Rock, Counterculture and the Avant-Garde, 1966-1970: How the Beatles, Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground Defined an Era

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The convergence of rock music, counterculture politics and avant-garde aesthetics in the late 1960s underscored the careers of the Beatles, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and the Velvet Underground. This book examines these artists’ relationship to the historical avant-garde (Artaud, Brecht, Dada) and the neo-avant-garde (Warhol, Pop Art, minimalism), considering their work in light of debates about modernism versus postmodernism. The author analyzes how the performers used dissonance and noise within the framework of popular music, the role of social commentary and exploration of controversial topics in songs, and how experiments with concert and studio performance proceeded in an era of intense cultural and political unrest. Albums discussed include Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, Freak Out!, We’re Only in It for the Money, The Velvet Underground and Nico and White Light/White Heat, as well as John Lennon’s collaborations with Yoko Ono, the Zappa-produced Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, and Nico’s The Marble Index.