Kimberly Mack – författare

The Untold History of American Rock Criticism tells an alternate story of American rock criticism and journalism centering non-white and female writers with a mix of archival research and first-hand interviews.When most people envision an American rock music critic—particularly one from the early era: 1964-1980—they imagine someone white and male (and straight). And, certainly, the writers at the forefront of the new rock critical establishment were, at least initially, white men. But there were also Black, Indigenous, and other writers of color, as well as women from all backgrounds, writing for teen magazines, Black and brown newspapers, regional dailies and weeklies, and corporate rock publications. These writers contributed groundbreaking works to mainstream rock music magazines such as Rolling Stone, Creem, Hit Parader, and Trouser Press, as well as underground music magazines and zines such as Cheetah, Mojo-Navigator Rock and Roll News, Rock Scene, and Punk.The Untold History highlights groundbreaking writers such as Cynthia Dagnal-Myron, Carman Moore, Ellen Sander, Vernon Gibbs, and Jaan Uhelszki, who reflect on their own work, the outlets in which they published, and the rock scene in which they worked—giving important voices from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to speak, gathered together for the first time.

The Untold History of American Rock Criticism tells an alternate story of American rock criticism and journalism centering non-white and female writers with a mix of archival research and first-hand interviews.When most people envision an American rock music critic—particularly one from the early era: 1964-1980—they imagine someone white and male (and straight). And, certainly, the writers at the forefront of the new rock critical establishment were, at least initially, white men. But there were also Black, Indigenous, and other writers of color, as well as women from all backgrounds, writing for teen magazines, Black and brown newspapers, regional dailies and weeklies, and corporate rock publications. These writers contributed groundbreaking works to mainstream rock music magazines such as Rolling Stone, Creem, Hit Parader, and Trouser Press, as well as underground music magazines and zines such as Cheetah, Mojo-Navigator Rock and Roll News, Rock Scene, and Punk.The Untold History highlights groundbreaking writers such as Cynthia Dagnal-Myron, Carman Moore, Ellen Sander, Vernon Gibbs, and Jaan Uhelszki, who reflect on their own work, the outlets in which they published, and the rock scene in which they worked—giving important voices from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to speak, gathered together for the first time.

The iconic Black rock band Living Colour's Time's Up, released in 1990, was recorded in the aftermath of the spectacular critical and commercial success of their debut record Vivid. Time's Up is a musical and lyrical triumph, incorporating distinct forms and styles of music and featuring inspired collaborations with artists as varied as Little Richard, Queen Latifah, Maceo Parker, and Mick Jagger. The clash of sounds and styles don't immediately fit. The confrontational hardcore-thrash metal - complete with Glover's apocalyptic wail - in the title track is not a natural companion with Doug E. Fresh's human beat box on “Tag Team Partners,” but it's precisely this bold and brilliant collision that creates the barely-controlled chaos. And isn't rock & roll about chaos?Living Colour's sophomore effort holds great relevance in light of its forward-thinking politics and lyrical engagement with racism, classism, police brutality, and other social and political issues of great importance. Through interviews with members of Living Colour, and others involved in the making of Time's Up, Kimberly Mack explores the creation and reception of this artistically challenging album, while examining the legacy of this culturally important and groundbreaking American rock band.

The familiar story of Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, who sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads in exchange for guitar virtuosity, and the violent stereotypes evoked by legendary blues "bad men" like Stagger Lee undergird the persistent racial myths surrounding "authentic" blues expression. Fictional Blues unpacks the figure of the American blues performer, moving from early singers such as Ma Rainey and Big Mama Thornton to contemporary musicians such as Amy Winehouse, Rhiannon Giddens, and Jack White to reveal that blues makers have long used their songs, performances, interviews, and writings to invent personas that resist racial, social, economic, and gendered oppression.Using examples of fictional and real-life blues artists culled from popular music and literary works from writers such as Walter Mosley, Alice Walker, and Sherman Alexie, Kimberly Mack demonstrates that the stories blues musicians construct about their lives (however factually slippery) are inextricably linked to the "primary story" of the narrative blues tradition, in which autobiography fuels musicians' reclamation of power and agency.