listening alone, together: a review of “Pop Music, Pop Culture” by Chris Rojek
British sociologist Chris Rojek has just published a major work in the social analysis of pop music. To say its argument isn’t completely satisfying doesn’t belittle the remarkable accomplishment of Pop Music, Pop Culture (Polity, 2011), which covers the gamut of musical production, content, and reception from the pre-historic oral tradition to today’s P2P networks. Most distinctively, Pop...
shameless self-promotion: “Pursing Quality of Life”
I’m pleased to announce that my new book has finally been published: Pursuing Quality of Life: From the Affluent Society to the Consumer Society. Here’s the official blurb. From anxieties over work-life balance and entangling technologies, to celebrations of cool jobs and great places to live, quality of life frames the ways we enhance our lives...
branding alienation with Tony Wilson
I recently watched Joy Division (2007, dir. Grant Gee), an exciting documentary that carries more intellectual heft than maybe any other film about a rock group. Great interviews not just with the surviving band members and others who knew them, but also early followers who were deeply affected by the band’s records and performance. I’m struck, for...
gathering no moss with Keith Richards
The beginning of the new semester has kept me from posting recently. Well, that and the excellent distraction provided by Keith Richards’ autobiography, Life. So much fun to read, and so much food for thought for someone who’s admittedly not the world’s biggest Stones fan. One theme that emerges loud and clear is his cosmopolitanism. Raised...