Basic Books Music: A Subversive History

The book came with the front cover smeared with something via somebody's fingers and a back page torn and creased. Was looking forward to reading this and I will return it because it's not such a big deal. But just feels a bit undignified to receive a brand new book in such a condition.

I admit I didn’t finish the book! I surrendered about half way through. I am not a novice when it comes to reading works on musical history, having made it even through the Taruskin Volumes (!) However, this one was a challenge too pointless to face in toto. I just could not follow Gioia’s trains of thought. The book, or at least the half I read and the other half I just flew over, is written in such a vague style that any number of pages seem like a big, foggy blur with hardly any highlights worth remembering. In fact, I wouldn’t even know how to summarize any of the chapters. If you are looking for a historical overview of music, which you might think this book is, you are better off with one of the standard works of Grout, Forney, Burkholder and the like.

A sophomoric and poorly written tome without an editor. Exasperating. Like reading an endless clickbait article on music. Find a more learned source about music history, there are tons better out there.

I see a lot of complaining here about how this book is not a comprehensive History of All Music Ever Made, with lists of famous popular musicians and cultures that the author failed to mention (that are covered extensively and exhaustively in all other forms of musical history). That was neither the intent nor claim associated with this book. This book does get redundant, pedantic, snobby hippie, and wandering at times, but the intent was to show countless examples in history of how the outsiders, the overlooked, the inconvenient and unappreciated, the unknown and unpopular, the abused and neglected (prostitutes, beggars, itinerants, slaves, often the society of women in general) created over and over again the underlying soul and scaffolding of popular music, and were the leading waves of innovation, which was almost always hated, feared, censored, and mocked by the circles in power, only to be assimilated (stolen) by these same groups for fame or profit later (800 years ago, or 8 weeks ago). Mr. Gioia is correct and shows numerous examples to expose this predictable and shameful trend that affects most art and innovation, not just music. My only issues with the book were the times when the author tried to give pseudoscience and mysticism a level of respectability that they do not deserve, but an author certainly can and will let their personal feelings add tint to their own mosaic. His history of jazz book is superb even if you are not a jazz fan. I will read more Gioia, but I will wince every time that he dances with the butterflies, mushrooms, moons and fairies. Thanks for your patience. Be excellent to each other.

Setting aside the question of the quality of the information and the validity of the author's arguments about the role/evolution of music, this book is just way too long and repetitive. Had it been 100-200 pages I would either have given it a good review or not reviewed it at all. A slog at 500 pages.