Explores the symptomatic reflections of canonical values, terms and mechanisms from the canons of literature and classical music in the reception of rock music. This book examines the concept of the canon as theorized by scholars in the fields of literary criticism and musicology.

The canon is usually considered to be an inherently elitist concept. However, Carys Wyn Jones here explores the symptomatic reflections of canonical values, terms and mechanisms from the canons of literature and classical music in the reception of rock music. She concludes that in the popular reception of rock music we are not only trying to organize the past, but also mediate the present, and any canon of rock music must now negotiate a far more pluralized culture, and possibly accept a greater degree of change than has been evident in the canons of literature and classical music in the last two centuries.

'... the role of canons within popular music is certainly worth exploring further and this book surely provides some incentives'. International Association for the Study of Popular Music 'Carys Wyn Jones succeeds in bringing debates over a rock canon and its making into popular music studies. Insofar as canon formation remains an understudied and undertheorised issue within the field, this is a welcome addition.' Popular Music 'The Rock Canon should prove useful both for courses limited to popular music, and for courses in musicology that aim to take a broad or long view; it is also a subject of intrinsic and general interest.' Music and Letters