Pop When the World Falls Apart

Hearing Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan once said, was like busting out of jail. But what happens when popular music isnt 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 musics roleas commentary, as refuge, and as rallying cryin times of military conflict, social upheaval, and cultural crisis. Drawn from presentations at the annual Experience Music Project Pop Conferencehailed by Robert Christgau as the best thing thats ever happened to serious consideration of pop musicthe 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 Hayess 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. Contributors: Larry Blumenfeld , Austin Bunn, Nate Chinen, J. Martin Daughtry, Brian Goedde, Michelle Habell-Palln, 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