Introduction

Scholars often frame difference in terms that can seem abstract and impersonal, far removed from the complex play of rhythms, harmonies, beats, riffs, and rhymes that evoke powerful emotional responses in listeners. The necessary work of identifying hegemonic or resistive positions in three-minute pop songs—through discussions of patriarchy, colonialism, capitalism, whiteness, heterosexuality, and their respective others—can feel like overkill such analyses of difference are entirely appropriate given the immense cultural influence of popular music and its creators. Conscious representation of disability in popular music is relatively new, although disability itself has always been evident in pop performance—Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder come to mind, but also wheelchair-bound Connee Boswell, and countless stars whose struggles with depression threatened to ruin their careers. Bruce Springsteen’s autobiographical account of his lifelong battle with depression is a case in point, along with Lady Gaga’s public discussions of her painful fibromyalgia condition.