Bad As You Want to Be

What is bad music? Everyone has as much a personal definition of what they don’t like as what they do. Here come authors Christopher Washburne and Maiken Derno, whose book Bad Music addresses these distinctions. The neon orange cover promising discussions of "Kenny G, Abba, Rock Musicals and Country Trash” suggests this book will be a guilty pleasure, but Bad Music delivers far more. Each essay is a serious academic exercise on the heuristics people apply when classifying music as "bad.” Each contributor establishes that class, race, and perceptions of authenticity and otherness are all principal influences on the perceived worth of music.

No matter what you’re into, one of your cherished musical genres will get a thorough going-over, and you can’t help but apply the methodologies yourself, whether you agree with them or not.
David Dacks