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Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music
From rock’n’roll to contemporary pop, Mixing Pop and Politics is a provocative and entertaining mash-up of music and Marxist theory.
A radical history of the political and social upheavals of the last 70 years, told through the period's most popular music.
Mixing Pop and Politics is not a history of political music, but a political history of popular music. Spanning the early 50s to the present, it shows how, from doo-wop to hip-hop, punk to crunk and grunge to grime, music has both reflected and resisted the political events of its era.
Mixing Pop and Politics explores the connections between popular music and political ideology, whether that’s the liberation of rock’n’roll or the containment of girl groups, the refusal of glam or the resignation of soft rock, the solidarity of disco or the individualism of 80s pop.
At a time when reactionary forces are waging political war in the realm of culture, and we’re being told to keep politics out of music, Mixing Pop and Politics is a timely, original and joyful exploration of popular music’s role in our society.
A radical history of the political and social upheavals of the last 70 years, told through the period's most popular music.
Mixing Pop and Politics is not a history of political music, but a political history of popular music. Spanning the early 50s to the present, it shows how, from doo-wop to hip-hop, punk to crunk and grunge to grime, music has both reflected and resisted the political events of its era.
Mixing Pop and Politics explores the connections between popular music and political ideology, whether that’s the liberation of rock’n’roll or the containment of girl groups, the refusal of glam or the resignation of soft rock, the solidarity of disco or the individualism of 80s pop.
At a time when reactionary forces are waging political war in the realm of culture, and we’re being told to keep politics out of music, Mixing Pop and Politics is a timely, original and joyful exploration of popular music’s role in our society.
611 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 14, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 4, 2025
The subtitle here is important, "A Marxist History Of Popular Music", and while Marxist critique, analysis and historiography is a little out of fashion, it does turn out to be quite an interesting tack to take with pop music. As Manning says in his introduction, that doesn't mean he will just be talking about records that explicitly engage with politics, that would leave him with not much beyond Billy Bragg (who he does still snaffle his title from). His Marxist critique also engages both with the mode of production (so the labour put into the music) and the content of the art, or lyrics. However the result is a well-researched history of pop which has its own flavour, but doesn't mark itself out significantly from the main competition in this field, Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah (oddly never referenced). Nevertheless, its own particular arguments and point of view does make it a worthwhile addition to the relatively scant histories of pop music, not least because his biases and interests are laid out from the outset.
It's a well-written ride too and as much fun to argue with as to agree. So he lays out some familiar stories around the exploitation of black musicians early on, but also considers how the division of labour between songwriters and artists provides more income streams and ways out of the working class, not least the ownership of that labour in a model like Motown. It is at the same time surprising that the song that he dwells on as being most important from a Marxist point of view is Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues. This sets a bit of a trend in the book, where any song explicitly mentioning work and employment will garner more focus. But this is a wide-ranging history of pop and so there are often whole genre critiques which are in themselves surprising. He has more time for the sixties counterculture, hippies and Laurel Canyon than you might imagine - he appreciates it fighting against the right-wing establishment at the time, and that drug taking as a route to altered consciousness might also be a route to revolution. Equally, he is excited by the potential of hip-hop as a way of speaking truth to power, though less enamoured by much of that truth, and whilst he doesn't mind the valourisation of new wealth, he wonders if more could be done with those tools. Most surprising is his thesis that the most socialist genre under his analysis was Glam Rock, a case of clearly working-class musicians aspirationally transcending their backgrounds whilst also questioning and deflating notions of what glamour even is.
Its a well-researched and very readable history, and is best read with one eye on the footnotes (often web accessible - Mark Fisher's K-Punk is a constant reference, and Manning's own political view of some of his sources are often a little more open in the annotations). It is impossible to read without disagreeing in places, and the occasions when he attempts Marxist musicology are highly suspect (which is true of any kind of theoretical political musicology - he's certainly not on his own here). Fundamentally this book is an argument, and a jumping-off point to provoke a reader around the potential political significance of the history of pop music, and even though it is occasionally infuriating, it is always entertaining in the process.
