Overview

"By the early 1970s, practically everyone under a certain age liked rock music, but not everyone liked it for the same reasons. We typically associate the sounds of classic rock 'n' roll with youthful rebellion by juvenile delinquents, student demonstrators, idealistic hippies, or irreverent punks. But in this insightful and timely book, author George Case shows how an important strain of rock music from the late 1960s onward spoke to DL and represented an idealized self-portrait of DL a very different audience: the working-class 'Average Joes' who didn't want to change the world as much as they wanted to protect their perceived place within it. To the extent that ""working-class populism"" describes an authentic political current, it's now beyond a doubt that certain musicians and certain of their songs helped define that current. By now, rock 'n' roll has cast a long shadow over hundreds of millions of people around the world DL not just over reckless kids, but over wage-earning parents and retired elders; not just over indignant youth challenging authority, but over indignant adults challenging their own definition of it. Not only have the politics of rock fans drifted surprisingly rightward since 1970; some rock, as Case argues, has helped reset the very boundaries of left and right themselves. That God, guns, and Old Glory can be understood to be paid fitting tribute in a heavy guitar riff delivered by a long-haired reprobate in blue jeans DL but that #Me Too, Occupy Wall Street or Black Lives Matter might not DL hints at where those boundaries now lie."

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9780197548813

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Reviews

Finally! An appreciation of those massively popular blues-influenced songs delivered by deliciously loud guitars celebrating testosteroned teenage freedom. Packing arenas as industry in the West was rusting out, fans celebrated the now with odes to the power and vitality that should have been their future. Freebird! * Deena Weinstein, Professor of Sociology, DePaul University * Booksmart and streetsmart, with a rock & roll heart and keen understanding of class culture, Case crafts a compelling argument tying protest music to social class and aesthetics. Drawing from a wide variety of scholarly and popcult references, Takin' Care of Business is an invaluable resource for music fans, activists, scholars, critics and students to get schooled - and validated. On my Spring reading list already! * Donna Gaines, author of Teenage Wasteland, A Misfit's Manifesto and Why the Ramones Matter *

"""Booksmart and streetsmart, with a rock & roll heart and keen understanding of class culture, Case crafts a compelling argument tying protest music to social class and aesthetics. Drawing from a wide variety of scholarly and popcult references, Takin' Care of Business is an invaluable resource for music fans, activists, scholars, critics and students to get schooled DL and validated. On my Spring reading list already!"" -- Donna Gaines, author of Teenage Wasteland, A Misfit's Manifesto and Why the Ramones Matter ""Finally! An appreciation of those massively popular blues-influenced songs delivered by deliciously loud guitars celebrating testosteroned teenage freedom. Packing arenas as industry in the West was rusting out, fans celebrated the now with odes to the power and vitality that should have been their future. Freebird!"" -- Deena Weinstein, Professor of Sociology, DePaul University"

Author Information

George Case is the author of several books on music and popular culture, including Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man, Calling Dr. Strangelove, and Here's To My Sweet Satan. Originally from the steel city of Sault Ste. Marie, he now lives in Ottawa, Canada.

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