Overview
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
Full Product Details
Author: Anthony DeCurtis ,
Anthony DeCurtis
Publisher: Duke University Press
Imprint: Duke University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.40cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.558kg
ISBN: 9780822312659
ISBN 10: 0822312654
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 18 September 1992
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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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.
""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.
"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
Present Tense is compelling and vital; not simply as a literate take on rock culture, but as a document of the struggle to come to terms with rock'n'roll's technologies and an attempt to capture the essence of those forms by forging unique styles of criticism. <br>--Sydney Pokorny, ArtForum
""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.
