ABSTRACT

Experiencing disco, hip hop, house, techno, drum 'n' bass and garage, Discographies plots a course through the transatlantic dance scene of the last last twenty-five years. It discusses the problems posed by contemporary dance culture of both academic and cultural study and finds these origins in the history of opposition to music as a source of sensory pleasure.
Discussing such issues as technology, club space. drugs, the musical body, gender, sexuality and pleasure, Discographies explores the ecstatic experiences at the heart of contemporary dance culture. It suggests why politicians and agencies as diverse as the independent music press and public broadcasting should be so hostile to this cultural phenomenon.

chapter 1|37 pages

The Tribal Rites Of Saturday Night

Discos and intellectuals

chapter 2|16 pages

Music, Meaning And Pleasure

From Plato to disco

chapter 3|29 pages

The Metaphysics Of Music

chapter 4|27 pages

Take Your Partner By The Hand

Dance music, gender and sexuality

chapter 5|36 pages

Metal Machine Musics

Technology, subjectivity and reception

chapter 6|12 pages

No Music, No Dancing

Capitalist modernity and the legacy of Puritanism