From my new column in Taki’s Magazine:
Ali G: [Explaining his business idea] What is the most popular thing in the world?
Donald Trump: [Ponders the question, then decisively finds the right answer] Music.
G: [Stumped, after a pause] No.
Trump: [Bored] Tell me.
G: Ice cream!
Trump: Okay…
Because music may well be the most popular thing in the world, I’m going to review two fine new books on music: Let’s Do It: The Birth of Pop Music: A History by Bob Stanley, a prequel to his well-regarded 2013 history of the rock era Yeah Yeah Yeah, and This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers, a popular science work about popular music.
Both writers are themselves old music pros. Stanley had a few hits in the 1990s with his cultivated dance band Saint Etienne, while Rogers was the recording engineer on Prince’s world-conquering album Purple Rain.
And both really love music and know a vast amount about it.
Both books are written in the 21st-century manner in which old-fashioned snide rock-music criticism has been displaced by poptimism, in which if you can’t say something nice about popular favorites, don’t say anything at all.In his history of American and British pre-rock pop music, Stanley finds something good to say about almost every major figure, although blackface star Al Jolson is a challenge…
