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Major Labels

A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres

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Major Labels

By: Kelefa Sanneh
Narrated by: Kelefa Sanneh
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About this listen

From his own adolescence, when his allegiance was to punk rock, to his work as one of the essential voices of our time on music and culture at the New York Times and The New Yorker, Kelefa Sanneh has made a deep study of how our popular music unites and divides us, the tribes it forms, and how its genres, shape-shifting across the years, give us a way to track larger forces and concerns.

Sanneh debunks cherished myths, reappraises beloved heroes and upends familiar ideas of musical greatness, arguing that sometimes the best popular music isn't transcendent: it expresses our grudges, as well as our hopes, and it is motivated by greed as well as inspiration.

Throughout, race is a powerful touchstone: just as there's always been a 'Black' audience and a 'white' audience, with more or less overlap depending on the moment, there is Black music and white music (and some very white music), and a whole lot of confusing of the issue, if not to say expropriation.

This is a book to shock and awe the deepest music nerd, and, at the same time, to work as a heady gateway drug for the uninitiated.

©2021 Kelefa Sanneh (P)2021 Canongate Books History & Criticism
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Profile Image for Mr. Findlay J. Napier

Excellent Take On How We Describe Music

Loved this book. Such a brilliant idea. Opened up some areas of music that I have yet to explore.

Looking forward to a sequel covering other Folk, Jazz and World…

It’s a great performance however repetition of the word “quote” does start to grind after a while.

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