"In this edition, A History is intended to be used as the text for a college-level course on the history of rock music. As a teacher and a writer, author's primary concern has been to help students develop an understanding of both the musical and cultural roots of rock music and the ability to hear a direct relationship between those roots and currently popular music"--

Rock & roll is about sensual transcendence--about uproarious sounds and incredible visual drama. As the lights come up and the band hits the stage, the first impression is of what the musicians are playing--and what they're wearing. Now, from Tommy Hilfiger, the fashion designer most embraced by popular musicians in the 1990s comes this compelling revue of rock style--the clothes musicians have worn for the stage and camera and for sheer, outrageous fun--from the 1950s to right now. From the patched jeans and fringe leather of Neil Young to the chameleonlike transformations of David Bowie, the looks musicians have defined for themselves is as integral a part of their message and artistic identity as their music. Drawing on an assembly of brilliant, many rarely seen images from rock's best photographers, Hilfiger (working with renowned music journalist Anthony DeCurtis) guides readers through the wild visual world of artists whose sartorial coolness has defined what's hip. Focusing on the icons of rock, hip-hop, pop and R&B who have daringly pushed the edges of fashion and set trends--icons like Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Madonna and Prince--Hilfiger offers unique insights and sharp anecdotes to tell the ongoing, ever-evolving story of rock style.

In this concise and engaging analysis of rock music, music theorist Ken Stephenson explores the features that make this internationally popular music distinct from earlier music styles. The author offers a guided tour of rock music from the 1950s to the present, emphasizing the theoretical underpinnings of the style and, for the first time, systematically focusing not on rock music's history or sociology, but on the structural aspects of the music itself. What structures normally happen in rock music? What theoretical systems or models might best explain them? The book addresses these questions and more in chapters devoted to phrase rhythm, scales, key determination, cadences, harmonic palette and succession, and form. Each chapter provides richly detailed analyses of individual rock pieces from groups including Chicago; the Beatles; Emerson, Lake, and Palmer; Kansas; and others. Stephenson shows how rock music is stylistically unique, and he demonstrates how the features that make it distinct have tended to remain constant throughout the past half-century and within most substyles. For music students at the college level and for practicing rock musicians who desire a deeper understanding of their music, this book is an essential resource.

This fun-to-read, easy-to-use reference has been completely updated, expanded, and revised with reviews of over 12,000 great albums by over 2,000 artists and groups in all rock genres. 50 charts.

Pop music and rock music are often treated as separate genres but the distinction has always been blurred. Motti Regev argues that pop-rock is best understood as a single musical form defined by the use of electric and electronic instruments, amplification and related techniques. The history of pop-rock extends from the emergence of rock'n'roll in the 1950s to a variety of contemporary fashions and trends – rock, punk, soul, funk, techno, hip hop, indie, metal, pop and many more. This book offers a highly original account of the emergence of pop-rock music as a global phenomenon in which Anglo-American and many other national and ethnic variants interact in complex ways. Pop-rock is analysed as a prime instance of 'aesthetic cosmopolitanism' – that is, the gradual formation, in late modernity, of world culture as a single interconnected entity in which different social groupings around the world increasingly share common ground in their aesthetic perceptions, expressive forms and cultural practices. Drawing on a wide array of examples, this path-breaking book will be of great interest to students and scholars in cultural sociology, media and cultural studies as well as the study of popular music.

This Companion maps the world of pop and rock, pinpointing the most significant moments in its history and presenting the key issues involved in understanding popular culture's most vital art form. Expert writers chart the changing patterns in the production and consumption of popular music, the emergence of a vast industry with a turnover of billions and the rise of global stars from Elvis to Public Enemy, Nirvana to the Spice Girls. They trace the way new technologies - from the amplifier to the internet - have changed the sounds and practices of pop and they analyse the way maverick entrepreneurs have given way to multimedia corporations. In particular they focus on the controversial issues concerning race and ethnicity, politics, gender and globalisation. Contains full profiles of a selection of figures from the pop and rock world.

Explores the many ways glam rock paved the way for new explorations of identity in terms of gender, sexuality, and performance