Understanding Popular Music Culture

This extensively revised and expanded fifth edition of Understanding Popular Music Culture provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the production, distribution, consumption and meaning of popular music, and the debates that surround popular culture and popular music. Reflecting the continued proliferation of popular music studies, the new music industry in a digital age, and the emergence of new stars, this new edition has been reorganized and extensively updated throughout, making for a more coherent and sequenced coverage of the field. These updates include: - two new chapters entitled 'The Real Thing': Authenticity, covers and the canon and 'Time Will Pass You By': Histories and popular memory - new case studies on artists including The Rolling Stones, Lorde, One Direction and Taylor Swift - further examples of musical texts, genres, and performers throughout including additional coverage of Electronic Dance Music - expanded coverage on the importance of the back catalogue and the box set; reality television and the music biopic - greater attention to the role and impact of the internet and digital developments in relation to production, dissemination, mediation and consumption; including the role of social network sites and streaming services - each chapter now has its own set of expanded references to facilitate further investigation. Additional resources for students and teachers can also be found on the companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/shuker), which includes additional case studies, links to relevant websites and a discography of popular music metagenres.

Roy Shuker is Adjunct Professor in Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His previous publications include Understanding Popular Music Culture (fourth edition, 2012) and Popular Music: The Key Concepts (third edition, 2012).

Introduction: 'What's Goin' On?': Popular music culture 1. 'Every 1's a Winner': The music industry and the record companies 2. 'Pump up the Volume': Music and technology 3. 'I'm Just a Singer': Making music, the rock musician and the success continuum 4. 'So You Want To Be a Rock'n'Roll Star?': Auteurs and stars 5. 'Message Understood': Musical texts 6. 'The Real Thing': Authenticity, covers and the canon 7. 'It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me': Genre 8. 'Shop around': Marketing and mediation 9. 'U Got the Look': From film and television to YouTube 10. 'On the Cover of The Rolling Stone': The music press. 11. 'My Generation': Consumption, identity and fandom 12. 'Sound of Our Town': Subcultures, sounds and scenes 13. 'Revolution': Social change, politics and conscience rock 14. 'Pushin too Hard': Moral panic, state regulation and censorship 15. 'We Are the world': Globalization and State music policy 16. 'Time Will Pass You By': Histories and popular memory. Conclusion: 'Wrap it up': Making music, making meaning Appendix 1: Chapter song titles Appendix 2: Musical analysis Appendix 3: Popular Music Timeline