The music, image, performances, and cultural impact of some of the most enduring figures in popular music are explored in Rock Music Icons, giving the reader an inside look into the creativity of some of the most prominent rock stars of our time.

The music, performances, and cultural impact of some of the most enduring figures in popular music are explored in Rock Music Icons: Musical and Cultural Impacts. This collection investigates authenticity, identity, and the power of the voices and images of widely circulated and shared artists that have become the soundtrack of our lives.

Introduction: Recreating Elvis Presley

Robert McParland

Chapter 1. Made in Rockdown: Paul McCartney and McCartney III

Richard D. Driver

Chapter 2. Sometimes I Turn: Bob Dylan’s Enduring Iconoclasm

Keith Nainby and John Radosta

Chapter 3. Elton John and the Mondegreen Girls

Tanis MacDonald

Chapter 4. Reflections on/of Billy Joel

Joshua S. Duchan

Chapter 5. The Lion of Jamaica: Robert Nesta Marley OM as Icon

Eric Abbey

Chapter 6. Roger Waters and The Wall—Live in Berlin 1990: The Global Broadcast of a Historical Concert

Claudia Bucciferro

Chapter 7. How the 1980s Output of Bruce Springsteen and Morrissey Captured the Working-Class Experience in America and the UK

Anastasia Rose Hyden

Chapter 8. Loving the Alien(ated) Self: Theatricality, Artifice, and the Outsider Mythos of David Bowie

Douglas Rasmussen

Chapter 9. What It Feels Like for a Boy: Masculinity in Madonna’s Mid-career Music Videos

David R. Coon

Chapter 10. Killer Queen: Freddie Mercury’s Communicative Longevity

Julianna Kirschner

Chapter 11. Ozzy Osborne: Master of Multiple Realities

Candace Ursula Grissom

Chapter 12. Divine Comedy: The Humor and Creativity of Kurt Cobain

Cristian Stromblad

Chapter 13. Obey Your Masters: Metallica’s Journey to Icon Status

Paul M. Miller and Thomas R. Davis, Jr.

About the Contributors