Books by Steve Waksman

Around 1930, a group of guitar designers in Southern California fitted instruments with an electromagnetic device called a pickup and forever changed the face of popular music. This is the first full account of the historical and cultural significance of the electric guitar.

Metal and punk enjoyed a charged, intimate relationship that informed both genres in terms of sound, image, and discourse. This book traces this connection back to the early 1970s, when metal first asserted its identity and punk arose independently.