The editors in their introduction are explicit on wanting to challenge the dominant views on the intersection of rock music and politics. In contrast to the attention to rock in general as a symptom of power structures in society, this book is about explicitly political rock, not ‘mindless party music’ (p. xxi). They argue for political rock as a distinct subgenre within rock music and offer this collection of studies as a starter for further studies and scholarly interchange. The defining characteristics of this genre is in their view artist-oriented: the introduction starts with naming Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against the Machine and Rise Against, and in their discussion of this genre concept they speak of artists being mentioned by political activists, their fans blogging about political issues, writing politically charged lyrics, speaking up in public and supporting political movements (p. xiv). The included chapters all deal with one artist each – except for Mark Andersen's chapter that connects Fugazi to The Clash, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, Bruce Cockburn, Billy Bragg, Sinéad O'Connor, Steve Earle, Kim Gordon, Ani DiFranco, Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine all are given one chapter. The editors are aware of the racial bias as well as the Anglophone dominance, something they relate to the general state of rock – as a subgenre to rock, political rock will carry on the general power structures although at the same time providing a field for discussing, negotiating and changing them. The relations of rock to reggae and hip-hop, genres with a much more clearly political aura, are also mentioned but a deeper discussion would certainly require a more thorough deconstruction of rock music's hegemonic position in popular music and thus go beyond the scope of this book.

Although the introduction makes a strong statement for explicitly political rock, and also provides a history beginning in the mid-1960s, the individual studies give more nuanced and complex pictures of the interplay between musicians, their music, their audience and the contexts they are situated within – both the general contemporary political situations and the political economy of music. The focus is on political rock musicians rather than on rock per se; the artists are followed through their careers, with focus on how they position themselves/have been positioned as politically aware and active. Quite a few of the examples speak of how the artists gain a political trustworthiness not only through their songs and outspokenness off-performance, but also through their efforts to not give in to commercial pressures, including starting their own record companies in order to stay in control of their music, or as with Pearl Jam, taking Ticketmaster to court in order to keep ticket prices down.

Although the focus is on rock music, quite a few of the musicians examined here struggled with genre borders and definitions. Bob Dylan and Ani DiFranco both represent the situation of having to relate to folk as well as rock scenes. Peter Gabriel as an artist is situated within rock but has devoted much work to bringing other music genres into the limelight. Again, the problem of being situated within a commercialised structure demands a critical awareness, and pushing genre limits can be one way to communicate this.

The authors have in common not only their academic positions, but also their fandom of the artists they write about. So it is not just the artists taking political stances that justifies their inclusion, but also their ability to move people. An interesting perspective is given by Marcy Chvasta, who struggles in her fan relation to Sinead O'Connor. The problem of seeing someone you admire much making wrong decisions, taking incomprehensible stances, changing views and changing again is here illuminated from an engaged standpoint. Chvasta also brings in from performance studies an interesting methodological tool, David Graver's typology of ‘constitutive bodies’. Graver proposes seven aspects of an actor's body: as characters, performers, commentators, personages, representatives of social-historical groups, physical flesh and loci of private sensations, and Chvasta applies this to O'Connor's videos.

While I like the ideas behind the book, there is a risk of creating an American-perspective canon, and reproducing an Anglophone hegemony. Despite the editors' humble wish that this book would be just a start, I would have liked them to take a step further by making some sort of comparison of the chapters at the end of the book. The problem of having to keep up trustworthiness and keeping clear of sell-out accusations seems to be one factor that the artists have in common. The chapters on Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine turn out to focus on Eddie Vedder and Tony Morello, respectively, and together with the chapter on Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, they point to the tensions inherent in the group concept as an ideal in rock mythology. I would also like to see a discussion of further research. In the introduction the editors point to other artists and to the non-anglophone world. I would also see studies on the songs and the campaigns that failed, the artists who try but are not considered trustworthy or enough sincere, the artist and career-management problems (getting a ‘too political’ image to get all artistic ambitions through, or getting stuck in a political limbo). And how about the possibilities of making instrumentals as political statements (as some jazz musicians have)? There are many interesting problems to address, not least how aesthetic and political choices influence each other.