Pop When the World Falls Apart ─ Music in the Shadow of Doubt

Drawn from presentations at the EMP Pop Conference, hailed by Robert Christgau as "the best thing that's ever happened to serious consideration of pop music," the essays in this collection encompass inquiries into the sonic dimension of the war in Iraq, the cultural life of jazz in post-Katrina New Orleans, Isaac Hayes's appropriation of the country song "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" as a symbol of black nationalism, and punk-rock pranks played on record execs looking for the next big thing in central Virginia. Offering a diverse range of perspectives and approaches, Pop When the World Falls Apart mirrors the eclecticism of pop itself.

Contributors. Larry Blumenfeld , Austin Bunn, Nate Chinen, J. Martin Daughtry, Brian Goedde, Michelle Habell-Pallan, Jonathan Lethem, Eric Lott, Kembrew McLeod, Elena Passarello, Diane Pecknold, David Ritz, Carlo Rotella, Scott Seward, Tom Smucker, Greg Tate, Karen Tongson, Alexandra T. Vazquez, Oliver Wang, Eric Weisbard, Carl Wilson

Eric Weisbard is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Alabama. His previous books include, as editor, Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music, also published by Duke University Press.