Rock Counterculture and the Avant-Garde 1966-1970

<p> The convergence of rock music counterculture politics and avant-garde aesthetics in the late 1960s underscored the careers of the Beatles Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and the Velvet Underground.</p><p> This book examines these artists' relationships to the historical avant-garde (Artaud Brecht Dada) and neo-avant-garde (Warhol Pop Art minimalism) considering their work in light of debates about modernism versus postmodernism.</p><p> The author analyzes the performers' use of dissonance and noise within popular music the role of social commentary and controversial topics in songs and the experiments with concert and studio performance.</p><p> Albums discussed include <I>Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The White Album Freak Out! We're Only in It for the Money The Velvet Underground and Nico</I> and White Light/White Heat</I> as well as John Lennon's collaborations with Yoko Ono the Zappa-produced <I>Trout Mask Replica</I> by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band and Nico's <I>The Marble Index</I>.</p>