Geek Rock

Geek Rock: An Exploration of Music and Subculture examines the relationship between geek culture and popular music, tracing a history from the late 1960s to the present day. This collection of essays explores the evolution of "geek rock" from songs about cars and girls to monster movies, outer space, and what it means to be "white and nerdy."

Alex DiBlasi has done extensive research on The Kinks, The Who, The Monkees, Frank Zappa, and the influences of Eastern religion in popular music. His other fields of research include experimental film, Czech New Wave cinema, and east European History. Victoria Willis, Ph.D., is a research analyst in the Office of Institutional Research at Georgia State University. Her research interests revolve around the intersections of rhetoric, music, and popular culture.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: "Q: Are We Not Geeks? A: We Are Geek Rock!" Chapter 1 "Frank Zappa: Godfather of Geek Rock" Alex DiBlasi, independent scholar Chapter 2 "Taste, Kitsch, and Geek Rock: A Multiple Modernities View" Martina Topic, University of Zagreb Chapter 3 "Futurists and New Traditionalists: The Antagonistic Critique of Devo and Italian Futurism" Ian Steinberg, Wilfrid Laurier University Chapter 4 "Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Geek Rock: Haustor and Darko Rundek" Julijana Zhabeva-Papazova, DMBUC Ilija Nikolovski-Luj Chapter 5 "They Might Be Lacanian: They Might Be Giants, Jacques Lacan, and the Rhetoric of Geek Rock" Victoria Willis, Georgia State University Chapter 6 "'A Very Subtle Joke': T.S. Eliot, J. D. Salinger, and the Puer Aeternus in God Shuffled His Feet" Paul Alexander Cantrell, independent scholar Chapter 7 "'Fuck Me, I'm Twee': Performing Gender and Age in Twee Pop Caroline Gates-Shannon, independent scholar Chapter 8 "Man [Seeking] Asto-man?: Nouveau Surf Rock and the Futuristic-Past Nostalgic" Shannon Finck, Georgia State University Chapter 9 "The Geek's Guide to Love: Knowledge and Failure in the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs" Nadav Appel, Bar-Ilan University Chapter 10 "'My God, What an Infantile Gesture': The Mountain Goats as Emblematic of Geek Rock's Relationship with the Authentic" Taylor Peters, independent scholar Chapter 11 "'Now It's Time for a Little Braggadocio': Nerdcore Rap, Race, and the Politics of Appropriation" Christopher Russell, Northwestern University Appendix 1: Contributor Biographies Appendix 2: Suggested Listening