Simon Frith has degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, UK, and Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, USA. His main research interest is popular music on which his latest publication is Music and Copyright (2004). From 1995-1999 he was Director of the ESRC Media Economics and Media Culture Research Programme. He is currently Tovey Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

• Contents: Introduction; Bibliography; Youth and music; 'The magic that can set you free': the ideology of folk and the myth of the rock community; Rock and sexuality (with Angela McRobbie); Afterthoughts; Formalism, realism and leisure: the case of the punk; Art vs. technology: the strange case of popular music; The industrialisation of popular music; Playing with real feeling: making sense of jazz in Britain; The suburban sensibility in British rock and pop; The discourse of world music; Pop music; Look! hear! the uneasy relationship of music and television; Music and everyday life; Why do songs have words?; Hearing secret harmonies; Towards an aesthetic of popular music; Adam Smith and music; Music and identity; What is bad music?; Index.

'...these essays deserve to be re-read...they merit such attention because, most of all, in their distinctive blend of critical journalism and academic scholarship, they show what it means to take popular music seriously...' Journal of Popular Music

Simon Frith has degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, UK, and Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, USA. His main research interest is popular music on which his latest publication is Music and Copyright (2004). From 1995-1999 he was Director of the ESRC Media Economics and Media Culture Research Programme. He is currently Tovey Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

• Contents: Introduction; Bibliography; Youth and music; 'The magic that can set you free': the ideology of folk and the myth of the rock community; Rock and sexuality (with Angela McRobbie); Afterthoughts; Formalism, realism and leisure: the case of the punk; Art vs. technology: the strange case of popular music; The industrialisation of popular music; Playing with real feeling: making sense of jazz in Britain; The suburban sensibility in British rock and pop; The discourse of world music; Pop music; Look! hear! the uneasy relationship of music and television; Music and everyday life; Why do songs have words?; Hearing secret harmonies; Towards an aesthetic of popular music; Adam Smith and music; Music and identity; What is bad music?; Index.

'...these essays deserve to be re-read...they merit such attention because, most of all, in their distinctive blend of critical journalism and academic scholarship, they show what it means to take popular music seriously...' Journal of Popular Music

Simon Frith has degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, UK, and Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, USA. His main research interest is popular music on which his latest publication is Music and Copyright (2004). From 1995-1999 he was Director of the ESRC Media Economics and Media Culture Research Programme. He is currently Tovey Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

• Contents: Introduction; Bibliography; Youth and music; 'The magic that can set you free': the ideology of folk and the myth of the rock community; Rock and sexuality (with Angela McRobbie); Afterthoughts; Formalism, realism and leisure: the case of the punk; Art vs. technology: the strange case of popular music; The industrialisation of popular music; Playing with real feeling: making sense of jazz in Britain; The suburban sensibility in British rock and pop; The discourse of world music; Pop music; Look! hear! the uneasy relationship of music and television; Music and everyday life; Why do songs have words?; Hearing secret harmonies; Towards an aesthetic of popular music; Adam Smith and music; Music and identity; What is bad music?; Index.

'...these essays deserve to be re-read...they merit such attention because, most of all, in their distinctive blend of critical journalism and academic scholarship, they show what it means to take popular music seriously...' Journal of Popular Music