Electric Shock

Starred review from October 15, 2017
Doggett has set himself the seemingly impossible task of summing up the development of popular music since the advent of the phonograph in 1877. He dexterously shows the evolution of pop music from ragtime to rock and hip hop; from Caruso to Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles, Tupac, and beyond; and from record to radio, television, iTunes, and YouTube. Advances in recording technology allowed the singer to usurp the attention from the band leader. Les Paul's experiments in overdubbing allowed producers to get innovative sounds, and electric guitars combined with amplification permitted each generation to create its own brand of rock. Swiftly covering the decades without ever feeling hurried, Doggett's sharp, concise analysis places each musical development into historical context. One constant is the massive influence African Americans (and the use of syncopation) have had on popular music and how each new innovation brought with it the inevitable pushback by parents and the press spreading fears of miscegenation. Doggett also challenges the myth that America was a musical desert before the British Invasion and defends Pat Boone, whom he sees as unfairly pilloried. This exhaustive work will be indispensable and go well alongside such books as Ed Ward's The History of Rock & Roll: Volume 1, 19201963 (2016) and Ann Powers' Good Booty (2017).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)