Synopses & Reviews
This passionate and provocative book tells the complete story of black music in the last fifty years, and in doing so outlines the perilous position of black culture within white American society. In a fast-paced narrative, Nelson George’s book chronicles the rise and fall of “race music” and its transformation into the R&B that eventually dominated the airwaves only to find itself diluted and submerged as crossover music.
Review
“George has uncovered a lot of fresh information, not just on the artists themselves, but on the booking agents, arrangers, and record men.” —
Newsweek
“[George’s] reading of history is not only interdisciplin- ary, it has a musical score.... His accounts of the colorful characters who populate this uncharted realm are often informative and...delightful.” —The Washington Post Book World
Synopsis
From Nelson George, supervising producer and writer of the hit Netflix series, "The Get Down," this passionate and provocative book tells the complete story of black music in the last fifty years, and in doing so outlines the perilous position of black culture within white American society. In a fast-paced narrative, Nelson George's book chronicles the rise and fall of "race music" and its transformation into the R&B that eventually dominated the airwaves only to find itself diluted and submerged as crossover music.
About the Author
Nelson George is the author of seven previous nonfiction books on African American culture and of four novels. Hip Hop America and The Death of Rhythm & Blues were both finalists for National Book Critics Circle Awards. He has written for national magazines, including Playboy, Billboard, Esquire, Spin, Essence, and the Village Voice.
Table of Contents
The Death Of Rhythm and Blues Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Meditation on the Meaning of "Death"
One
Philosophy, Money, and Music (1900-30)
Two
Dark Voices in the Night (1930-50)
Three
The New Negro (1950-65)
Four
Black Beauty, Black Confusion (1965-70)
Five
Redemption Songs in the Age of Corporations (1971-75)
Six
Crossover: The Death of Rhythm and Blues (1975-79)
Seven
Assimilation Triumphs, Retronuevo Rises (1980-87)
Epilogue
Notes
Index
Photographs follow pages 80 and 144