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Title details for Switched On Pop by Nate Sloan - Available

Switched On Pop

How Popular Music Works, and Why it Matters

by Nate Sloan
Charlie Harding
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Pop music surrounds us - in our cars, over supermarket speakers, even when we are laid out at the dentist - but how often do we really hear what's playing? Switched on Pop is the book based on the eponymous podcast that has been hailed by NPR, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Entertainment Weekly for its witty and accessible analysis of Top 40 hits. Through close studies of sixteen modern classics, musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding shift pop from the background to the foreground, illuminating the essential musical concepts behind two decades of chart-topping songs. In 1939, Aaron Copland published What to Listen for in Music, the bestseller that made classical music approachable for generations of listeners. Eighty years later, Nate and Charlie update Copland's idea for a new audience and repertoire: 21st century pop, from Britney to Beyoncé, Outkast to Kendrick Lamar. Despite the importance of pop music in contemporary culture, most discourse only revolves around lyrics and celebrity. Switched on Pop gives readers the tools they need to interpret our modern soundtrack. Each chapter investigates a different song and artist, revealing musical insights such as how a single melodic motif follows Taylor Swift through every genre that she samples, André 3000 uses metric manipulation to get listeners to "shake it like a Polaroid picture," or Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee create harmonic ambiguity in "Despacito" that mirrors the patterns of global migration. Replete with engaging discussions and eye-catching illustrations, Switched on Pop brings to life the musical qualities that catapult songs into the pop pantheon. Readers will find themselves listening to familiar tracks in new waysand not just those from the Top 40. The timeless concepts that Nate and Charlie define can be applied to any musical style. From fanatics to skeptics, teenagers to octogenarians, non-musicians to professional composers, every music lover will discover something ear-opening in Switched on Pop.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 15, 2019

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780190056674

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780190056674
      • File size: 2410 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from October 1, 2019

      In 2014, Sloan (musicology, Univ. of Southern California) and songwriter Harding launched the Switched on Pop podcast to introduce audiophiles to the complex beauty of popular music. Since then, they have recorded more than 128 episodes and deconstructed everyone from Britney Spears to Elton John. Here, the duo turn their podcast into a 16-chapter manifesto on the last 20 years of popular music. From contextualizing Outkast's "Hey Ya" within the rhythmic long tail of ragtime to drawing connections between Justin Timberlake and the 12th-century troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn, the authors underscore both the musical traditions and the musical complexity from which 21st-century popular music has arisen. Along the way, terms such as tonality, syncopation, and chromaticism are defined and deconstructed with humor and a deep knowledge of musical theory. VERDICT In much the same way that Wendy Carlos's 1968 album Switched-on Bach introduced synthesizers to popular music, Sloan and Harding's ode to popular music reintroduces the Billboard Top 100 to the field of musicology and the snobbiest of vinyl collectors. A necessary addition to any music collection.--Joshua Finnell, Colgate Univ., Hamilton, NY

      Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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