Description: In this book, George Plasketes adapts the iconic 'A-side/B-side' dichotomy from the 45 r.p.m. for use as a unique conceptual, critical, historical and cultural framework for exploring and threading together a variety of popular music and media texts. The profiles and perspectives focus on the peripheries; on texts which might be considered 'B-sides'"overlooked, underappreciated and unsung cases, creators, patterns and productions that have unassumingly, but significantly, marked popular culture, music and media during the past 40 years. These B-sides represent undercurrents, but they resonate as overtones in the mainstream of music and culture, many as historical hinges. They constitute an important connect-the-dots cultural chronicle with a multi-layered context for interpreting the interrelations between creators and institutions, the music market place, the production of culture and important connections between the peripheral and the popular.
Review Quotes: 'This work fills a niche in the literature about popular music... The author is knowledgeable about the subject and writes with authority and eloquence... The subjects of the chapters illustrate the concept very well and the book is accessible to the lay reader. ... Recommended for general and special collections about popular and world music...' Notes '...Plasketes is a wonderful writer about pop music with a strong sense of color and the means to keep these various stories interesting and informative.' Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal