Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 The Origin of Music as a Force of Creative Destruction 9
2 Carnivores at the Philharmonic 21
3 In Search of a Universal Music 39
4 Music History as a Battle Between Magic and Mathematics 48
5 Bulls and Sex Toys 64
6 The Storyteller 76
7 The Invention of the Singer 91
8 The Shame of Music 102
9 Unmanly Music 114
10 The Devil's Songs 129
11 Oppression and Musical Innovation 151
12 Not All Wizards Carry Wands 165
13 The Invention of the Audience 177
14 Musicians Behaving Badly 194
15 The Origins of the Music Business 209
16 Culture Wars 222
17 Subversives in Wigs 240
18 You Say You Want a Revolution? 257
19 The Great Flip-Flop 281
20 The Aesthetics of Diaspora 302
21 Black Music and the Great American Lifestyle Crisis 322
22 Rebellion Goes Mainstream 334
23 Funky Butt 347
24 The Origins of Country Music in the Neolithic Era 368
25 Where Did Our Love Go? 382
26 The Sacrificial Ritual 399
27 Rappers and Technocrats 421
28 Welcome Our New Overlords 442
Epilogue: This Is Not a Manifesto 463
Acknowledgments 471
Notes 473
Index 488