It's a well-written ride too and as much fun to argue with as to agree. So he lays out some familiar stories around the exploitation of black musicians early on, but also considers how the division of labour between songwriters and artists provides more income streams and ways out of the working class, not least the ownership of that labour in a model like Motown. It is at the same time surprising that the song that he dwells on as being most important from a Marxist point of view is Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues. This sets a bit of a trend in the book, where any song explicitly mentioning work and employment will garner more focus. But this is a wide-ranging history of pop and so there are often whole genre critiques which are in themselves surprising. He has more time for the sixties counterculture, hippies and Laurel Canyon than you might imagine - he appreciates it fighting against the right-wing establishment at the time, and that drug taking as a route to altered consciousness might also be a route to revolution. Equally, he is excited by the potential of hip-hop as a way of speaking truth to power, though less enamoured by much of that truth, and whilst he doesn't mind the valourisation of new wealth, he wonders if more could be done with those tools. Most surprising is his thesis that the most socialist genre under his analysis was Glam Rock, a case of clearly working-class musicians aspirationally transcending their backgrounds whilst also questioning and deflating notions of what glamour even is.
Its a well-researched and very readable history, and is best read with one eye on the footnotes (often web accessible - Mark Fisher's K-Punk is a constant reference, and Manning's own political view of some of his sources are often a little more open in the annotations). It is impossible to read without disagreeing in places, and the occasions when he attempts Marxist musicology are highly suspect (which is true of any kind of theoretical political musicology - he's certainly not on his own here). Fundamentally this book is an argument, and a jumping-off point to provoke a reader around the potential political significance of the history of pop music, and even though it is occasionally infuriating, it is always entertaining in the process.
November 22, 2024
PAPERBACK EDITION! (Why didn't you put up the paperback edition?)
Manning comes bursting out the traps like a feverish, unhinged, version of Simon Reynolds on some serious drugs, unleashing a machine gun torrent of songs through the decades - so that after a while it feels like you are stuck in an extra-long academic equivalent of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire” (UK 7; US 1). Although he remains entertaining and engaging throughout, his points grow progressively tenuous and increasingly less convincing as we rush through the years at breakneck speed.
I mostly enjoyed this and Manning has an easy and attractive style which makes for smooth enough reading. He pulls out an exhaustive list of reference points, complete with both US and UK chart positions (where applicable), ensuring that few stones go unturned as he charts the progress of politics with popular culture coming up with some…rarely persuasive points, but at least he is lively and eloquent in how he does it.
This was heavy on knowledge and trivia but incredibly light on evidence and conviction in terms of the alleged political undertones, which appear to exist mostly inside the author’s over-excitable imagination. His conclusions seem tenuous at best and these alleged socio-political meanings are rarely there. With its Fordism framing and its joining of dots where none really exist this could be viewed as little more than an extended exercise in academic self-indulgence and intellectual onanism (a bit like that line!), but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable, this was silly but it was fun and mostly well-researched.
I mean honestly, how many people really believe that Prince’s “Let’s Work” is “a pared-back, post-Fordist electro-disco, rather than it being a Reaganite hymn to revitalising the economy, it’s a reconfiguration of the performance principle as the pleasure principle…These then are Marcusian disco songs.”
But possibly my favourite is the bloated and delusional description which follows, OK see if you can guess the song in question by the description…Ready?...
“fashions a volkish air-punching anthem from authoritarian, ‘survival of the fittest’ ruthlessness…The song implicitly naturalises neoliberalism’s politicised destruction of the industrial working class, alongside the immiseration of the projects’ denizens whose forefathers first sang the blues. ”
That would be Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”.
Another annoying habit is when he cherry picks a single line or lyric and conflates that with something entirely different to its original or intended meaning. Of course there are many songs which clearly do have a deeper or political meaning, but most have little to nothing to do with or say anything deeper on socio-political issues, let alone Marxist ones. But it never disappears entirely up its own jacksie and at the same time he does make so many valid and intriguing points too, which allows us to reflect on certain songs and their relationship to the wider, social or political environment of the time.
