The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Research

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Researchis the first comprehensive academic survey of the field of rock music as it stands today. More than 50 years into its life and we still ask - what is rock music, why is it studied, and how does it work, both as music and as cultural activity? This volume draws together 37 of the leading academics working on rock to provide answers to these questions and many more. The text is divided into four major sections: practice of rock (analysis, performance, and recording); theories; business of rock; and social and culture issues. Each chapter combines two approaches, providing a summary of current knowledge of the area concerned as well as the consequences of that research and suggesting profitable subsequent directions to take. This text investigates and presents the field at a level of depth worthy of something which has had such a pervasive influence on the lives of millions.

Allan Moore is Professor Emeritus of Popular Music and and former Head of the Department of Music and Sound Recording at the University of Surrey, UK. He is series editor of the Ashgate Library of Essays in Popular Music, and author and editor of several books including Analyzing Popular Music (2009), Rock: The Primary Text, Third Edition (2018) and Jethro Tull’s Aqualung (2004, part of Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series).

Paul Carr is Professor in Popular Music Analysis at the University of South Wales, UK. His research interests focus on the areas of musicology, widening access, the live music industry and pedagogical frameworks for music related education. He is also an experienced performing musician, having toured and recorded with artists as diverse as The James Taylor Quartet and ex Miles Davis saxophonist Bob Berg. He is the editor of Frank Zappa and the And (2013) and author of Sting (2017).