Sex and Gender in Pop/Rock Music: The Blues Through the Beatles to Beyonc

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Following the 1960's sexual revolution, rock and pop have continued to map the societal understanding of sexuality, feminism, and gender studies. Although scholarship has well established how early rock and roll encouraged and affected issues of sex in the baby boomer generation, this book asks how subsequent pop music has maintained that tradition. The text discusses the gendered performances and biographical experiences of individual musicians, including Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Etta James, and Frank Ocean, and how their invented personae contribute to musical representations of sexuality. It evaluates lyric structure and symbolic language of these artists, and overall emphasizes how pop music, while a commodity art form, reflects the diversity of human sex and gender.

Reviews

This fascinating and compelling book traces how popular musicthe worlds most ubiquitous artreflects and influences far-reaching concepts of sex, gender, and sexuality. Dr. Everett is a master stylist: clear, engaging, straightforward, and unfailingly interesting. * Matthew Schneider, Professor of English, High Point University, USA *
Why was such an informative book not published earlier Everetts book is essential for researchers and students who are interested in sex, gender and sexuality, and their influences on rock music. It not only gives a handy overview, but also a more detailed analysis of theories and music examples. These analyses do not shy away from problematic content in rock music, such as abuse, rape, misogyny, incest, racial issues, etc., thus providing an important, not solely glorifying, intersectional portrait of the rock era in Western culture. Most original and practical is the long timeline of sexual attitudes and behaviors in recorded popular music until 2022, along with selected songs. * Doris Leibetseder, Senior Research Fellow, University of Vienna, Austria *
Walter Everett focuses his encyclopedic knowledge of the popular music of the last 70 years with the scholarship on sex and gender in pop. The result is an impressive compendium, in which every page presents the reader with new juxtapositions in a rich tapestry of examples. The concluding chapter on Land, Patti Smiths sex-based epic from Horses, brings Everetts analysis to an aptly intricate climax. Valuable both as a reference and as an outline of the recent history of sexual mores. * Jennifer Rycenga, Professor of Comparative Religious Studies, San Jos State University, USA *

Author Bio

Walter Everett is Professor Emeritus of Music in Music Theory at the University of Michigan, USA. He is the author of Foundations of Rock (2008), Expression in Pop-Rock Music, Second Edition 2007), and The Beatles as Musicians, Volumes 1 and 2 (1999, 2001). Everett is a recipient of the Kjell Meling Award for Distinction in the Arts and Humanities, has served as Chair of the Society for Music Theory Publications Committee, and is past editorial board member of Music Theory Spectrum and Theory and Practice.