Music explores the deepest experiences of the human condition – love, violence, religion, hedonism, protest and politics. This book takes common themes in popular music and analyses them through a harms-based critical criminology of music, while staying focused on its aesthetic and sensory elements.

It analyses the sexism, homophobia and heteronormative bias of the music industry, considering its harms and dangers to the people working within it. It also examines the influences of drugs and alcohol – on both musicians and fans. Taking in music from across the globe, the book considers its role in bringing hope, whether on a personal or political level worldwide.

"Criminology is getting a jolt of what it needs in this fine example of scholarship from Eleanor Peters. Music is ubiquitous and its relationship to crime is diverse and profound. From a tool of resistance to a way people bond, music - which is organized sound - animates social life, including crime. Peters truly breaks new ground in exploring a criminally understudied relationship." David Kauzlarich, University of North Carolina Greensboro

Eleanor Peters is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Edge Hill University. She graduated from the City of Birmingham University with BA (Hons) in Sociology and has a PhD from the University of Bristol. She is the author of The use and abuse of music: Criminal Records (Emerald) and the editor of Music in Crime, Resistance, and Identity (Routledge).

1.Introduction

2.Sex and Love

3.Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyles

4.Violence and Death

5.Hedonism, Harms and Burnout

6.Politics and Protest

7.Faith, Hope and Charity

8.The End is the Beginning is the End: Conclusion

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