The Politics of Post-9/11 Music: Sound, Trauma, and the Music Industry in the Time of Terror

Seeking to extend discussions of 9/11 music beyond the acts typically associated with the September 11th attacks"U2, Toby Keith, The Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen"this collection interrogates the politics of a variety of post-9/11 music scenes. Contributors add an aural dimension to what has been a visual conceptualization of this important moment in US history by articulating the role that lesser-known contemporary musicians have played"or have refused to play"in constructing a politics of protest in direct response to the trauma inflicted that day. Encouraging new conceptualizations of what constitutes 'political music,' The Politics of Post-9/11 Music covers topics as diverse as the rise of Internet music distribution, Christian punk rock, rap music in the Obama era, and nostalgia for 1960s political activism.

Contents: Foreword; Introduction - greet death: post-9/11 music and the sound of decay, Joseph P. Fisher and Brian Flota; Part I Electric Dreams: The Medium and the Message: Rock, enroll: music and militarization since 9/11, Samuel Dwinell; Music, terrorism, response: the conditioning logic of code and networks, Benjamin J. Robertson; Technostalgia and the resurgence of cassette culture, Craig Eley. Part II Hail to the Thief: Post-9/11 Experimental Music: Why protest albums can't teach dissent: the emergent complexity of post-9/11 protest, Conrad Amenta; On a maddening loop: post-9/11 rubble music, Isaac Vayo; Terrorism and the politics of improvisation, Rob Wallace; Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero and the biopolitics of media convergence, Katheryn Wright. Part III What's Going On, Again?: Protest and Nostalgia: Casualties of war: Hip Hop and the old racial politics of the post-9/11 era, Aisha Staggers; That was now, this is then: recycling 60s style in post-9/11 music, Jeffrey Roessner; A new morning in Amerika: conservative politics and punk rock in the 2000s, Matthew Siblo; 'Agony and irony': indie culture's sardonic response to America's post-9/11 devolution, S. Todd Atchison. Part IV Idle American, American Idol: Mainstream Media and Ideology: Post-Dixie Chicks country: Carrie Underwood and the negotiation of feminist country identity, Molly Brost; Walking the great line: Underoath and Christian fundamentalism in punk rock after 9/11, Gerrit Roessler; War is heavy metal: soundtracking the US war in Iraq, Steve Waksman; Index.