Bad Music

<p>Why are some popular musical forms and performers universally reviled by critics and ignored by scholars-despite enjoying large-scale popularity? How has the notion of what makes good or bad music changed over the years-and what does this tell us about the writers who have assigned these tags to different musical genres? Many composers that are today part of the classical canon were greeted initially by bad reviews. Similarly jazz country and pop musics were all once rejected as bad by the academy that now has courses on these and many other types of music. This book addresses why this is so through a series of essays on different musical forms and performers. It looks at alternate ways of judging musical performance beyond the critical/academic nexus and suggests new paths to follow in understanding what makes some music popular even if it is judged to be bad. For anyone who has ever secretly enjoyed ABBA Kenny G or disco Bad Music will be a guilty pleasure!</p>