It is with a profound sense of loss that I have dedicated this book to
the late Rick Dutka. Ricky was one of my closest friends and a music-and-
politics soulmate of the highest order. As one of the organizers of the Sun
City project, an executive director of the New Music Seminar, and a vice
president at Island Records, Ricky was, for me, an invaluable connection
to the inner workings of the music business. But far more importantly, he
was a force for change within the industry who embraced -- indeed, set in
motion -- the kinds of cultural developments described in this book. I wish
he could be here to see it.

Naturally, much of the credit for a volume like this goes to the
contributing authors. They have contributed important new insights to a
growing body of knowledge and have been consistently helpful and
cooperative in the preparation of the manuscript. Together, we are part of
a larger international network of musicians, academics, journalists, and
other cultural workers who have taken on the task of analyzing the
significance of popular music and mass culture and particularly their role
in social change. This collection is a sampling -- hopefully, a representative
one -- of this work.

I was first approached by Todd Jailer to edit this collection for South
End Press. Given Todd's interest in music, I was looking forward to working
with him. But before we finalized a contract, Todd left for El Salvador,
where he continues to do valuable cultural work. He passed the baton to
Tanya Mckinnon who unfortunately left the Press before completion of the
manuscript. My main editorial help has come from Loie Hayes, who, in a
very short time, has offered a number of valuable suggestions. I wish I could
have availed myself of her assistance earlier in the project.

Because South End is a computerized operation, this project has also
introduced me to the wonderful world of desktop publishing -- a world in
which I am largely illiterate -- and to the joys of converting from IBM to Mac
and back again across multilingual keyboards which apparently send
different commands to the computer. The manuscript literally could not
have been completed without the magic of the computer wizards at the
University of Massachusetts at Boston. Paul Paquin from the UMass Com-
puter Center earned my eternal gratitude for retrieving the entire chapter
on East Germany from a disc which came up empty on the screen. I still
marvel at how he did that. Troubleshooting kudos also go to Paul O'Keefe
and Andreas Thanos from the College of Public and Community Service.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to Line Grenier for roping

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