A review by muninnherself
Electric Shock: From the Gramophone to the iPhone - 125 Years of Pop Music by Peter Doggett

5.0

I love reading about music, and this is a great overview of the history of popular music 'from the gramophone to the iPhone' (nice). The early stuff was probably the most interesting - I've read lots about music from the fifties on, so it was good to learn more about ragtime and swing etc. and think about what my great-grandparents might have listened/danced to.
When we get to the stuff I'm more familiar with it's not quite so thrilling, but that would be me, rather than the content. It's about popular music, of course, so as he says in the foreword 'it may not contain your favourite artists' but that's fine.

I love anything that reminds the reader that society and even 'the music press' (remember that? Ha) has always reacted with horror and revulsion to whatever the kids are into. Even though with hindsight it's impossible to imagine people being outraged by Frank Sinatra, they were.