From his love of accordions and Hawaiian print shirts to his popular puns and trademark dance moves, "Weird Al" Yankovic has made a career out of making us laugh.Funny music is often dismissed as light and irrelevant, but Yankovic’s fourteen successful studio albums prove there is more going on than comedic music's reputation suggests. In this book, for the first time, the parodies, original compositions, and polka medleys of the Weird Al universe finally receive their due respect....

From his love of accordions and Hawaiian print shirts to his popular puns and trademark dance moves, "Weird Al" Yankovic has made a career out of making us laugh.Funny music is often dismissed as light and irrelevant, but Yankovic’s fourteen successful studio albums prove there is more going on than comedic music's reputation suggests. In this book, for the first time, the parodies, original compositions, and polka medleys of the Weird Al universe finally receive their due respect....

A lively celebration and feminist reevaluation of Angela Lansbury's career, personal life, and myriad achievements in film, Broadway, and television-and how this icon can inspire us to live bigger and better.Pop culture writer Lily E. Hirsch weaves the history of the star's most memorable roles within each chapter while exploring her approach to life, including helping other people, trying new things, tuning out naysayers, judging with empathy, processing death, ag...

Take funny music seriously! Though often dismissed as silly or derivative, funny music, Lily E. Hirsch argues, is incredibly creative and dynamic, serving multiple aims from the celebratory to the rebellious, the entertaining to the mentally uplifting.Music can be a rich site for humor, with so many opportunities that are ripe for a comedic left turn. Taking Funny Music Seriously includes original interviews with some of the best musical humorists, such as Tom Lehrer, "the...

"This is a convincing call to action." Publishers WeeklyWords and labels can hurt us all. And for many female musicians, the wounds are everywhere.From stars like Britney Spears and Mariah Carey to classic icons like Yoko Ono, female musicians have long been the target of double standards and toxic labels in the media and pop culture: liar, crazy, snake, diva, slut, b*tch.These words hurt-the popular expressi...

Insulting Music explores insult in and around music and demonstrates that insult is a key dimension of Western musical experience and practice. There is insult in the music we hear, how we express our musical preferences, as well as our reactions to settings and sites of music and music making. More than that, when music and insult overlap, the effects can both promote social justice or undermine it, foster connection or break it apart. The coming together of music and insult shap...

Although the use of music for extramusical purposes has been a part of American culture for some time, the phenomenon remained largely unknown to the general public until revelations became widespread of startling military practices during the second Iraq War. In Music in American Crime Prevention and Punishment, Lily E. Hirsch explores the related terrain at the intersection of music and law, demonstrating the ways in which music has become a tool of law enforcement and justice t...