How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll

An Alternative History of American Popular Music

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Pop & Rock, Popular, Music Styles
Cover of the book How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll by Elijah Wald, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Elijah Wald ISBN: 9780199753567
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: June 1, 2009
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Elijah Wald
ISBN: 9780199753567
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: June 1, 2009
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

"There are no definitive histories," writes Elijah Wald, in this provocative reassessment of American popular music, "because the past keeps looking different as the present changes." Earlier musical styles sound different to us today because we hear them through the musical filter of other styles that came after them, all the way through funk and hip hop. As its blasphemous title suggests, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll rejects the conventional pieties of mainstream jazz and rock history. Rather than concentrating on those traditionally favored styles, the book traces the evolution of popular music through developing tastes, trends and technologies--including the role of records, radio, jukeboxes and television --to give a fuller, more balanced account of the broad variety of music that captivated listeners over the course of the twentieth century. Wald revisits original sources--recordings, period articles, memoirs, and interviews--to highlight how music was actually heard and experienced over the years. And in a refreshing departure from more typical histories, he focuses on the world of working musicians and ordinary listeners rather than stars and specialists. He looks for example at the evolution of jazz as dance music, and rock 'n' roll through the eyes of the screaming, twisting teenage girls who made up the bulk of its early audience. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and the Beatles are all here, but Wald also discusses less familiar names like Paul Whiteman, Guy Lombardo, Mitch Miller, Jo Stafford, Frankie Avalon, and the Shirelles, who in some cases were far more popular than those bright stars we all know today, and who more accurately represent the mainstream of their times. Written with verve and style, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll shakes up our staid notions of music history and helps us hear American popular music with new ears.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

"There are no definitive histories," writes Elijah Wald, in this provocative reassessment of American popular music, "because the past keeps looking different as the present changes." Earlier musical styles sound different to us today because we hear them through the musical filter of other styles that came after them, all the way through funk and hip hop. As its blasphemous title suggests, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll rejects the conventional pieties of mainstream jazz and rock history. Rather than concentrating on those traditionally favored styles, the book traces the evolution of popular music through developing tastes, trends and technologies--including the role of records, radio, jukeboxes and television --to give a fuller, more balanced account of the broad variety of music that captivated listeners over the course of the twentieth century. Wald revisits original sources--recordings, period articles, memoirs, and interviews--to highlight how music was actually heard and experienced over the years. And in a refreshing departure from more typical histories, he focuses on the world of working musicians and ordinary listeners rather than stars and specialists. He looks for example at the evolution of jazz as dance music, and rock 'n' roll through the eyes of the screaming, twisting teenage girls who made up the bulk of its early audience. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and the Beatles are all here, but Wald also discusses less familiar names like Paul Whiteman, Guy Lombardo, Mitch Miller, Jo Stafford, Frankie Avalon, and the Shirelles, who in some cases were far more popular than those bright stars we all know today, and who more accurately represent the mainstream of their times. Written with verve and style, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll shakes up our staid notions of music history and helps us hear American popular music with new ears.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Wilfrid Sellars: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Pediatric Ethics by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Consent on Campus by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Planting the Cross by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Ancient Literacies by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Anesthesia Emergencies by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book The Design and Conduct of Meaningful Experiments Involving Human Participants by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Keith Jarrett's The Koln Concert by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Privacy in Peril by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Perception and Basic Beliefs by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Faces in the Clouds by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Social Epidemiology by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of IPOs by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book Susan Glaspell by Elijah Wald
Cover of the book The Trolley Problem Mysteries by Elijah Wald
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy