Table of Contents

Author's Note and Acknowledgments; Prologue...I Want to Take You Higher; Introduction...Cleaning Windows: Restlessness, Records, and Transcendence; Section I...Mystics: Contemplatives, Sensualists, and Empaths; Chapter 1...Dwellers on the Threshold: Van Morrison, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and P.M. Dawn; Chapter 2...Sexual Healing, or Something Like Sanctified: Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Madonna, and PJ Harvey; Chapter 3...My Love I Bring: Sinead O'Connor, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Moby; Section II...Naysayers: Dystopians and "Idiots"; Chapter 4...The Great Wrong Place in Which We Live: Nine Inch Nails, Tricky, Joy Division, and New Order; Chapter 5...License to III: The Stooges, the Sex Pistols, PiL, and Eminem; Section III...Prophets: Voices of Uplift, Resistance, and Possibility; Chapter 6...Keep on Pushing: Curtis Mayfield, Johnny Cash, and U2; Chapter 7...Fight the Power: Spearhead, the Mekons, and Public Enemy; Chapter 8...Dance to the Music: Sly & the Family Stone, Bikini Kill, Liberation Rock, Sleater-Kinney, and Le Tigre; Epilogue...Hungry Heart Bruce Springsteen; Notes; Bibliography; Selected Discography; Index.

About the Author

Bill Friskics-Warren has written about popular music for the New York Times, Newsday, The Village Voice, The Washington Post, No Depression, The Oxford American and Rock & Rap Confidential, among other publications. He currently is music editor for the Nashville Scene and previously was a lecturer at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He also is the co-author of Heartaches by the Number, a well-received volume of critical essays about country music's 500 greatest singles that was published by Vanderbilt University Press and the Country Music Foundation Press in 2003.

Reviews

"'Though readers may not always agree with Friskics-Warren's conclusions, the depth of his song interpretations and his skilful use of historical context are admirable. The extremely current bibliography features citations for seminal religious figures and cultural critics of the past five decades in addition to the requisite music-related sources. Recommended for popular music collections and those addressing the tug of war between traditional and alternative spiritualities.' Library Journal, September 2005 'Considering how fractured popular music has become, it's a wonder to find a talented writer exploring how vastly different artists can share a romantic yearning for something more. In his well-received book I'll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence, Nashville Scene music editor Bill Friskics-Warren explores a spiritual bond that links U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' to Fontella Bass' Rescue Me' to Al Green's 'Tired of Being Alone.' Friskics-Warren's writing is equal to the music he covers, as it creates a fresh and attractive backdrop for each song it evokes.' Dallas Observer 'Friskics-Warren explores the transcendental music of recording artists throughout their careers and goes beyond the song texts to examine melodies, uses of rhythm, how songs are sung or rapped, and how arrangements amplify mystical, negative, or prophetic transcendence. His coverage is diverse... This is a book for those interested in humanist perspectives on music, notably those coming from philosophy and religious studies. Summing up: Recommended.' Choice, March 2006 'Friskics-Warren has written a definitive popular culture study for the new millennium...' Sojourners Magazine, March 2006"