Book Review
May. 30th, 2023 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariGood Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music
by Ann Powers
This free-wheeling history of American popular music examines it through the lens of sex and sexuality. Focusing on rock and its offshoots, Powers looks at what the music and the musicians reflected and revealed about how Americans were having sex and expressing sexuality during each era, from pop music's beginnings in the 19th century through to the first two decades of the 21st century. She also examines how all of this interacts with race and, to a lesser extent, gender. I found her examinations of 1970s soft rock and disco especially interesting, as she illuminated aspects of their appeal and function that I had not considered. Powers strikes and ideal balance between popular and scholarly writing, approaching her subject matter with both rigor and fun, making Good Booty a really enjoyable read even while making me think.
by Ann Powers
This free-wheeling history of American popular music examines it through the lens of sex and sexuality. Focusing on rock and its offshoots, Powers looks at what the music and the musicians reflected and revealed about how Americans were having sex and expressing sexuality during each era, from pop music's beginnings in the 19th century through to the first two decades of the 21st century. She also examines how all of this interacts with race and, to a lesser extent, gender. I found her examinations of 1970s soft rock and disco especially interesting, as she illuminated aspects of their appeal and function that I had not considered. Powers strikes and ideal balance between popular and scholarly writing, approaching her subject matter with both rigor and fun, making Good Booty a really enjoyable read even while making me think.