Some of the errors that the editorial team may wish to address in future editions include,
Black Box’s “Ride On Time” was 1989 not 1990, Pearl Jam’s “Spin The Black Circle” was released in 1994 and not 95, Outkast’s “Miss Jackson” was released in 2000 and not 1996. Altern 8 didn’t stand a candidate in the election of 1991 as the election didn’t happen until 1992. And of course any Take That fan will tell you that Lulu appeared on “Relight My Fire” and not the “Everything Changes” single. Baddiel & Skinner’s football song was “Three Lions” and not “Four Lions”.
November 23, 2025
Відразу думаю варто почати зі слона в кімнаті - марксизм. Як загальна парадигма вона має перевагу, яка одночасно є і недоліком, - всеохопність та всепояснюваність. Під цю рамку можна вибудовувати гарний, структурований та логічний виклад інформації. З іншого боку під неї можна запихувати просто все, що завгодно, бо вона може пояснити все. Через це деякі інтерпретації пісень виглядають дуже притягнутими за вуха, але це скоріше особливості з якими можна змиритися. Ну і знову ж такий погляд на історію поп-музики через лівий дискурс досить цікаво почитати.
А так, це класний огляд поп-музики за 70 років на базі чартів ВБ та Штатів (прикольно дивитися як музика місцями сильно вирізнялася по формі). Я послухав дуууууже багато музики з цієї книги і трохи менше подивився відео. Якщо не забивати і знайомитися з тим, що не дуже шариш, то час витрачається колосальний. Якийсь плейліст до кожного розділу, або навіть загальний був би доречний, але це не по-марксистськи вже виходить.
А так, це класний огляд поп-музики за 70 років на базі чартів ВБ та Штатів (прикольно дивитися як музика місцями сильно вирізнялася по формі). Я послухав дуууууже багато музики з цієї книги і трохи менше подивився відео. Якщо не забивати і знайомитися з тим, що не дуже шариш, то час витрачається колосальний. Якийсь плейліст до кожного розділу, або навіть загальний був би доречний, але це не по-марксистськи вже виходить.
September 27, 2025
Unforgivably British and plagued with minor errors but otherwise a surprisingly powerful history of pop music . Sometimes you do just need to read someone say it’s not over for the left
August 1, 2024
Toby Manning, Mixing Pop and Politics, A Marxist History of Popular Music, Repeater, May 2024.
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.
Toby Manning’s history of popular music, with its introductory references to a range of philosophers, is initially daunting to the non-philosopher. However, this is a treasure for the reader with a broad knowledge of philosophical understandings and philosophy. For other readers this somewhat dense early narrative can be easier to navigate through the later chapters’ attention to popular music from the early 1950s to now. It is in concentrating on this aspect in the chapters following the introduction that I became engrossed in the discussion and analysis of the music; the period in which it was written, produced and received; the political agendas to which it responded and its impact on the political environment.
The 1950s chapter, “Raise a Fuss, Raise a Holler”: Rock’n’Roll, Doo-Wop and the 50s (1953 – 58) resonates with its references to television series as well as music and politics. The references to race and criticism on that basis focusses on what this book can bring to political awareness – Back to the Future seems different after reading about the appropriation of Chuck Berries’ song and distinctive walk. It is the constant recognition that all one found attractive about those television series and songs must be reconsidered that makes this such a demandingly poignant read.
Chapter 2, “In Beautiful Dreams!: Morbid Symptoms, Dream-Work and Fordist Pop (1958 – 64) is another wake up call to readers who listened avidly to the wireless as we were told that conformity was positive, the suggestions of restiveness flattened by plaintiveness of songs such as Will you Still love Me tomorrow? And the references to The Rag Trade. I’m Alright Jack ring nostalgic bells, even if they are suspect.
Chapters 3 (“We are All Together” …1964 – 68); 4, (“Forces of Chaos and Anarchy” ...1968 -71) and 5, (“The Children of the Revolution” …1971-74) move from comfort to the demands for change made in the 1970s. Here, Manning refers to the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment, Spare Rib, The Liver Birds and Man About the House, all of which will resonate with many audiences of the 1970s and Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman has lasted well beyond. Manning’s understanding, that becomes that of the reader, of the radical and reactionary conflicts drawn in the cultural world as well as the political is a revealing read.
