ABSTRACT

In order to pursue my musical interests I had to lead a double life: on the one hand going through the paces of an academic sociological career – doing respectable research on youth as a social phenomenon; on the other ringing the changes as a semi-professional rock writer, contributing my obstinate prejudices and enthusiasms to the thousands of words that accompany the release of every new rock record, the discovery of every new rock star …. (Frith, 1981b, p.4)