Written against the academically dominant but simplistic romanticization of popular music as a positive force, this book focuses on the 'dark side' of the subject. It is a pioneering examination of the ways in which popular music has been deployed in association with violence, ranging from what appears to be an incidental relationship, to one in which music is explicitly applied as an instrument of violence. A preliminary overview of the physiological and cognitive foundations of soundinghearing which are distinctive within the sensorium, discloses in particular their potential for organic and psychic violence. The study then elaborates working definitions of key terms including the vexed idea of the 'popular' for the purposes of this investigation, and provides a historical survey of examples of the nexus between music and violence, from preBiblical times to the late nineteenth century. The second half of the book concentrates on the modern era, marked in this case by the emergence of