| Contents |
Introduction -- The origin of music as a force of creative destruction -- Carnivores at the Philharmonic -- In search of a universal music -- Music history as a battle between magic and mathematics -- Bulls and sex toys -- The storyteller -- The invention of the singer -- The shame of music -- Unmanly music -- The devil's songs -- Oppression and musical innovation -- Not all wizards carry wands -- The invention of the audience -- Musicians behaving badly -- The origins of the music business -- Culture wars -- Subversives in wigs -- You say you want a revolution? -- The great flip-flop -- The aesthetics of diaspora -- Black music and the great American lifestyle crisis -- Rebellion goes mainstream -- Funky butt -- The origins of country music in the neolithic era -- Where did our love go? -- The sacrificial ritual -- Rappers and technocrats -- Welcome our new overlords -- Epilogue: This is not a manifesto. |
| Abstract |
Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval. He shows how social outcasts have repeatedly become trailblazers of musical expression. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 473-487) and index. |
| LCCN | 2019001627 |
| ISBN | 9781541644366 hardcover alkaline paper |
| ISBN | 1541644360 hardcover alkaline paper |
| ISBN | electronic book |
