Staff Pick
A fascinating look at the connections between music and history, filled with lists, personal anecdotes, and a wide-ranging collection of music. Questlove chooses one song for each year and then comments on his choice. His encyclopedic knowledge of musical history makes this a fun and informative read. Recommended By Mary Jo S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Bestselling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove offers a thrilling, music-driven ride through the last fifty years of American history.
In Music Is History, bestselling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and his deep curiosity about history to examine America over the past fifty years. Choosing one essential track from each year, Questlove unpacks each song's significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.
Music Is History focuses on the years 1971 to the present, not only the country's most complex and rewarding half-century when it comes to the ways that pop culture and culturally diverse history intersect and interact, but also the years that overlap with Questlove's own life. Music Is History moves fluidly from the personal to the political, examining events closely and critically, to unpeel and uncover previously unseen dimensions, and encouraging readers to do the same. Whether he is exploring how Black identity reshaped itself during the blaxploitation era, analyzing the assembly-line nature of disco and its hostility to Black genius, or remembering his own youth as a pop fan and what it taught him about America, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapestry.
Complete with playlists organized around personal, playful themes that touch on everything from the relationship of hip-hop to music's past to the secret ingredient in all funk songs, Music Is History is filled with and informed by Questlove's preferences, perspectives, and particularities. It feels like both a popular history of contemporary America and a conversation with one of music's most influential and unique voices.
Review
"This stimulating work is sure to attract deep thinkers and music theorists everywhere." Publishers Weekly
Review
"This inspired volume continues Questlove's thoughtful and thought-provoking work and is an enduring analysis of the effects of music on personal, political, and cultural histories." Library Journal
Review
"A palimpsestic, personal, and resonant journey with a living musical encyclopedia." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Drummer, DJ, producer, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and member of The Roots Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is the unmistakable heartbeat of Philadelphia's most influential hip-hop group. He is the musical director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where his beloved Roots crew serves as house band. Beyond that, this five-time Grammy Award-winning musician's indisputable reputation has landed him musical-directing positions with everyone from D'Angelo to Eminem to Jay-Z. Questlove has also released multiple books, including the New York Times bestsellers Mo' Meta Blues and Creative Quest, the Grammy-nominated audiobook Creative Quest, Soul Train: The Music, Dance and Style of a Generation, James Beard Award-nominated somethingtofoodabout, and, most recently, Mixtape Potluck Cookbook.