Aesthetics of Pop Music

Diedrich Diederichsen is Professor of Theory, Practice and Communication of Contemporary Art at the Vienna Academy for Fine Arts.

• PrefaceI. Pop Music is a Form of Indexical ArtII. Pop Music is the Second of Three Culture IndustriesIII. At the Heart of Pop Music is No Object, but an Impulse to ConnectIV. An Assembly of Effects and Small NoisesV. Minus Music: Popularity and CriticismVI. Production AestheticsNotes

‘Diedrich Diederichsen’s book presents itself as a rigorous study of pop music considered as a thing in itself. That it is. But then you turn what seems to be a predictable corner and find yourself ambushed by sly humour, playfulness, a willingness to place large analytical bets on what seem to be slim chances. The book is filled with trap doors which open up again and again.’Greil Marcus, author of Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century‘Diedrich Diederichsen is an always compelling analyst of pop and rock music across all its many genres, and Aesthetics of Pop Music sheds new light on the capacities, identities and meanings of the form.’Michael Bracewell, author of England is Mine: Pop Life in Albion from Wilde to Goldie‘an engaging read… With arguments from the Frankfurt school, examples of performers ranging from the 1950s to the twenty-first century, discussion of modern technical recording methods, and commentary on social media, Aesthetics of Pop Music will appeal to a variety of readers, particularly those in multimedia and cultural studies'Journal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland