Books by David (University of British Columbia Metzer

The first book to explore the history of the ballad in recent American music and the genre's role in American emotional life. Covering stylistic changes over several decades and major performers associated with ballads, this book will appeal to scholars and other interested readers.

In this book, David Metzer provides intriguing perspectives on both developments in music from 1980 onwards and the larger history of modernism, showing how modernist idioms remain vital in the contemporary scene. The study investigates what makes the decades after 1980 a distinct period in the history of modernism.

Throughout the twentieth century, musicians frequently incorporated bits of other works into their own compositions and performances. This book explores the practice, examining how musicians used quotation to participate in the cultural dialogues sustained around such areas as race, childhood, madness and the mass media.