Pop Music, Media and Youth Cultures: From the Beat Revolution to the Bit Generation

In 2016, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the singer and songwriter Bob Dylan ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.’ This suggests how important pop music is in the contemporary society, and highlights how blurred are traditional boundaries across all forms of art. Pop music is strictly connected to mass media, mass culture, the youth universe, and its languages. Pop/rock music is the bearer of new trends, while getting influenced by social and cultural events. Rock reflects the world of youth, its rituals and legends, and it represents an important tool to socialize and get together. Popular culture is the turf where change happens. Starting from the main theories about the sociology of music, the aim of this book is to investigate social changes, youth cultures, media, and pop music. It is a journey from the Beat Revolution to the Bit Generation which is all about digital technologies and software culture.