DIVA collection of interdisciplinary essays examining the ever-changing communities and discussions connected to American popular music./div

This collection brings new voices and new perspectives to the study of popular—and particularly rock—music. Focusing on a variety of artists and music forms, Rock Over the Edge asks what happens to rock criticism when rock is no longer a coherent concept. To work toward an answer, contributors investigate previously neglected genres and styles, such as “lo fi,” alternative country, and “rock en español,” while offering a fresh look at such familiar figures as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Kurt Cobain. Bridging the disciplines of musicology and cultural studies, the collection has two primary goals: to seek out a language for talking about music culture and to look at the relationship of music to culture in general. The editors’ introduction provides a backward glance at recent rock criticism and also looks to the future of the rapidly expanding discipline of popular music studies. Taking seriously the implications of critical theory for the study of non-literary aesthetic endeavors, the volume also addresses such issues as the affective power of popular music and the psychic construction of fandom. Rock Over the Edge will appeal to scholars and students in popular music studies and American Studies as well as general readers interested in popular music. Contributors. Ian Balfour, Roger Beebe, Michael Coyle, Robert Fink, Denise Fulbrook, Tony Grajeda, Lawrence Grossberg, Trent Hill, Josh Kun, Jason Middleton, Lisa Ann Parks, Ben Saunders, John J. Sheinbaum, Gayle Wald, Warren Zanes

Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., Chapter 28 originally published by Random House Australia.

During the 1980s, a time of conflict among alternative and increasingly tribal musical subcultures, an interesting compromise began to take form - partly out of necessity, partly born of the ongoing search for further unexplored extremes in the hardcore, punk and metal worlds. Blending the musical and visual elements of all three, this scene within several scenes came to be known as Crossover. Crossover The Edge contains in-depth features on over a hundred key bands from the scene's 1980s heyday, with another five hundred bands also featured.

CLOSE TO THE EDGE: HOW YES' MASTERPIECE DEFINED PROG ROCK