Popular Music on Screen: From Hollywood Musical to Music Video »

John Mundy is Head of the Department of Media and Performing Arts, University College, Warrington.

Popular Music on Screen examines the relationship between popular music and the screen, from the origins of the Hollywood musical to contemporary developments in music television and video. Through detailed examination of films, television programs and popular music, together with analysis of the economic, technological and cultural determinants of their production and consumption, the book argues that popular music has been increasingly influenced by its visual economy. Though engaging with the debates that surround postmodernism, the book suggests that what most characterizes the relationship between popular music and the screen is a strong sense of continuity, expressed through institutional structures, representational strategies and the ideology of "entertainment."

Booknews

By looking at the historical development of the relationship between popular music and moving image culture, Mundy (music, U. College Warrington) examines some developments in how the music has been mediated commercially, ideologically, and aesthetically through the screen media during the 20th century. He analyzes individual texts, explores their ideological determinants and effects, emphasizes the importance of economics in both production and consumption, points out the importance of technology, and examines the pleasures that audiences experience. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)