Around 1930, a group of guitar designers in southern California fitted instruments with an electromagnetic device called a pickup - and forever changed the face of popular music. taken up by musicians as diverse as Les Paul, Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, and the MC5, the electric guitar would become not just a conduit of electrifying new sounds but also a symbol of energy, innovation, and desire in the music of the day. This volume is the first full account of the historical and cultural significance of the electric guitar, a wide-ranging exploration of how and why the instrument has had such...

This lively and entertaining revisionist history of rock music after 1970 reconsiders the roles of two genres, heavy metal and punk. Instead of considering metal and punk as aesthetically opposed to each other, Steve Waksman breaks new ground by showing that a profound connection exists between them. Metal and punk enjoyed a charged, intimate relationship that informed both genres in terms of sound, image, and discourse. This Ain't the Summer of Love traces this connection back to the early 1970s, when metal first asserted its identity and punk arose independently as an ideal about...