One of our top critics presents a completely original history of rock ’n’ roll. Unlike all previous accounts of the history of rock ’n’ roll, this book skips almost every iconic artist and ignores the historical events and milestones we all know. Instead, in a bold move, Greil Marcus selects ten songs recorded between 1956 and 2008 and then proceeds to dramatize how each one embodies rock ’n’ roll as an entity unto itself, in the story it tells, inhabits, and expresses—a new language, something new under the sun.
“Transmission” by Joy Division. “All I Could Do Was Cry” by Etta James and later by Beyoncé. “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” originally by the Teddy Bears and nearly half a century later by Amy Winehouse. In Marcus's hands, these and other songs tell the story of music, which, in essence, is the story of the desire for freedom in all its unruly and liberating glory. Breaking free from the constraints of chronology, Marcus weaves the past with the present, highlighting the ways these remarkable songs traverse time and circumstances, gaining momentum and meaning, surprising us by overturning assumptions and prefab stereotypes. This book, by a founder of modern rock criticism—and its most gifted and perceptive virtuoso—is destined to become an enduring classic work.
Pages: 320, Year of Publication: 1027, Dimensions: 15.6x15.6cm
