Ted Gioia has written extensively on music and is clearly well versed in delivering a theory and supporting it with extensive research.
This is an interesting take on music history that postulates music as a subversive element, challenging the status quo and involving violence and societal change, and not just recently, but from the beginning of civilization. Once the upheaval is over, these new musical trends become subsumed and made profitable by mainstream society. Furthermore, musical change/new musical expression/progress comes exclusively from those marginalized on the fringes of society.
That's a pretty big theory, and Mr. Gioia backs it up with a ton of research. Clearly an academician, his writing occasionally shifts from engaging to pedantic, but not too often. Most of the time the book is quite readable, and the historical episodes he uses to support his theories are interesting in and of themselves.
Like most academic research, data that doesn't support the hypothesis is mostly ignored, or explained away as somehow actually in line with the premise. Still, the book does a good job of digging deep into the subject and Gioia is a skilled writer and explainer of things.
It is not a holistic history of music, so you should not expect that. It is an alternative to the musical history told by those who have subsumed and monetized radical musical elements into the mainstream. As such it is a fascinating read, and quite unlike anything else on the topic.
Mr. Gioia has written quite a few interesting sounding books about music. If those other books are as good as this one, you might be reading his work for a while.
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