 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)