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Routledge Studies in Popular Music

About the Book Series

This series is our home for cutting-edge, upper-level scholarly studies and edited collections covering Popular Music. Considering music performance, theory, and culture alongside topics such as gender, race, celebrity, fandom, tourism, fashion, and technology, titles are characterized by dynamic interventions into established subjects and innovative studies on emerging topics.

12 Series Titles


The Places of Van Morrison’s Songwriting Venturing in the Slipstream

The Places of Van Morrison’s Songwriting: Venturing in the Slipstream

1st Edition

By Geoff Munns
August 26, 2024

What can we learn about Van Morrison’s life and work as a songwriter through his songs? This book looks closely at the lyrics and music from a selection of his songs. Some are very well-known - ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, ‘Cleaning Windows’ and ‘The Healing Game’. Others are less familiar. Through these ...

Peak Music Experiences A New Perspective on Popular music, Identity and Scenes

Peak Music Experiences: A New Perspective on Popular music, Identity and Scenes

1st Edition

By Ben Green
May 31, 2023

Peak music experiences are a recurring feature of popular music journalism, biography and fan culture, where they are often credited as pivotal in people’s relationships with music and in their lives more generally. Ben Green investigates the phenomenon from a social and cultural perspective, ...

Reading Smile History, Myth and American Identity in Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks’ Long-Lost Album

Reading Smile: History, Myth and American Identity in Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks’ Long-Lost Album

1st Edition

By Dale Carter
January 09, 2023

First conceived in 1966 but only completed in 2004, Brian Wilson Presents Smile has been called "the best-known unreleased album in pop music history" and "an American Sergeant Pepper." Reading Smile offers a close analysis of the recording in its social, cultural and historical contexts. It ...

Bruce Springsteen and Popular Music Rhetoric, Social Consciousness, and Contemporary Culture

Bruce Springsteen and Popular Music: Rhetoric, Social Consciousness, and Contemporary Culture

1st Edition

Edited By William I. Wolff
February 07, 2019

This interdisciplinary volume enters the scholarly conversation about Bruce Springsteen at the moment when he has reinforced his status of global superstar and achieved the status of social critic. Covering musical and cultural developments, chapters primarily consider work Springsteen has released...

Independent Music and Digital Technology in the Philippines

Independent Music and Digital Technology in the Philippines

1st Edition

By Monika E. Schoop
February 07, 2019

Since the turn of the century, the impact of digital technologies on the promotion, production and distribution of music in the Philippines has both enabled and necessitated an increase in independent musical practices. In the first in-depth investigation into the independent music scene in the ...

Hip-Hop Authenticity and the London Scene Living Out Authenticity in Popular Music

Hip-Hop Authenticity and the London Scene: Living Out Authenticity in Popular Music

1st Edition

By Laura Speers
February 04, 2019

This book explores the highly-valued, and often highly-charged, ideal of authenticity in hip-hop — what it is, why it is important, and how it affects the day-to-day life of rap artists. By analyzing the practices, identities, and struggles that shape the lives of rappers in the London scene, the ...

Queerness in Heavy Metal Music Metal Bent

Queerness in Heavy Metal Music: Metal Bent

1st Edition

By Amber R. Clifford-Napoleone
October 13, 2017

While the growing field of scholarship on heavy metal music and its subcultures has produced excellent work on the sounds, scenes, and histories of heavy metal around the world, few works have included a study of gender and sexuality. This cutting-edge volume focuses on queer fans, performers, and ...

Global Metal Music and Culture Current Directions in Metal Studies

Global Metal Music and Culture: Current Directions in Metal Studies

1st Edition

Edited By Andy Brown, Karl Spracklen, Keith Kahn-Harris, Niall Scott
June 30, 2017

This book defines the key ideas, scholarly debates, and research activities that have contributed to the formation of the international and interdisciplinary field of Metal Studies. Drawing on insights from a wide range of disciplines including popular music, cultural studies, sociology, ...

Globalization and Popular Music in South Korea Sounding Out K-Pop

Globalization and Popular Music in South Korea: Sounding Out K-Pop

1st Edition

By Michael Fuhr
June 07, 2017

This book offers an in-depth study of the globalization of contemporary South Korean idol pop music, or K-Pop, visiting K-Pop and its multiple intersections with political, economic, and cultural formations and transformations. It provides detailed insights into the transformative process in and ...

David Bowie Critical Perspectives

David Bowie: Critical Perspectives

1st Edition

Edited By Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane, Martin Power
December 20, 2016

David Bowie: Critical Perspectives examines in detail the many layers of one of the most intriguing and influential icons in popular culture. This interdisciplinary book brings together established and emerging scholars from a wide variety of backgrounds, including musicology, sociology, art ...

Lady Gaga and Popular Music Performing Gender, Fashion, and Culture

Lady Gaga and Popular Music: Performing Gender, Fashion, and Culture

1st Edition

Edited By Martin Iddon, Melanie Marshall
December 20, 2016

This book is a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary examination of the music and figure of Lady Gaga, combining approaches from scholars in cultural studies, art, fashion, and music. It represents one of the first scholarly volumes devoted to Lady Gaga, who has become, over a few short years, central ...

Popular Music Fandom Identities, Roles and Practices

Popular Music Fandom: Identities, Roles and Practices

1st Edition

Edited By Mark Duffett
July 16, 2015

This book explores popular music fandom from a cultural studies perspective that incorporates popular music studies, audience research, and media fandom. The essays draw together recent work on fandom in popular music studies and begin a dialogue with the wider field of media fan research, raising ...

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