Overview

Adorno’s writings are often the starting point for the teaching of popular music studies, usually passing swiftly on, after concluding that ‘he didn’t listen to the right jazz’ or ‘he was a snob’. In this book, using Adorno’s aesthetic theory more generally, a viable philosophical approach to the study of idiomatic, non- standard music is constructed. The links between Adorno’s work and its Kantian roots are explored, and a more general and inclusive aesthetic constructed, using the utopian and implicitly political elements in each. This book will be of interest to critical theorists and musicologists wishing to build a more engaged practice without the pitfalls of a by now outdated ‘postmodern’ turn.

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9781786606044

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Reviews

Neither Kant, because he disparages music, nor Adorno, because he despises the culture industry, seem promising starting points for an investigation into the aesthetics of pop. But Stan Erraught conjures up a very Kantian Adorno to find redemptive value in contemporary commercial sounds and provide useful philosophical ballast for all those who wish to take popular music seriously. -- Mark Abel, Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton and Author of Groove: An Aesthetic of Measured Time

Neither Kant, because he disparages music, nor Adorno, because he despises the culture industry, seem promising starting points for an investigation into the aesthetics of pop. But Stan Erraught conjures up a very Kantian Adorno to find redemptive value in contemporary commercial sounds and provide useful philosophical ballast for all those who wish to take popular music seriously.--Mark Abel, Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton and Author of Groove: An Aesthetic of Measured Time In this subtle and thoughtful book, Stan Erraught stages a dialogue between popular music and the aesthetic theories of Kant and Adorno. Despite Adorno's hostility to popular music, Erraught uses Kant's and Adorno's ideas to argue that popular music has positive value. Erraught also shines new light on Kant and Adorno by re-reading their work in light of developments in popular music. This highly original study will interest readers from popular music studies as well as from aesthetics and philosophy of music.--Alison Stone, Professor of Philosophy, Lancaster University

Author Information

Stan Erraught is Lecturer in Music and Management in the School of Music at the University of Leeds.

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