The phenomenon of Elvis Presley is the jumping-off point for Walley's evaluation of post^-World War II American commercial music and how it conquered the world. What started out as a disposable commodity pitched to adolescents eventually metastasized into a culture in which the Czech prime minister sought, and the U.S. secretary of state personally intervened to discourage, the appointment of Frank Zappa as an official "representative on matters of trade, culture and tourism." That a pop musician would be considered for such a position, let alone be the subject of international political pressure, was unthinkable before Elvis. And why, after Elvis, was it thinkable? Well, during Elvis' career, rock and roll became a worldwide attitude as well as "a sonic environment for commerce." That is a sad plight that Walley surveys with pleasant cynicism, winding up considering the fascination with such issues as presidential underwear preferences and the seemingly unending retail warfare that commercial culture fosters. Mike Tribby
Product Description
Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Music and Politics in the Post-Elvis Age details how a state of mind - which came out of 1950s-60s high school "American Graffiti" culture and peer group morals - was successfully transformed and commercially exploited. The book shows how, because of this, our lives and our world (if not the nature of American democracy) in the 1990s have been altered in the process. David Walley shrewdly points out that in this post-Elvis age we are hostages to the corrosive effects of an increasingly celebrity-driven consumerism, itself the result of the cumulative effects of the commercial exploitation of high-school peer group dynamics. Animated by a throbbing rock-and-roll beat, this virulent form of consumerism has given rise to a multinational, adolescent-driven corporate consciousness in which MTV (Music Television) has become the virtual Voice of America. The essays in this provocative book illustrate how this "evolution" took place and what has been its dubious contribution to American society. Among the issues at hand, Walley looks archly at the controversial effect MTV has had on national politics, delves into the how and why behind the rebirth of heroin chic, and talks about how rock and roll has affected our sexual selves.
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