Western Rock Artists, Madame Butterfly, and the Allure of Japan

Christopher T. Keaveney is assistant professor at Rikkyo University.

• Introduction: I Want You to Want Me: Western Rock Artists and JapanChapter 1: You Say You Want a Revolution: The Ventures, the Beatles, Group Sounds, and the Soundtrack for a MiracleChapter 2: Japan’s Temple of Rock: Budokan and the Golden Age of Live in JapanChapter 3: Unleashed in the East: Negotiating Western Imaginaries of JapanChapter 4: Big in Japan: The Western Gaze in Rock Songs About JapanChapter 5: I Think I’m Turning Japanese: Orientalism in Rock Videos and Images Chapter 6: Pinkerton’s Apology: The Maturing of the Western Rocker’s GazeEpilogue: Rockin’ On: The Continuing Appeal of Japan to Western Artists

This knowledgeable, lovingly-written, accessible book records the many ways orientalist stereotypes of Japan have influenced American and British rock musicians during the “Age of Album Rock” (1960s–1990s) and beyond, as heard in their songs, seen on their album covers, enacted on their concerts at the Budokan, performed in photographs and music videos, and reported by journalists.