Friday Reads: Major Labels

Our newly-minted Interim Library Director, Adam Pellman, has a Friday Reads for this last Friday before Fall Workshop! Today he tells us about his experience reading Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh.

I've been a casual music listener for most of my life, and my listening habits tended to be limited to classic rock or whatever happened to be on the radio in the car. It's only been over the past five years or so that I've made a conscious effort to expand my musical horizons, seeking out genres I had ignored in the past, and discovering new and old music by artists with whom I was previously unfamiliar. On the recommendation of a colleague, I even started a listening project using the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die album generator website, which randomly assigns an album each day for you to listen to, based on a list created by a panel of music critics. That's why this feels like the perfect time for me to read Sanneh's comprehensive and accessible book, which is essentially a history of American popular music since 1970. It's given me a lot of context to keep in mind as I listen to a new album from the list each day. Sanneh, a longtime music critic, draws heavily from contemporary criticism and journalism in music publications like Rolling Stone, Billboard, Source, and Creem, in addition to offering his own analysis and bits of autobiography, discussing, for example, how he fell in love with punk and hip-hop in his youth, or writing about his adoration of country music.

What I really love about this book is the way Sanneh dissects music culture, often drawing parallels between genres that might not seem obvious. As Sanneh writes, there's a sense of identity or culture associated with genres like punk and country, and terms like "rock 'n' roll" and "hip-hop" often evoke ideas of a certain lifestyle apart from the music itself. Musicians and fans embrace the distinctiveness of a particular genre and its cultural identity as part of its appeal, so when an artist or even a whole genre begins to have mainstream success or "crossover" appeal, that feeling of distinctiveness or specialness begins to fade. And yet, isn't greater success and broader appeal the goal of most musical artists? This tension is inherent in all of these genres, leading to constant evolution and the advent of new subgenres or strains like heavy metal, outlaw country, hardcore, trap, and house music. The book is a welcome reminder that music can be something we connect with on a deeply personal level, yet simultaneously something that can give us a real sense of community.