
- 321 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Named a Must-Read by Vanity Fair and BBC. "One of our sharpest music critics . . . recounts a life immersed in pop music. An engaging history." — The Wall Street Journal
In
Love for Sale, David Hajdu—one of the most respected critics and music historians of our time—draws on a lifetime of listening, playing, and writing about music to show how pop has done much more than peddle fantasies of love and sex to teenagers. From vaudeville singer Eva Tanguay, the "I Don't Care Girl" who upended Victorian conceptions of feminine propriety to become one of the biggest stars of her day to the scandal of Blondie playing disco at CBGB, Hajdu presents an incisive and idiosyncratic history of a form that has repeatedly upset social and cultural expectations.
Exhaustively researched and rich with fresh insights,
Love for Sale is unbound by the usual tropes of pop music history. Hajdu, for instance, gives a star turn to Bessie Smith and the "blues queens" of the 1920s, who brought wildly transgressive sexuality to American audience decades before rock and roll. And there is Jimmie Rodgers, a former blackface minstrel performer, who created country music from the songs of rural whites and blacks . . . entwined with the sound of the Swiss yodel. And then there are today's practitioners of Electronic Dance Music, who Hajdu celebrates for carrying the pop revolution to heretofore unimaginable frontiers. At every turn, Hajdu surprises and challenges readers to think about our most familiar art in unexpected ways.
Masterly and impassioned, authoritative and at times deeply personal, Love for Sale is a book of critical history informed by its writer's own unique history as a besotted fan and lifelong student of pop.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- Introduction
- 1. The Sheet Music Era: The Zenith of the Popular Music Craze
- 2. The Rise of Records: Whispering
- 3. The Cotton Club: Jungle Nights in Harlem
- 4. The Charts: Make-Believe Island
- 5. Going West: Hollywood Barn Dance
- 6. Rock and Roll: They Went Ca-raaaaazy for It!
- 7. The Transistor: Mine Completely
- 8. Singers and Songwriters: Potty About Dylan
- 9. The Album: A Pair of Twenty-Minute Things
- 10. Punk Versus Disco: Who Needs Love?
- 11. Video: Moonwalkers
- 12. Hip-Hop: Beats Want to Be Free
- 13. Digitization: The Immaterial World
- Coda
- Notes
- Acknowledgments
- Index
- Also by David Hajdu
- A Note About the Author
- Newsletter Sign-up
- Contents
- Copyright