ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book explores “how the record shapes the song” from a variety of diverse perspectives. It represents various specializations with the disciplines of popular music studies and recording technologies, including specialists in song lyrics, production practice, popular music history, cultural studies, sociology, feminism, and gender theory. The book provides thoughtful reflections on the multi-layered content that comprises a recorded track, including musical gestures and formal content, layers of musical and extra-musical meanings, as well as the multiple layers of recorded “tape” that are ultimately mixed and balanced (“bumped down”) to the final product. It examines the centrality of The Edge's guitar gestures and expressive effects in a contrapuntal relationship with Bono's passionate vocalizations, which demanded clarity of musical gesture in a vast musical space, whether live at the arena or effected through the recorded track.
