Present Tense: Rock &amp; Roll and Culture

Published by Duke University Press 1992

Present Tense

Rock & Roll and Culture

Edited by: Anthony DeCurtis
With contributions by: Trent Hill , Greil Marcus , Glenn Gass and Paul Julian Smith

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822382225

Overview
Contents

About this book

The most compelling art form to emerge from the United States in the second half of the twentieth century, rock & roll stands in an edgy relationship with its own mythology, its own musicological history and the broader culture in which it plays a part. In Present Tense, Anthony DeCurtis brings together writers from a wide variety of fields to explore how rock & roll is made, consumed, and experienced in our time.
In this collection, Greil Marcus creates a collage of words and pictures that evokes and explores Elvis Presley's grisly fate as an American cultural image, while Robert Palmer tells the gripping tale of the origins and meanings of the electric guitar. Rap music, MTV, and the issue of gender identity in the work of Bruce Springsteen all undergo thorough examination; rock & roll's complex relationship with the forces of censorship gets a remarkably fresh reading; and the mainstreaming of rock & roll in the 1980s is detailed and analyzed. And, in an interview with Laurie Anderson and an essay by Atlanta musician Jeff Calder, the artists speak for themselves.

Contributors. Jeff Calder, Anthony DeCurtis, Mark Dery, Paul Evans, Glenn Gass, Trent Hill, Michael Jarrett, Alan Light, Greil Marcus, Robert Palmer, Robert B. Ray, Dan Rubey, David R. Shumway, Martha Nell Smith, Paul Smith

Reviews

"Ever since people started writing about rock, other people have made fun of them. Anthony DeCurtis's anthology, with its clutch of academics, rock writers and musicians, will strike cynics as inherently pretentious. They will be wrong: This is a smart, witty, ingeniously balanced assortment of rock commentary, with a healthy number of pieces that seem prescient and, even, moving."—John Rockwell, European Cultural Correspondent, The New York Times

"This collection brings together two of the cultural right's favorite targets—mass culture and high theory—and demonstrates brilliantly how mutually illuminating they can be as a way of understanding the American scene."—Stanley Fish, Duke University

"This collection is a useful and provocative addition to rock literature. Its collage of forms—scholarship, journalism, interviews, and fiction—allows access to a variety of readers, and provides a diverse forum for addressing the current consciousness about rock."—Andrew Ross, Princeton University

"This shit rocks! To wit: Exhibiting a wide range of critical music writing, this collection speaks volumes about how music, and our varied perceptions of it, are intrinsically woven into the social and ideological web of end-of-the-century thought."—Michael Stipe, R.E.M.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
The Eighties Anthony DeCurtis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
The Church of the Sonic Guitar Robert Palmer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
The Enemy Within: Censorship in Rock Music in the 1950s Trent Hill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
A Corpse in Your Mouth: Adventures of a Metaphor, or Modern Cannibalism Greil Marcus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Why Don't We Do It in the Classroom? Glenn Gass Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
Playing for England Paul Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Rock &Roll as a Cultural Practice David R. Shumway Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Tracking Robert B. Ray Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
Signposts on the Road to Nowhere: Laurie Anderson's Crisis of Meaning Mark Dery Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Concerning the Progress of Rock &Roll Michael Jarrett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Los Angeles, 1999 Paul Evans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Sexual Mobilities in Bruce Springsteen: Performance as Commentary Martha Nell Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
About a Salary or Reality?-Rap's Recurrent Conflict Alan Light Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Voguing at the Carnival: Desire and Pleasure on MTV Dan Rubey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Living by Night in the Land of Opportunity: Observations on Life in a Rock &Roll Band Jeff Calder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 332
Illustrations
- Other: 12 illustrations

eBook

Published: September 18, 1992
ISBN: 9780822382225