Good Booty

I'll admit, it's the cover that caught my attention. I was wandering through my local library on a snowy Sunday morning, looking for a non-fiction book to round out my stack. I don't know exactly what I was looking for, but a bright pink cover snagged my attention. It helped, too, that the words GOOD BOOTY were written in huge letters on the side. I'd like to say I knew it was about music.

I'd be lying.

But, I was instantly intrigued to learn what the book was actually about. Written by an NPR music critic, Good Booty tells the story of sex and music and how the two are intertwined throughout American history. Yeah, I thought. I should check this out.

We've all had that moment - when you realize what that song is really about. For me, it was probably Madonna's Open Your Heart video. I was in about 4th grade and my best friend and I would try to recreate the video in her basement. Have you seen that video? Looking back, I'm sure our parents would have been horrified to see us work that backwards chair! But, it's a rite of passage in many ways, to realize the sexuality that music represents.

Ann Powers' book starts before the civil war on the streets of New Orleans. Slaves brought the music and movements of Africa to the city, mixing that with stiff American culture of the day. Over time, the cultures collided, often on the dance floor before it did in the rest of society. Powers describes how music evolved through the decades, from the sexual undertones of the Charleston to the free love movement of Haight-Ashbury in the 1960's. She brings it all the way up to Beyonce, with a long discussion about the influence of the Single Ladies on the music and videos that would follow.

It's hard to decipher when you read it which comes first, the cultural change or the music. Which is the chicken and which is the egg? Either way, you watch society evolve from buttoned up to free to closed off in the age of AIDS - and, to the autotune robot that defines pop princess Britney Spears.

This book reads like a text book. You could imagine it being assigned by a a professor in that cool college class you should have taken. You can envision listening to tracks and writing papers on their influence. But, academic as the framework is, it's still terribly fascinating, too. And, a good reminder that the best songs will move more than just your soul.