Recorded musical examples are available via a separately published CD set and online services.

Includes index.

CONTENTS:

Rock is -- Form in rock : the anatomy of a rock song -- The rhythms of rock -- The instrumentation of rock -- Melody in rock music -- Key elements of rock style -- Rock style and rock attitude --

European and African musical traditions in the new world -- Folk music from the British isles -- The African influence -- European versus African musical traditions -- Minstrelsy, the first synthesis -- A new century : and new sounds -- A modern era in popular music -- Taking stock --

The roots of rock -- The sounds of the blues, 1929–1945 -- Swing and jump bands -- Black gospel music -- Country and folk music -- Country music -- Afro-Cuban music -- The roots of rock versus mainstream pop -- The pop music establishment -- American values in the fifties -- Mainstream popular music --

The emergence of rhythm and blues -- Heavy rhythms: big-beat rhythm and blues -- Blues in the fifties -- The Latin tinge -- Gospel and rhythm and blues : doo-wop -- Gospel-influenced solo singing -- Rhythm and blues and rock and roll --

The beginnings of rock and roll -- Rockabilly -- Elvis Presley : the first rock-and-roll star -- Chuck Berry : the architect of rock and roll -- Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis -- The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly -- The birth, death, and resurrection of rock and roll -- Rock and roll : a new attitude --

Pop, rock, and rhythm and blues in the early sixties -- Twisting the night away -- Girl groups, young songwriters, and celebrity producers -- From folk to rock -- From rockabilly to rock : the music of Roy Orbison -- Garages and cars and surf and sun -- Coming together : from rock and roll to rock and soul --

Dylan goes electric -- The Beatles --

Motown -- Soul -- Soul music -- The impact of black music of the sixties --

From blues to rock -- Hard rock in the mid-sixties -- Power trios : rock as a soloist’s music -- The perfection of rock rhythm -- Heavy metal in the seventies -- The liberation of rock and roll -- The essence of rock --

The counterculture -- Acid rock -- Down to earth : Janis Joplin and the blues -- Toward an American rock sound -- Santana and Latin rock -- Funk and fun : sly and the family stone -- Diversity, a rock-era innovation --

Rock and art -- Rock’s dark side -- Rock as serious satire : Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention -- Rock opera : the who -- Glam rock : rock as spectacle -- Rock, art, and technology -- Rock as art and art rock -- Rock as art redux --

The singer-songwriters -- Elevating the feminine -- They’ve got friends : the intimate world of the singer-songwriters -- Words, melodies, and sounds -- Singer-songwriters and rock -- A new kind of popular song --

Black music : change, context, and culture -- Motown in the early seventies : new acts, new attitudes -- Soul in the seventies -- Crossroads : the blues in black and white -- The continuing evolution of black music --

The business of rock -- Mainstream rock : inclusiveness, exuberance, expansiveness -- From country to city -- Jazzing up the rock mainstream -- The future of rock and roll -- The diversity of mainstream rock --

Reggae -- Funk -- Disco -- Moving beyond rock --

The punk movement -- The power of punk -- New wave -- Punk : devolution and evolution -- The reverberations of punk --

The digital revolution -- Electronica -- Rap -- Beyond rock --

Mtv and music videos -- Michael Jackson and Madonna : redefining pop in the eighties -- Post-punk/post-disco fusions : the music of Prince -- The maturation of black pop -- The divas -- Beyond rock : the legacy of Motown --

The relevance of rock -- A new pop rock : mainstreaming reggae and punk -- Significant rock -- Extreme virtuosity : heavy metal after 1980 -- Renewing rock and roll -- Reinvigorating rock --

The alternative movement -- The transformation of the recording industry -- From punk to alternative -- Alienation -- The persistence of punk -- Alternatives -- Outro : rock in the twenty-first century : issues and opportunities.