Abstract

This thesis examines criteria of valuation in regard to popular music. Rock press coverage of particular events within the domain of popular music in 1996 were examined in regard to criteria of valuation (specifically the Sex Pistols reunion and tour, the original lineup/Kabuki makeup reunion and tour of KISS, and the release of a new album and the headlining of the Lollapalooza tour by Metallica). It was seen that there were not only the expected authentic versus inauthentic considerations in regard to criteria of valuation, but a second sensibility that could be termed a "postmodern" one. Furthermore, this thesis shows a complexity in regard to the ways in which rock writers evaluate particular popular music events beyond both the criteria of valuation of authenticity and what may be referred to as a postmodern sensibility. In this thesis, the receptions of rock writers (working within the rock press) of these three events of 1996 have been examined in order to illuminate how criteria of valuation were espoused.