Rock'n America: A Social and Cultural History

by Deena Weinstein

Overview

What is rock? This book offers a new and systematic approach to understanding rock by applying sociological concepts in a historical context. Deena Weinstein, a rock critic, journalist, and academic, starts by outlining an original approach to understanding rock, explaining how the form has developed through a complex and ever-changing set of relations between artists, fans, and mediators. She then traces the history of rock in America through its distinctive eras, from rock's precursors to rock in the digital age. The book includes suggested listening lists to accompany each chapter, a detailed filmography of movies about rock, and a wide range of visuals and fascinating anecdotes. Never separating rock music from the social, political, economic, and cultural changes in America's history, Rock'n America provides a comprehensive overview of the genre and a new way of appreciating its place in American society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442600157
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press, Higher Education Division
Publication date:	01/30/2015
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	937,959
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Deena Weinstein is Professor of Sociology at DePaul University in Chicago. She has published widely in the field of rock music, including Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology (1991) and social theory. She has also been a rock journalist for over two decades, writing album reviews and feature articles on various facets of rock music and conducting interviews with rock musicians.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Suggested Listening Lists

Acknowledgments

Preface



1. What is Rock?

2. Rock's Precursors, 1946–1953

3. Rock Begins, 1954–1958

4. Mainstreaming Rock and Roll, 1959–1963

5. The Times They Were A-changin', 1964–1967

6. The Best and Worst of Times, 1968–1973

7. The Shame and the Splendor, 1974–1978

8. Draining of the Mainstream, 1979–1982

9. Visuals Rule While Indie Rocks, 1983–1990

10. Alternative to What? 1991–1996

11. Decentering Rock, 1997–2002

12. Rock in the Digital Age, 2003–now



Filmography

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

Mathew Smith-Lahrman

Weinstein covers all of the agreed upon important moments in rock history, while providing an original framework in which to understand that history as it is influenced by cultural, political, technological, and economic factors.

David F. Schmitz

Scholars of post–World War II American culture and music, along with teachers and their students, will find Deena Weinstein's Rock'n America an original, creative, and comprehensive examination of the development, changes, and meaning of rock 'n' roll from the 1950s to the present.

Matthew Smith-Lahrman

The first book of its kind—a comprehensive history of rock music in America, designed specifically for undergraduate teaching. I can't wait to use this book for my Sociology of Rock course.

Thomas M. Kitts

Rock'n America takes us on an incredible journey through rock music's many manifestations. Weinstein is especially insightful in revealing how the music has been shaped by not only the artists, but also the events of the day, and the various mediators, including the fans. Her enthusiasm is contagious. The book is thoroughly researched and comprehensive, but never reads like a dull factoid history.