Present Tense: Rock & Roll and CultureAnthony DeCurtis 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 |
Contents
The Eighties | 1 |
The Church of the Sonic Guitar | 13 |
Censorship in Rock Music in the 1950s | 39 |
Adventures of a Metaphor or Modern Cannibalism | 73 |
Why Dont We Do It in the Classroom? | 93 |
Playing for England | 101 |
Rock Roll as a Cultural Practice | 117 |
Tracking | 135 |
Laurie Andersons Crisis of Meaning | 149 |
Concerning the Progress of Rock Roll | 167 |
Los Angeles 1999 | 183 |
Performance as Commentary | 197 |
About a Salary or Reality?Raps Recurrent Conflict | 219 |
Desire and Pleasure on MTV | 235 |
Observations on Life in a Rock Roll Band | 271 |
Notes on Contributors | 315 |
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