Nothing Has Been Done Before - Seeking the New in 21st-Century American 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 Monae, 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.>

About the author

Robert Loss is Assistant Professor in English and Philosophy at Columbus College of Art and Design, USA. His music criticism and journalism have been published in PopMatters, Public Books, Ghettoblaster, Bookslut, and the Los Angeles Review of Books (forthcoming). His articles about comics in The Comics Journal, The Comics Grid, and the International Journal of Comic Art.

Product details

• Authors: Professor Robert (Columbus College of Art and Design Loss, Robert Loss, Robert (Columbus College of Art and Design Loss
• Assisted by: Matt Brennan (Editor), Matthew Thomas Brennan (Editor), Simon Frith (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9781501322037
• ISBN: 978-1-5013-2203-7
• No. of pages: 288
• Series: Alternate Takes: Critical Resp; Alternate Takes: Critical Responses to Popular Music; Alternate Takes: Critical Resp; Alternate Takes: Critical Responses to Popular Music
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; USA, 21. Jahrhundert (2000 bis 2100 n. Chr.), Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, USA, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / General, Musikkritik, MUSIC / History & Criticism, Easy listening, 21st Century, 21st century, c 2000 to c 2100, United States of America, USA, Music reviews & criticism, Popular Music, Music reviews and criticism, Popular music, easy listening