Understanding Popular Music Culture

by Roy Shuker

This extensively revised and expanded fifth edition of Understanding Popular Music Culture provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the production, distribution, consumption and meaning of popular music, and the debates that surround popular culture and popular music.

Reflecting the continued proliferation of popular music studies, the new music industry in a digital age, and the emergence of new stars, this new edition has been reorganized and extensively updated throughout, making for a more coherent and sequenced coverage of the field. These updates

two new chapters entitled ‘The Real Thing’: Authenticity, covers and the canon and ‘Time Will Pass You By’: Histories and popular memory new case studies on artists including The Rolling Stones, Lorde, One Direction and Taylor Swift further examples of musical texts, genres, and performers throughout including additional coverage of Electronic Dance Music expanded coverage on the importance of the back catalogue and the box set; reality television and the music biopic greater attention to the role and impact of the internet and digital developments in relation to production, dissemination, mediation and consumption; including the role of social network sites and streaming services each chapter now has its own set of expanded references to facilitate further investigation. Additional resources for students and teachers can also be found on the companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/shuker), which includes additional case studies, links to relevant websites and a discography of popular music metagenres.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Sociology, Cultural Studies, History

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Lee Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a good book to help me understand more of music culture. I like the attributes that explain the rapid evolution of music consumerism.
He mentions a guy called 'Frith' a lot to support his evidence, and finally i enjoyed the 'Packaging reggae' chapter, that explains how reggae was founded and brought to the masses.
overall it is a great book but a pretty heavy!

[Matt Chisling (MattyandtheBooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shuker's work is a thorough introduction to the study of popular music. This heavily revised version of the work is a great introductory piece, but it should be worth noting that its very much designed for a first-year survey course in the study of popular music. Some of the chapters are a bit unstructured, reading more like a glossary of terms or ideas than a cohesive argument. In addition, I would advocate for more historical flow in the text. However, Shuker's collection is well documented, all encompassing, and does offer the reader a glimpse into all the areas of popular music one can study.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★☆☆ | 3.5 Stars

[This is a review for the 2008 edition which is not on Goodreads]

This textbook covers a whole range of issues related to the production and consumption of popular music. It's really only an introduction to these issues and can be at times stretched a little too thin. Nevertheless, I found it interesting to learn about music from before my time and how trends have played out over the last century or so.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very much an overview of the field - a map of which academic has said what about popular music. Shaker doesn't have much to say here on his own account. I get that - but he could have made it a bit more readable. You can be both academically rigorous and interesting at the same time. This managed to take a fascinating subject and make it dull.

[Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful as a reference for further readings but not riveting in itself (it is a textbook after all).