Dark Side of the Tune

This book focuses on the 'dark side' of popular music by examining the ways in which popular music has been deployed in association with violence. Cloonan and Johnson address the physiological and cognitive foundations of sounding/hearing and provide a historical survey of examples of the nexus between music and violence, from (pre)Biblical times to the late nineteenth century. The book also concentrates on the emergence of technologies by which music can be electronically augmented, generated, and disseminated. The authors investigate the implications of this nexus both for popular music studies itself, and also in cultural policy and regulation, the ethics of citizenship, and arguments about human rights.

Martin Cloonan

Contents: Introduction: musical violence and popular music studies, Bruce Johnson and Martin Cloonan; Context: the sound of music, Bruce Johnson; Music and violence in history, Bruce Johnson; Technologized sonority, Bruce Johnson; Music accompanying violence, Bruce Johnson and Martin Cloonan; Music and incitement to violence, Bruce Johnson and Martin Cloonan; Music and arousal to violence, Bruce Johnson and Martin Cloonan; Music as violence, Bruce Johnson and Martin Cloonan; Policy, Bruce Johnson and Martin Cloonan; Select bibliography; Index.