In this book, Alison Stone argues that popular music since rock-"n"-roll is a unified form of music which has positive value. That value is that popular music affirms the importance of materiality and the body, challenging the long-standing Western elevation of the intellect above all things corporeal. Stone also argues that popular music"s stress on materiality gives it aesthetic value, drawing on ideas from the post-Kantian tradition in aesthetics by Hegel, Adorno, and others. She shows that popular music gives importance to materiality in its typical structure: in how music of this type handles the relations between matter and form, the relations between sounds and words, and in how it deals with rhythm, meaning, and emotional expression. Extensive use is made of musical examples from a wide range of popular music genres. This book is distinctive in that it defends popular music on philosophical grounds, particularly informed by the continental tradition in philosophy.
Introduction: In Defence of Popular Music 1. Evaluation, Aesthetics, and the Unity of Popular Music 2. Tracking Popular Music History with an Aesthetic Map 3. Adorno and Popular Music 4. Matter and Form in Popular Music 5. Rhythm, Energy, and the Body 6. Meaning and Affect in Popular Music 7. Meaning in Sounds and Words Conclusion: Popular Music, Aesthetic Value, and Materiality Discography