How it compares with the 1980s cultural horizon, 1980s economic ideology is another revelation, so much more easily understood through the material Manning uses so well – popular music, film and television. War – not just those that created headlines in Western media, but the ideas reflected in song add another dimension to the discussion of capitalism that is at the core of this chapter.
And so, through the remaining chapters, 1988-1992, 1993 – 2001, 2008 – 2015, and the last, covering 2015 to 2020 where “Longing for Change: The Rebirth of Radical Pop and Politics” creates an uneasy note, to a conclusion in which this is intensified by a somewhat pessimist account of where history currently stands. A relief is Manning’s own optimism, reflected in the glimmers of optimism he weaves around learning from history. The Covid pandemic, the role of lockdowns and the importance of its cultural impact is briefly discussed. The role of nostalgia, undermining the assumption that old songs depart, overtaken by the new is an essential part of the round up of the detailed material which, at its heart sees popular music as ‘adversarially’ political.
The material is ably referenced through endnotes for each chapter.
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.
Toby Manning’s history of popular music, with its introductory references to a range of philosophers, is initially daunting to the non-philosopher. However, this is a treasure for the reader with a broad knowledge of philosophical understandings and philosophy. For other readers this somewhat dense early narrative can be easier to navigate through the later chapters’ attention to popular music from the early 1950s to now. It is in concentrating on this aspect in the chapters following the introduction that I became engrossed in the discussion and analysis of the music; the period in which it was written, produced and received; the political agendas to which it responded and its impact on the political environment.
The 1950s chapter, “Raise a Fuss, Raise a Holler”: Rock’n’Roll, Doo-Wop and the 50s (1953 – 58) resonates with its references to television series as well as music and politics. The references to race and criticism on that basis focusses on what this book can bring to political awareness – Back to the Future seems different after reading about the appropriation of Chuck Berries’ song and distinctive walk. It is the constant recognition that all one found attractive about those television series and songs must be reconsidered that makes this such a demandingly poignant read.
Chapter 2, “In Beautiful Dreams!: Morbid Symptoms, Dream-Work and Fordist Pop (1958 – 64) is another wake up call to readers who listened avidly to the wireless as we were told that conformity was positive, the suggestions of restiveness flattened by plaintiveness of songs such as Will you Still love Me tomorrow? And the references to The Rag Trade. I’m Alright Jack ring nostalgic bells, even if they are suspect.
Chapters 3 (“We are All Together” …1964 – 68); 4, (“Forces of Chaos and Anarchy” ...1968 -71) and 5, (“The Children of the Revolution” …1971-74) move from comfort to the demands for change made in the 1970s. Here, Manning refers to the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment, Spare Rib, The Liver Birds and Man About the House, all of which will resonate with many audiences of the 1970s and Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman has lasted well beyond. Manning’s understanding, that becomes that of the reader, of the radical and reactionary conflicts drawn in the cultural world as well as the political is a revealing read.
How it compares with the 1980s cultural horizon, 1980s economic ideology is another revelation, so much more easily understood through the material Manning uses so well – popular music, film and television. War – not just those that created headlines in Western media, but the ideas reflected in song add another dimension to the discussion of capitalism that is at the core of this chapter.
And so, through the remaining chapters, 1988-1992, 1993 – 2001, 2008 – 2015, and the last, covering 2015 to 2020 where “Longing for Change: The Rebirth of Radical Pop and Politics” creates an uneasy note, to a conclusion in which this is intensified by a somewhat pessimist account of where history currently stands. A relief is Manning’s own optimism, reflected in the glimmers of optimism he weaves around learning from history. The Covid pandemic, the role of lockdowns and the importance of its cultural impact is briefly discussed. The role of nostalgia, undermining the assumption that old songs depart, overtaken by the new is an essential part of the round up of the detailed material which, at its heart sees popular music as ‘adversarially’ political.
The material is ably referenced through endnotes for each chapter.
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