Glitter Up the Dark : : How Pop Music Broke the Binary / / Sasha Geffen.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package 2020
• VerfasserIn: Geffen, Sasha,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: American Music Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)

From the Beatles to Prince to Perfume Genius, Glitter Up the Dark takes a historical look at the voices that transcended gender and the ways music has subverted the gender binary. Why has music so often served as an accomplice to transcendent expressions of gender? Why did the query "is he musical?" become code, in the twentieth century, for "is he gay?" Why is music so inherently queer? For Sasha Geffen, the answers lie, in part, in music's intrinsic quality of subliminal expression, which, through paradox and contradiction, allows rigid gender roles to fall away in a sensual and ambiguous exchange between performer and listener. Glitter Up the Dark traces the history of this gender fluidity in pop music from the early twentieth century to the present day. Starting with early blues and the Beatles and continuing with performers such as David Bowie, Prince, Missy Elliot, and Frank Ocean, Geffen explores how artists have used music, fashion, language, and technology to break out of the confines mandated by gender essentialism and establish the voice as the primary expression of gender transgression. From glam rock and punk to disco, techno, and hip-hop, music helped set the stage for today's conversations about trans rights and recognition of nonbinary and third-gender identities. Glitter Up the Dark takes a long look back at the path that led here.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION An Alternate Ribbon of Time -- 1 SCREAMING THE BEATLES The First Boy Band Breaks the Gender Mold -- 2 OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS The Glitter Revolution -- 3 WHINING IS GENDER NEUTRAL Punk's Adolescent Escapism -- 4 WRECKERS OF CIVILIZATION Post-punk, Goth, and Industrial -- 5 SOFT MACHINES Women, Cyborgs, and Electronic Music -- 6 NOT A WOMAN, NOT A MAN Prince's Sapphic Androgyny -- 7 THE FAKE MAKES I T REAL Synthpop and MTV -- 8 INFINITE UTOPIA Queer Time in Disco and House -- 9 FUNKY CYBORGS Time, Technology, and Gender in Hip-Hop -- 10 BUTCH THROATS Women's Music and Riot Grrrl -- 11 GOD IS GAY The Grunge Eruption -- 12 NO SHAPE The Formless Internet -- CODA Whole New World -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- NOTES -- INDEX