pConsidering the work of such artists as Madonna, George Clinton, U2, Elvis Costello, and Nirvana, the contributors deftly combine the rigors of scholarship with the energy of rock journalism to provide an analysis at once critical, contextualized, and enthusiastic. While a number of scholars have recently turned their attention to rock and pop music, most of their work has focused on providing sweeping cultural contexts for its popularity rather than exploring the music itself. Now, in iReading Rock and Roll, i Kevin Dettmar and William Richey have gathered a wealth of erudite, original, and clever writings that perform close readings of rock music--often with surprising results. pThe authors in this volume view rock and roll as having had affinities with postmodernism from its inception. With its mongrel pedigree--drawing on blues, folk, R and B, and bluegrass--and its relation to mass media and high-tech modes of production, rock music has been self-conscious and full of irony from