Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock
It's been almost 30 years since Paul Williams's mimeographed Crawdaddy! proffered the first serious criticism written for and by the fans of the most significant sensation of our century?rock and roll. In the following decades, such critics as Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Nick Tosches and Dave Marsh affirmed the values of this music without ever defining an aesthetic. Perhaps because of the lack of a focused opposition, intellectuals continued to ignore the issue of whether any genuine aesthetic existed, fueling the argument that this racket might be popular but that doesn't make it art. Gracyk seems to have taken care of that. Rhythm and Noise does no less than construct a definitive aesthetic from the ground up. Gracyk's generous use of example and intelligible definition demystifies the music's allure and therefore justifies artistic value as no other work has really done. But Gracyk doesn't stop there. He also makes quick work of wrong-headed supporters who jeopardize the music's character. Camille Paglia earns a kind reminder that rock and roll is a little more than a lyric sheet and some primitive bad-boy posing. Rather than obscure important points in pseudo-intellectual patois, Gracyk takes on heavies like Allan Bloom and Theodor W. Adorno in plainspoken arguments destined to change the future of rock and roll, if not the deaf appraisals that continue to surround it. What's taken so long is anyone's guess.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.