Pop When the World Falls Apart: Music in the Shadow of Doubt

by Eric Weisbard

Hearing Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan once said, was “like busting out of jail.” But what happens when popular music isn’t as simple as rock-and-roll rebellion? How does pop respond to such events as a decade-long war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina? In Pop When the World Falls Apart , a diverse array of music writers, scholars, and enthusiasts reflect on popular music’s role—as commentary, as refuge, and as rallying cry—in times of military conflict, social upheaval, and cultural crisis. Drawn from presentations at the annual Experience Music Project Pop Conference—hailed by Robert Christgau as “the best thing that’s ever happened to serious consideration of pop music”—the essays in this book include inquiries into the sonic dimension of war in Iraq; the cultural life of jazz in post-Katrina New Orleans; Isaac Hayes’s reappropriation of a country song, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” as a symbol of black nationalism; and punk rock pranks played on record execs looking for the next big thing in central Virginia. Offering a diverse range of voices, perspectives, and approaches, this volume mirrors the eclecticism of pop itself. Larry Blumenfeld , Austin Bunn, Nate Chinen, J. Martin Daughtry, Brian Goedde, Michelle Habell-Pallán, Jonathan Lethem, Eric Lott, Kembrew McLeod, Elena Passarello, Diane Pecknold, David Ritz, Carlo Rotella, Scott Seward, Tom Smucker, Greg Tate, Karen Tongson, Alexandra T. Vazquez, Oliver Wang, Eric Weisbard, Carl Wilson

Genres: Music

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Eric Weisbard is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Alabama and the author of Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music.

Reviews

[Amy L. Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: advance reader copy provided for review by Netgalley.

Weisbard has pulled together a relatively interesting collection of articles mainly focused on music and the relationship of race and privilege. There were a few articles that stayed on topic with the presented title (When the World Falls Apart), but the subtitle is more accurate to the volume and only so much as it refers to our formation of identity and perceptions through music. There were quite a few strong articles, and only one that I didn't enjoy at all [Of Wolves and Vibrancy], mostly due to its simultaneous use of self-deprecation and hauteur that oscillated depending on whether the author was talking about a subject he did or did not know about.

Most of the collection is strong though, and readers and listeners of all varieties will especially enjoy ("Over the) Rainbow Warrior" about Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's reimagining of Somewhere Over the Rainbow; "Since the Flood", a sobering and heartening account of the seemingly unwanted return of Jazz musicians and second line funerals to New Orleans; "Black Rockers vs. Blackies Who Rock", an endearing article about the place of rock 'n' roll in the black community and for the formation of the author's identity as a black, self-proclaimed nerd; and "Divided Byline" which manages to be both homage to musicians the author worked with and an explanation of his career choice as a ghostwriter.

[Bill O'driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart collection about the political side of pop-music culture, with essays ranging in style and approach from the academic to the popular. Truly, too wide a range of cultural and political topics to summarize -- there are two essays centering on the Carpenters -- but this 2012 anthology (edited by a prof of American studies) has something to interest every pop fan who'd like to dig deeper into punk, country, rap, metal, whatever.

[Duke Press]

“[T]he range of contributors in this collected volume refreshingly breaks the cult of expertise often surrounding popular music discourse and refrains from burying the reader under a barrage of cultural theory verbiage. Both entertaining and educational, this latest compilation in the series will appeal with equal measure to both critics and fans.”--Joshua Finnell, Library Journal

“Let there be no doubt that this is one of the best anthologies of music writing you’ll find this year and one that’s destined to be required reading for any kid who thinks he has what it takes to make it in the rough ‘n’ tumble world of music criticism.”--Jedd Beaudoin, PopMatters

[GONZA · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of essays on popular music and some of his best known musicians through hard times, like Regan epoca or when Katrina stroke.
It was pretty interesting but I couldn't like all of them and most of all I coulnd't recognize the link between some of them.
Thanks to Netgalley and Duke University Press Books for the preview!

[Joe Matson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the articles (especially the one on the sounds of the war in Iraq) are excellent while others are only so so. My full review will appear in Notes in 2013.