Noisy Island: A Critical History of Irish Rock Music

Examines the history, performance, and practice of Irish Rock Music from the 1960s to the present. Using theoretical perspectives drawn from Irish cultural criticism and Rock Music Studies the author shows how Irish rock music has engaged with issues of national identity at every level, from music to performance to distribution. Contemporary Irish popular music represents a set of enormously successful cultural and economic practices. Much in the same way that Irish literature was felt to have produced an inordinate number of geniuses throughout the last century, so the island seems capable of producing an endless supply of successful pop and rock acts. At the top of the pyramid are U2 who have sold in excess of 100 million albums.This book attempts to consider the "Irishness" of "Irish popular music." Such an analysis encompasses many complex issues concerning national identity, globalization, and cultural nationalism.