Nothing Has Been Done Before: Seeking the New in 21st-Century American Popular Music

— —

Professor Robert Loss (Columbus College of Art and Design, USA)

Nothing Has Been Done Before

Seeking the New in 21st-Century American Popular Music

Professor Robert Loss (Columbus College of Art and Design, USA)

$190

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Bloomsbury Academic USA
02 November 2017

Music reviews & criticism; Easy listening, MOR music

Series: Alternate Takes: Critical Responses to Popular Music

Is there such a thing today as music that's meaningfully new? In our contemporary era of remixing and retro styles, cynics and romantics alike cry ""It's all been done before"" while record labels and media outlets proclaim that everything is new. Coded into our daily conversations about popular music, newness as an artistic and cultural value is too often taken for granted.

Nothing Has Been Done Before instigates a fresh debate about newness in American pop, rock 'n' roll, rap, folk, and R&B made since the turn of the millennium. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that combines music criticism, philosophy, and the literary essay, Robert Loss follows the stories of a diverse cast of musicians who seek the new by wrestling with the past, navigating the market, and speaking politically. The transgressions of Bob Dylan's ""Love and Theft"". The pop spectacle of Katy Perry's 2015 Super Bowl halftime show. Protest songs against the war in Iraq.

Nothing Has Been Done Before argues that performance heard in a historical context always creates a possibility for newness, whether it's Kendrick Lamar's multi-layered To Pimp a Butterfly, the Afrofuturist visions of Janelle Monáe, or even a Guided By Voices tribute concert in a local dive bar.

Provocative and engaging, Nothing Has Been Done Before challenges nothing less than how we hear and think about popular music—its power and its potential.

By: Professor Robert Loss (Columbus College of Art and Design USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic USA
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: Paperback
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 558g
ISBN: 9781501322037
ISBN 10: 1501322036
Series: Alternate Takes: Critical Responses to Popular Music
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 02 November 2017
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

"Prologue: Nothing Has Been Done Before Part 1: The Past in the Present Revivals Are Revisions: New Millennial Folk Music Rolls the Dice ""Love and Theft"": Transgression and the Cultural Archive The Problem of Knowing Too Much: Meta-Rock and the Anxiety of Influence Sounds Before Our Time: Replicating the Old to Make the New Part 2: The American Wow Spectaglam! Katy Perry and the American Wow The New Digital Empire: Consumerism, Technology, and the New We Can Flux: Prince Queers Democracy and the New Kanye's Night at the Museum: The Iconoclast Goes to Work Power Up: Persona and Anonymity Trouble the American Wow Part 3: Shouting at the Hard of Hearing On the Good Side: Anti-War Music in the 2000s Shouting at the Hard of Hearing: Springsteen Finds a New Audience Living in the Interval: Political Hip Hop, Rap, Revolution, and To Pimp a Butterfly Bodies in the River: Tradition and ""The Body Electric"" Epilogue: Nothing Has Been Done Before, Again Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments and Permissions Index"

Robert Loss is an assistant professor in Writing, Literature, and Philosophy at Columbus College of Art and Design, USA.

Reviews for Nothing Has Been Done Before: Seeking the New in 21st-Century American Popular Music

The ever prized prospect of the `new' excites and nourishes the commercial music industry as much as it does the desire of musicians to shape their own space within its leaky borders. In Nothing Has Been Done Before Robert Loss cuts an idiosyncratic path through late 20th and 21st century popular music, tipping its hat to the renowned and the obscure along the way. Wearing his musical proclivities and political beliefs on his sleeve, Loss visits amongst others the familiar subjects of race, gender, protest song, and the role of technology to frame his hunt for the elusive signs of newness in popular music. His witty, characterful, and occasionally provocative style simultaneously draws you into the conversation of newness and invites critical response. * Jack Harbord, Senior Lecturer, Leeds College of Music, UK * Utterly original and erudite, Loss has written a book for music lovers that will inspire and instigate in equal measure. * Ed Whitelock, co-author of Apocalypse Jukebox: The End of the World in American Popular Music * Robert Loss's writing is characterized by unstoppable historical curiosity, true storytelling, and the unusual combination of intellectual ambition and modesty--all qualities that play out with incisive strength in Nothing Has Been Done Before. -- Greil Marcus