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Major Labels

A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres
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( 2,419 ratings, 365 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Major Labels, by Kelefa Sanneh, delves into the evolution and influence of popular music genres over the past fifty years. The book discusses how various genres, from rock and hip-hop to punk and pop, define identities and cultural moments. Sanneh provides insightful commentary on how these musical categories create communities yet often spark debate and rivalry.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3999
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you are fascinated by the evolution of popular music genres and how they shape identity and culture. With engaging insights and expert analysis, it explores the dynamic world of music, offering a captivating journey through rock, hip-hop, punk, and more. If you're interested in a deep dive into the sounds that have defined generations, this book is a rewarding read.

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Major Labels

A comprehensive and celebratory journey through the history of popular music, from the former New York Times music critic.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From his allegiance to punk rock in his adolescence to becoming an essential voice on music and culture, Kelefa Sanneh makes a deep study of how popular music unites and divides us. Distilling a career's worth of knowledge, he explores the tribes music forms, and how its genres, shape-shifting across the years, give us a way to track larger forces and concerns.

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.

'Kelefa Sanneh has achieved the impossible. Major Labels somehow manages to unspool everything you need to know about 50 years of music, but more impressively, he makes you care about all of it. Even the stuff you don't care about. It's funny, it's personal, and as a piece of writing the book borders on poetry' - David Letterman

'Entertaining, diligent ... His observations are always fresh and thought-provoking, and presented with clarity and wit' - Mojo

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Major Labels by Kelefa Sanneh has received praise for its comprehensive and elegantly written history of popular music. Critics highlight its insightful retelling of rock and pop narratives, combined with Sanneh's open-hearted appreciation for diverse genres. The book is noted for its engaging prose, personal reflections, and its ability to make complex musical histories accessible and compelling to a wide audience.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781838855949

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 September 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Canongate Books

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 328g

Pages: 496

About the Author

Kelefa Sanneh has been a New Yorker staff writer since 2008, when he left his position at the New York Times, where he had been the pop-music critic since 2002. Previously, he was the deputy editor of Transition, a journal of race and culture based at the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute, at Harvard University. His writing has also appeared in a number of magazines and a handful of books, including Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to Jay Z, a Library of America Special Publication, and Da Capo Best Music Writing (2002, 2005, 2007, and 2011).

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