Since their inception in the nineteenth century, anthologies of literature have distinguished writers, defined and evaluated genres, inspired readers, formed canons, and suggested literary histories. Such has been the case for anthologies of rock and popular music writing. From the first anthology of rock criticism, The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in 1976 to most recent, Shake It Up, anthologies of rock and popular music writing have attempted to determine not only what constitutes good writing, but also which styles, events, genres, and performers are worth writing about. Each of these anthologies has a distinctive scope or bias, and thereby tells its own story about rock criticism and rock ‘n’ roll music. My paper will explore the history, content, and meaning of the rock criticism anthology. Based on data that I will compile on the types of anthologies have been published, the performers, genres, and events that are most often covered, and the essays and writers that are most often anthologized, I will explore the manner in which both generally and specifically focused anthologies ascribe value, write histories, manage identity and difference, and canonize essays, writers, and performers. (This paper was proposed and accepted for presentation at this year’s PCA/ACA conference, but I was not able to attend, so this paper has not been previously presented).
About the presenterDennis Dominic McDaniel
I am a Professor of English at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. Though my primary scholarly area is British Renaissance Literature, I have published and presented on rock, punk rock, and rock journalism. For the past 20 years, I have taught a course on Rock ‘n’ Roll Criticism, in which students read Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Ellen Willis, Greg Tate, and others as literature.