Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Music and Politics in the Post-Elvis Era combines music and cultural history and criticism to examine how rock and the rock lifestyle have been merchandised first to a teenage audience and eventually to a worldwide consumer society. Well-known, iconoclastic writer/ critic David Walley examines the entire rock culture and how it has infused all aspects of American (and world) life, from entertainment to politics to academic education. In a series of what he describes as "word-jazz rock and roll improvisations and variations," Walley examines how adult culture has been "adolescent-ized" and what the ramifications are on our society.
Walley is not an uninvolved observer-his personal story and opinions are right up front, where they belong. Famous for being the first writer to recognize the commercial genius of Frank Zappa (in the landmark book, No Commercial Potential, first published in 1972 and still in print today), Walley is ideally suited to examine how commercialism has invaded rock music, and in turn how this commercialism has invaded rock music, and in turn how this commercial stepchild of rock has become a culture unto itself. He tackles everything from the elevation of youth culture to the mainstream; the fast-food economy; the commercial hijack of the counterculture movement; the "cool" aesthetic; the marketing of politicians; psychotropic drugs from LSD to Prozac; and much, much more. Along the way, he touches on a diverse range of figures. From Ma Rainey to Elvis, from Béla Bartók to Batman; from Timothy Leary to Rush Limbaugh; from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. to Understanding Media.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
David Walley is a well-known writer on popular music and culture, and a respected gadfly. He is the author of No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa (1972) and The Ernie Kovacs Phile (1975).
From Booklist:
The phenomenon of Elvis Presley is the jumping-off point for Walley's evaluation of post^-World War II American commercial music and how it conquered the world. What started out as a disposable commodity pitched to adolescents eventually metastasized into a culture in which the Czech prime minister sought, and the U.S. secretary of state personally intervened to discourage, the appointment of Frank Zappa as an official "representative on matters of trade, culture and tourism." That a pop musician would be considered for such a position, let alone be the subject of international political pressure, was unthinkable before Elvis. And why, after Elvis, was it thinkable? Well, during Elvis' career, rock and roll became a worldwide attitude as well as "a sonic environment for commerce." That is a sad plight that Walley surveys with pleasant cynicism, winding up considering the fascination with such issues as presidential underwear preferences and the seemingly unending retail warfare that commercial culture fosters. Mike Tribby
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherRoutledge
- Publication date2006
- ISBN 10 0415978564
- ISBN 13 9780415978569
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages246