Theodore Gracyk ~ Books Published

Above:
Rhythm and Noise:
An Aesthetics
of Rock

Duke University Press
1996

"A provocative and illuminating study of the aesthetics of rock."
SALON Sneak Peeks

"the most perceptive
and engaging treatise on rock yet written."
American Music

"This is a seminal study on recorded music."
Popular Music and Society

"A formidable start toward reframing the study of rock in a way that does the music and its listeners more justice."
Independent Weekly's Rock and Roll Quarterly

"A significant contribution
both to philosophy of music and to aesthetics more generally."
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

"Includes a solidly argued chapter on Adorno."
Richard Leppert

Rhythm and Noise is cited as a reference by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Above:

Korean translation of Rhythm and Noise, 2002

“Gracyk addresses a difficult and too-long-overlooked subject—that is, defining a comprehensible rock aesthetic—with consistent intelligence, depth, and insight. His knowledge of aesthetics, musicology, and the history of rock & roll is up to the ambitious task he sets himself.”
—Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor, Rolling Stone, and author of Rocking My Life Away

Read a profile in the
MSUM Student Newspaper

Above:
I Wanna Be Me:
Rock Music and the
Politics of Identity

Temple University Press
2001

Co-Winner of
the 2002 Woody Guthrie Award (IASPM/US Book Award)
Read about it

To read an excerpt from the book, click here or here

"With his knowledgeable and well-presented arguments, he challenges readers to reconsider the stereotypes that many modern titans of cultural studies have slapped on rock music. . . . Outstanding."
Library Journal

"a rich, rewarding, and important work"
The British Journal of Aesthetics, 2003

"for musicians or those with an interest in the history and development of rock music, I can recommend Gracyk's book as a sometimes insightful, sometimes provocative, and always engaging read."
Contemporary Sociology, 2003

"interesting" Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies [link]