You Better Work! : Underground Dance Music in New York / Kai Fikentscher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fikentscher, Kai, author.

Series:

Music/culture.

Music / Culture Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Music and dance.

New York (State)--New York.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (177 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Middletown, CT : Wesleyan University Press, [2000]

Summary:

"You Better Work!" is the first detailed study of underground dance music or UDM, a phenomenon that has its roots in the overlap and cross-fertilization of African American and gay cultural sensibilities that have occurred since the 1970s. UDM not only predates and includes disco, but also constitutes a unique performance practice in the history of American social dance. Taking New York City as its geographic focus, "You Better Work!" shows how UDM functions in the lives of its DJs and dancers, and how it is used as the primary identifier of an urban subculture shaped essentially by the relationships between music, dance, and marginality. Kai Fikentscher goes beyond stereotypical images of club and disco to explore the cult and culture of the DJ, the turntable and vinyl recordings as musical instruments, and the vital relationship between music and dance at underground clubs. Including interviews, photographs, and an extensive discography, this ethnographic account tells the story of a celebration of collective marginality through music and dance.

Contents:

Introduction

Disco : the premise for underground dance music

The cult and culture of the DJ

The dancers : working (it) out

Underground dancing : autonomy and interdependence in music and dance

The underground as cultural context : the marginality of ethnic and sexual minorities

Outlook : underground dance music beyond the 1990s.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780819501394

0819501395

OCLC:

1405903704

Publisher Number:

heb40275 hdl