Popgeschichte, vol. 1: Konzepte und Methoden
Popgeschichte, vol. 2: Zeithistorische Fallstudien 1958–1988

Extract

This two-volume methodological and empirical study of the contours of popular music opens with a simple question: ‘Does pop history need theory?’ ( Braucht Popgeschichte Theorie? , vol. 1, p. 7). Such a question implies that the weight of critical analysis concerning a subject needs clarification and ordering so as to stave off fragmentation, and that a set of new research agendas for the topic at hand is necessary. As the editors correctly note, contemporary pop history, while widespread, has generally not been the preserve of professional scholars but rather a vast resource tapped into by journalists, exhibition curators, oldies programmers on radio and television, and so forth. While such amateur usages of pop history are welcome, since the past is not the preserve of specialists, nonetheless, debates over pop—so argue the editors—can be profitably enhanced by the competence of scholars who can shed light on historical processes, as a number of recent studies have illustrated. Thus the aim of these volumes, which began as a 2011 conference in Berlin, is to present readers with not only an overview of the state of the field that highlights a variety of thematic concerns, but also a series of case studies to show how pop might be integrated into larger questions concerning contemporary history, for it is essential to understanding the postwar era: as the editors boldly claim, ‘without pop, no contemporary history’ (vol. 1, p. 14).