Part 2: The American Wow

Chapter 5: Spectaglam!

The official video of Perry’s Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2015.

Thank God for YouTube. Here’s Guy Debord’s 1973 film The Society of the Spectacle, which accompanies the book, naturally. Very thorough notes on the YouTube page.

There are a lot of contemporary “remakes” of The Society of Spectacle on YouTube. This is one of the better ones.

Chapter 6: The New Digital Empire

Yes, thanks to the society of the spectacle, Taco Bell’s 2012 commercial for Doritos Locos featuring Passion Pit’s “Take a Walk” is still online and here for you right now:

In all fairness to the band, here’s the official video for “Take a Walk.”

Chapter 7: We Can Flux

Finding a high quality vid of this performance is tough, but this ain’t bad:

Here’s the official video for “Black Sweat” (2006). Again, not HD.

This is the entire interview with Chris Rock from a VH1 special in 1997.

A brief clip with Judith Butler talking about gender performativity.

Chapter 8: Kanye’s Night at the Museum

Yeezus. Play while looking through the images below.

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Nina Simone’s cover of “Strange Fruit,” from Pastel Blues (1965). This live performance recorded in NYC is the one sampled by West, though it’s pitched up.

Chapter 9: Power Up

There’s no good version of Monáe’s “Cold War” performance on the Grammys in 2011….

The official “Cold War” video:

Some Afrofuturism links. First, Ytasha Womack, “Afrofuturism: Imagination and Humanity,” which provides some overview.

Another overview, this one entirely animated:

A clip from a documentary on Black sci-fi featuring Octavia Butler and Samuel R. Delany:

Anonymity. The video for “You’ll Never See My Face in Kansas City” by Malefactors of Great Wealth, from a split single with The Black Swans, who perform a different song by the same name.

Sia performing “Elastic Heart” on SNL in 2015.

The fascinating video for Goodbye Tomorrow’s “JAY Z” (2015).

The interview with Goodbye Tomorrow quoted in the book, from November 2015.

As a way of transitioning to the final section of the book, here’s Theodor Adorno being pessimistic about political protest in popular music. Not sure when this was recorded, though it would have to be sometime between 1965 and his death in 1969.