Critiquing avant-garde rock bands from the 1960s to the present, Bill
Martin examines how social upheaval gave rise to this new form of
musical expression. He covers early experimentation by artists such as
James Brown; initiation into the mainstream and the resulting
adaptations by the Beatles and the Who; and continues into the present
looking at how groups like Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Jim O'Rourke, and
others continue to innovate. An annotated discography is included.