Back to results
Cover image for book Bad Music

Bad Music

The Music We Love to Hate
By:Christopher J. Washburne
Publisher:Taylor & Francis
Print ISBN:9780415943659
eText ISBN:9781135946838
Edition:1
Copyright:2004
Format:Reflowable

eBook Features

Instant Access

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Offline

Access your eTextbook anytime and anywhere

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Why are some popular musical forms and performers universally reviled by critics and ignored by scholars-despite enjoying large-scale popularity?  How has the notion of what makes "good" or "bad" music changed over the years-and what does this tell us about the writers who have assigned these tags to different musical genres?  Many composers that are today part of the classical "canon" were greeted initially by bad reviews.  Similarly, jazz, country, and pop musics were all once rejected as "bad" by the academy that now has courses on these and many other types of music. This book addresses why this is so through a series of essays on different musical forms and performers. It looks at alternate ways of judging musical performance beyond the critical/academic nexus, and suggests new paths to follow in understanding what makes some music "popular" even if it is judged to be "bad." For anyone who has ever secretly enjoyed ABBA, Kenny G, or disco, Bad Music will be a guilty pleasure!

• 2026 © SAU Tech Bookstore. All Rights Reserved.