Understanding Popular Music

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"Understanding Popular Music" is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the history and meaning of popular music. It begins with a critical assessment of the different ways in which popular music has been studied and examines the difficulties and debates which surround the analysis of popular culture and popular music.
Drawing on the recent work of music scholars and the popular music press, Roy Shuker explores key subjects which shape our experience of music such as music production, the music industry, music policy, fans, audiences and subcultures, the musician as "star," music journalism, and the reception and consumption of popular music. This fully revised and updated second edition includes:

* Case studies and lyrics of artists such as Shania Twain, The Spice Girls and Fat Boy Slim
* The impact of technologies including on-line delivery and the debates over MP3 and Napster
* The rise of DJ culture and the changing idea of the "musician"
* A critique of gender and sexual politics and the discrimination which exists in the music industry
* Moral panics against popular music including the controversies over artists such as Marilyn Manson and the white rapper, Eminem
* A comprehensive discography, guide to further reading and directory of websites

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