In 1956 many people thought rock `n' roll was a passing fad, yet over forty years later , more than ever, Popular Music is a part of contemporary culture, reinventing itself for successive generations. Pop embraces its own history, with musicians from every genre routinely sampling the sounds of the past. present.

Living Through Pop explores popular music's history, and the ways in which it has been produced by musicians, broadcasters, critics and fans. In discussing this complex relationship between the past and the present, the contributors investigate signficant moments in music's history, from the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground to the Sex Pistols and the Verve, from drum `n' bass to European extreme techno.